San Diego Gas & Electric customers will catch a break on their electricity bills this month.

The semi-annual California Climate Credit will be applied to statements in October. This autumn, the discount comes to $78.22 and will be automatically deducted; customers do not have to fill out any forms.

Funding for the climate credits comes from money generated by the state’s cap and trade program that requires power plants, natural gas providers and large industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy permits on the carbon pollution they produce.

Administered by the California Public Utilities Commission, the credits are distributed to millions of households serviced by the state’s investor-owned utilities, such as SDG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

Customers of the two community choice energy programs in the San Diego area — San Diego Community Power and the Clean Energy Alliance — will also receive the climate credits.

The size of the credits fluctuate from year to year, depending on the amount of revenue the cap and trade program has generated. The discounts are distributed twice per year — once in the spring and then in the fall.

Billing cycles vary by utility and may not always coincide with a specific calendar month. SDG&E officials say if you don’t see the credit in the next bill you receive, it will appear in the statement that immediately follows.

The credit comes at a good time for many customers, who have been socked by inflation and high energy bills.

According to the most recent filings with the California Public Utilities Commission, 326,567 SDG&E customers as of July were at least 30 days behind on their monthly statements. That represents about 24 percent of the utility’s residential customer base.

“We appreciate working collaboratively with the California Public Utilities Commission to distribute the Climate Credit and offer some financial relief to our customers,” Dana Golan, SDG&E vice president of customer services, said in a statement. “Anyone struggling to pay their bill is encouraged to reach out to us. We’re here to help connect them with financial assistance programs.”

Statewide, a review of utilities commission data by the Union-Tribune earlier this year showed that as of January 2024, 3.48 million customers in the service territories of SDG&E, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric were behind on their monthly payments.