Residential customers will receive the first two installments of bill credits this month; electric and gas-bill credits total more than $200 per household for 2025. 

Source:  SDG&E

March 31, 2025 (San Diego) - San Diego Gas & Electric® residential customers will get a break on their energy bill, thanks to the California Climate Credit administered by the California Public Utilities Commission as a result of the state’s effort to fight climate change. In April, residential electric customers and qualifying small businesses will see a $81.38 credit on their statement. Residential customers with natural gas will also receive a $54.21 credit on the same statement.  

Source: SDG&E

January 20, 2025 (San Diego)  – Due to extreme fire weather conditions and forecasted Santa Ana winds, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) has notified 83,609 customers that it may have to turn off power to reduce wildfire risk as early as late today. Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are approved by state regulators as a safety tool of last resort to mitigate fire risk during dangerous weather conditions.

As a result of dry conditions and expected Santa Ana windsup to 60 miles per hour locally, the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning and High Wind Warning for parts of Orange and San Diego Counties beginning Monday morning through late Tuesday night.

SDG&E has activated its Emergency Operations Center and staffed it with key personnel to monitor weather conditions throughout the duration of the event, especially the wind speeds in the high fire risk areas of the county.

If SDG&E implements a PSPS for public safety, it will open Community Resource Centers to support impacted customers.

Resources available for impacted customers at community resource centers

January 8, 2025 (San Diego) – This week marks the driest start to the rainy season in San Diego County in 174 years. As a result of these dry conditions and Santa Ana winds, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) continues to implement Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in an effort to reduce wildfire risk and protect public safety.

As of tonight, 8,946 customers have power shut off.  Another 69,155 are at risk of power shutoffs.The effort aims to prevent hellacious firestorms such as those currently ravaging L.A., as wind gusts up to 85 miles per hour are forecast to reach San Diego County soon.

Because of the extended wind forecast, customers may experience prolonged or more than one PSPS. An up-to-date list of impacted communities can be found at sdge.com/ready.

Available Resources for Impacted Customers

SDG&E is opening of Community Resource Centers in affected communities. These Centers are equipped with resources such as Wi-Fi and phone and medical device charging, and they will remain open for customers in need until conditions improve. A list of active Community Resource Center locations and their hours of operation can be found at sdge.com/ready.

By Miriam Raftery, East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

December 9, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) – With a red flag warning in effect from the National Weather Service due to high fire danger today through Friday, SDG&E has begun public safety power shutoffs affecting 8,949 customers in Alpine, Boulevard, Campo, Descanso, Jacumba and Jamul. There are also unplanned outages in Julian and Borrego Springs. However, up to 108,619 more customers may face planned power outages between now and December 13 at noon, according to SDG&E, including most East County communities.

Communities at risk of outages in San Diego County include the Barona reservation, Borrego Springs, the Campo reservation, Capitan Grande reservation, Cardiff, Chula Vista, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, Fallbrook, Granite Hills, Jamul Indian Village, Julian, La Jolla Reservation, Lakeside, La Mesa, La Posta reservation, Lakeside, Los Coyotes Reservation, Manzanita reservation, Mesa Grande reservation, Pala,

Pala reservation, Pauma Valley, Pauma reservation, Poway, Ramona, Ranchita, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe, Rincon reservation, San Diego, San Marcos, San Pasqual Reservation, Santa Ysabel, Santa Ysabel reservation, Santee, Solana Beach, Sycuan  reservation, Valley Center, Viejas Reservation, and Warner Springs.

Community Resource Centers are open in many communities.  For a list of community resource centers, see https://www.sdge.com/psps-dashboard.

By Miriam Raftery

September 9, 2024 (San Diego) – At least 14,000 SDG&E customers across San Diego had power outages yesterday afternoon, left sweltering in triple-digit heat.

The majority of those outages were due to a problem at a substation in Rancho San Diego, which was likely caused by the extreme weather conditions, according to SDG&E communications manager Alex Welling,Times of San Diego reports.

Extreme heat causes wear and tear on infrastructure equipment and the power grid.  A key issue yesterday may have been numerous households running air conditioning overnight, since low temperatures remained uncomfortably hot in many areas.

Fortunately, power to most customers was restored within a few hours, as SDG&E crews toiled through the heat to make repairs.

How can you prepare for future outages during high heat?  Here are some tips.

Source:  SDG&E

Photo:  Shelter Valley Community Center Board President Steve Bassett inspects installation at Shelter Valley Community Center site.

Connected devices such as energy storage and smart thermostats centrally managed to reduce demand on the grid

August 28, 2023 (San Diego) – As extreme heat records fall across the West and strain the power grid, San Diego Gas & Electric is piloting a new cleantech innovation known as a virtual power plant (VPP) to reduce energy demand and put electricity back on the grid during peak hours – all through leveraging the capabilities of customer-owned smart thermostats, rooftop solar, energy storage and other connected resources such as water pumps.

By Miriam Raftery

Reported incident may be a hoax, but workers in the field are urged not to accept water or food from strangers

July 21, 2023 – A flyer with SDG&E’s logo circulating on Facebook claims two workers for a local flagging company during extreme heat were given water bottles by a stranger. “Apparently, the water bottles were laced with Fentanyl. Sadly, one of the flaggers died and the other is in critical condition after ingesting the water,” the flyer headlined “Non-SDG&E Contractor Incident Alert” states.

However, SDG&E spokesman Alex Welling told ECM, “We have been working on this since yesterday and we cannot verify the information.  We sent out an alert to contractors; this is true. But after further information we have been unable to verify the source.”

Source:  SDG&E

Average gas bill expected to decrease by $140 relative to January

East County News Service

February 28, 2023 (San Diego) – After hitting a historic high in January due to unprecedented natural gas market conditions in the West that resulting in a doubling of consumers' gas bills, San Diego Gas & Electric announced today that the March natural gas commodity price has declined by approximately  83% compared to January 2023, plunging from $3.45 per therm to $0.60 per therm.

The typical residential customer’s gas bill (commodity plus delivery charges and other mandated fees and taxes) is expected to decrease to about $85 in March, from  around $225 in January. This is the second month in a row that natural gas commodity prices are going down. The reduction in wholesale natural gas price is driven in part by the restoration of service to an out-of-state pipeline.

East County News Service

February 22, 2023 – The storm has caused power outages amid frigid weather in some parts of East County. While power has been restored in most areas, power went down in parts of Borrego Springs last night due to weather affecting SDG&E equipment, and is not expected to be restored until this evening.  Borrego resident Nikki Symington posted on Facebook, “I am freezing. No electricity since 9 last night."

According to SDG&E, “Last night at its peak 11,000 SDG&E customers were without power during the night, in addition to momentary outages caused by high winds. Crews have made significant progress in restoring thousands of customers and are working to restore remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.”

The utility states that to protect the safety of its customers, employees and communities, the company has taken proactive steps to prepare for winter storms this week, with the strongest storm due this weekend. A news release from SDG&E states, “In anticipation of these storms, SDG&E increased the number of field crews and equipment available to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. The company’s meteorology team is also monitoring weather conditions minute-by-minute to help provide situational awareness to crews working hard to maintain the infrastructure that serves our communities. However, preparedness is a community effort, and the company encourages all of its customers to have a plan in place in case of unplanned outages.”

To help customers prepare for the upcoming storm, the company is sharing the following safety tips to help keep you and the region safe:

Source:  SDG&E

November 21, 2022 (San Diego) - San Diego Gas & Electric customers looking to save money are encouraged to take advantage of a new statewide program offering rebates of $20 - $500 for energy-efficient water heaters, room air conditioners and smart thermostats.

East County News Service

September 6, 2022 (San Diego) – You’re invited to join SDG&E on Wednesday, September 7 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in a virtual workshop in wildfire safety and public safety power shutoff preparedness. Find out how you can make a difference.

First live demonstration of bi-directional charging since launch of the federal cross-sector collaboration initiative to rapidly commercialize technology

Source: SDG&E

July 26, 2022 (San Diego) - Today, San Diego Gas & Electric announced that it has successfully deployed an innovative technology that enables eight electric school buses to put electricity back on the grid when needed such as on hot summer days. A collaborative effort between SDG&E, the Cajon Valley Union School District and locally based technology company Nuvve, this is the first vehicle-to-grid (V2G) project to become operational in Southern California, helping to advance clean air and climate goals while also bolstering grid reliability. 

California Climate Credit to offset natural gas bills by as much as $171.40, hopes to encourage residents to invest in clean energy options

Source:  SDG&E

March 27, 2022 (San Diego) - In the coming months, San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) residential customers will receive a break on their utility bills – up to $171.40 in bill credits, thanks to the California Climate Credit program. Administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the program is part of the state’s efforts to fight climate change.

Fraudulent, yet sophisticated, robocalls tell customers that their service will be disconnected within the hour and demand immediate payment

Source: SDG&E

February 13, 2022 (San Diego) – SDG&E is warning of a new round of scammers targeting utility customers. The robocalls tell customers that their power will be turned off within the hour and direct them to press “1” to reach customer service, where they demand immediate payment to keep service in place. This scam is troubling because the calls sound professionally produced and claim to connect customers to the billing and collections department. If the scammers do not reach a person on their first call, then they will likely call back or leave a message with the same instructions.