Tuesday’s special meeting focusing on the recent natural gas surge in California.

SAN FRANCISCO (CGO) — The California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission will hold a special joint meeting Tuesday on the recent spike in natural gas prices.

Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Washington on Monday asking for a federal investigation.

“I think he has a good reason to investigate what happened,” said Severin Borenstein of the University of California, Berkeley.

MORE: That’s how high PG is&E says it will be possible to get bills this historically cold and rainy winter in California

Borenstein is a chair of the Haas Energy Institute. He was referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s letter to the federal investigation into natural gas price hikes in California and other West Coast states. Newsom sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“There is a precedent that during the California energy crisis in 2000/2001, one of the problems was that the pipeline was damaged by an explosion, but the other problem was that the pipeline company actually restricted the flow in order to drive prices even higher. . Borenstein said.

MORE: PG&E customers may face a rate increase of more than $760 within 2 years.

Since the end of November last year, natural gas prices have risen sharply. While all parties agree that cold weather played a role, the governor says, “but these known factors cannot explain the magnitude and duration of the price spike.”

Borenstein says the surge was about 80% in most of Northern California and 300% in parts of Southern California. He also said that even though California is getting less pipeline capacity and storage is not what it used to be, there should still be questions here.

MORE: Data shows a fifth of San Francisco metropolitan households are struggling to pay rising utility bills.

“It might just be supply and demand, but it might not be; and it is very important to be aware of this and make sure that anyone who is thinking about manipulating the market is aware of the possibility of an investigation,” Borenstein said.

Californians will soon see some relief in their utility bills thanks to the annual California Climate Credit.

As for Tuesday’s meeting, officials will review this price spike and possible taxpayer protections going forward.

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