Some California Drivers Are Eligible for a Payout From State’s Gas-Price Settlement

Drivers who bought gasoline in Southern California in 2015 have until Jan. 8 to submit a claim form for a payment from a $50 million settlement.

Millions of Californians are potentially eligible to apply for a payout in a $50 million settlement with oil companies, the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Oct. 2.

“Market manipulation and price gouging are illegal and unacceptable, particularly during times of crisis when people are most vulnerable,” Bonta said in an Oct. 2 press release. “I am proud to deliver money back to Californians who were victims of gas price manipulation.”

Golden State residents who purchased gas between Feb. 20, 2015, and Nov. 10 of the same year in Southern California—Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Imperial counties—can file a claim for payment on a website created by the attorney general’s office.

Those who do not wish to submit a claim can exclude themselves or submit a statement of concern about the settlement.

As the settlement covers some of California’s most populous counties, a significant percentage of the more than 25 million drivers in the state in 2015 could be eligible for payment.

The amount paid to each eligible individual will depend on how many people apply by the Jan. 8, 2025, deadline. Eligible applicants are limited to one claim per person.

No payments will be approved until the court finalizes the settlement—with the next hearing scheduled for Feb. 28, 2025, in San Francisco. The public is invited to attend, and the presiding judge has the option of listening to public comment before the court issues a ruling.

Appeals could also lengthen the time before payments are sent out, according to the attorney general.

“It’s always uncertain whether these appeals can be resolved, and resolving them can take time, perhaps more than a year,” the attorney general’s office said on the claim website.

In July 2020, the state’s Department of Justice sued Vitol and SK Energy Americas and its parent company SK Trading International alleging that the gas trading firms collaborated in secret to manipulate spot market gas prices in California, thus causing prices to rise at the pump and profits to spike.

According to the lawsuit, the companies used a February 2015 explosion at a refinery in Torrance—a coastal city in Southwest Los Angeles—and the subsequent market disruption to their advantage by illegally suppressing competition.

The complaint alleges that the actions were in violation of antitrust and unfair competition laws.

Bonta announced a $50 million settlement resolving the allegations in July.

The agreement calls for $37.5 million—minus taxes, administrative costs, attorneys’ fees, and expenses—to be split among eligible applicants.

State and local governments will use the other $12.5 million to address consumer protection complaints—with half going to the attorney general’s office.

The settlement also requires the firms, if they decide to resume operations in California, to report daily to the state’s Energy Commission about the prior day’s transactions and weekly regarding inventory volume and specific metrics and the disclosure of contracts or agreements with refiners, oil producers, transporters, and terminal operators.

A law passed last year, Senate Bill X1-2, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, gives the California Energy Commission the authority to regulate profit margins for oil refineries.

Supporters say the efforts—which could be expanded with Assembly Bill X2-1, a proposal currently under consideration by the Legislature in an extraordinary special session called by the governor on the last day of the legislative calendar on Aug. 31—are intended to lower gas prices by limiting profits and expanding reserve supplies.

Critics say the bills could cause supply reduction, higher prices, job losses, and more volatility in the state’s gas market.

A coalition of 50 organizations, including the California Chamber of Commerce, several local chambers, business associations, and the Western States Petroleum Association, strongly opposes SB 2 X1, stating in an Assembly floor analysis that the bill is “unlikely to provide any price relief for consumers or businesses and in fact, will make matters worse.”

Source link