SDG&E Energy Bills Are Slated to Rise, Again

The price of energy from San Diego Gas & Electric is expected to rise almost 20 percent per kilowatt-hour come Jan. 1. 

That amounts to a 15 percent increase in monthly energy bills, or about $23, for the average residential customer, according to a filing by the utility. SDG&E sets its annual energy rates each Spring, but it can request permission from the state Public Utilities Commission to raise or lower that price throughout the year. That’s precisely what happened Oct. 12 when SDG&E filed an updated electricity sales forecast.

“SDG&E is forecasting higher gas prices and higher power prices in 2023 compared to those used to develop the initial May application (to set rates),” the utility wrote to the Public Utilities Commission.

That’s precisely what the region’s publicly-owned power companies and SDG&E’s competitors predicted earlier this year when they accused the utility of artificially lowering the price of energy. 

“This situation is temporary. We know SDG&E’s rates will be going up in 2023,” said Barbara Boswell back in August, noting that energy prices have been on the rise, not the opposite. She’s the CEO of Clean Energy Alliance, a new government-run power company selling energy to Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Oceanside and Vista. 

SDG&E spokesman Anthony Wagener said the price increase affects customers who still buy their energy from the utility. About 65 percent of SDG&E customers now buy their energy from a CCA, a public power company like Clean Energy Alliance or San Diego Community Power. 

Those CCAs buy and sell their own energy, with a general goal of providing 100 percent renewable power quicker and cheaper than the investor-owned utilities.

SDG&E already plans to raise gas and electric bills by almost 9 percent beginning in 2024 if the state approves the company’s four-year spending plan. The utility has the highest prices of California’s three investor-owned energy companies that hold monopolies in their region. 

It’s unclear whether and by how much CCAs like San Diego Community Power and Clean Energy Alliance will have to raise their energy prices. That process begins in January after the investor-owned utilities set its rates. 

In Other News 

• The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts Americans will spend 28 percent more than last winter heating their homes with natural gas, a fossil fuel that’s experiencing a lot of price volatility especially since Russia invaded Ukraine, upending global gas markets. (EIA) 
• The California Coastal Commission granted a 13-year extension on San Onofre’s nuclear waste storage site. (Union-Tribune)
• A new poll shows San Diegans support a ballot measure to repeal no-cost waste collection for most single-family homeowners. (Union Tribune) 
• More trash out of Voice of San Diego’s Politifest: San Diego’s bid to overturn that waste collection fee is dividing Democrats vying for the San Diego City Council District 6 seat. 
• A Barrio Logan biofuels company is working to fix an odor issue its neighbors have complained about for months. (KPBS)
• Protestors physically blocked the entrance of Sempra Energy headquarters in downtown San Diego last week, protesting the natural gas company’s contribution to climate change. (KPBS)