SDG&E Prices Rising Again This Month

Electricity bills from San Diego Gas and Electric for the vast majority of San Diegans went up 7.4 percent beginning Jan. 1. 

That amounts to approximately $4 more per month for the average residential customer, said SDG&E spokesman Anthony Wagner. 

“We know that any change in energy costs makes a difference to our customers, and we work to keep bills as low as possible while continuing to deliver the safe, reliable energy that families and businesses across Southern California depend upon every day,” Wagner wrote in a statement. 

Most San Diegans only pay SDG&E to deliver power to their home over the energy grid which the private company owns and maintains. 

The price of the actual power most San Diegans use is bought and sold by public energy companies in the region called San Diego Community Power and Clean Energy Alliance, public energy companies governed by its member cities (San Diego, Chula Vista, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, National City and unincorporated San Diego County; and Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, Solana Beach and Vista, respectively). San Diego Community Power will likely set those rates at its Jan. 15 meeting. 

For cities that still buy both power and pay for energy delivery from SDG&E, an average bill will rise 10.5 percent. Much of that is due to the cost of the energy itself, said Wagner, which is not something SDG&E can make a profit on. 

Companies like SDG&E, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric are regulated monopolies in California. They bought and sold power and built and maintained California’s regional electric grids for the last century. In exchange for taking on all that responsibility and risk, the state guarantees each company profit. 

San Diego Community Power and Clean Energy Alliance are public companies that are not governed by the California Public Utilities Commission. They were set up a few years ago as competitors with SDG&E in an effort by local elected leaders who wanted their cities to use greener and cheaper energy than the monopoly provided. 

The post SDG&E Prices Rising Again This Month appeared first on Voice of San Diego.