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About SDCP

San Diego Community Power is a community-owned organization that provides affordable clean energy and invests in the community to create an equitable and sustainable future for the San Diego region. As a global leader inspiring innovative solutions to climate change, we power our communities with 100% clean affordable energy while prioritizing equity, sustainability, and high-quality jobs.

We’re of every color and ethnicity, every political stripe and religious belief. All of us have some important things in common: our goal is to manage our electricity supply, taking advantage of the affordable, common sense options available for cleaner power, today and for future generations.

About Community Choice

SDCP is a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program—one of dozens that have formed across the state through the past 10 years. CCAs succeed by introducing healthy competition into the energy marketplace, and feeding cleaner electricity into the grid. They partner with the local investor owned utility (SDG&E, in our case) to deliver and service it. Your power is cleaner, just as affordable, and just as reliable. It’s a simple model that’s focused on the future, and really works.

This not-for-profit model goes even further, eliminating for-profit shareholders who make a profit on your electricity use.

At SDCP, our only shareholder is you.

Structure and Governance

In September, 2019, the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, Encinitas, La Mesa, and Imperial Beach adopted an ordinance and resolution to form San Diego Community Power, a California joint powers agency. In 2021, the County of San Diego and National City voted to join SDCP.

SDCP’s Board is comprised of elected representatives from each member jurisdiction—which may expand as new communities in the surrounding area decide whether to join SDCP in the future. The Board is publicly accountable to SDCP ratepayers and hosts monthly Board meetings, where they establish policy, set rates, determine power options and maintain fiscal oversight.

As a public agency, SDCP is designed to be fully transparent with all meetings and information open to the public.

Partnership with SDG&E

As a Community Choice Aggregator, SDCP will pool the electricity needs of its customers and purchase power on their behalf. SDG&E will continue to deliver the electricity through its existing power lines, and will continue to provide meter reading, billing, and line maintenance services to customers. Residents will receive a single bill from SDG&E that shows SDCP’s electric generation charge, replacing SDG&E’s generation charge (which will show as a bill credit). If you utilize natural gas, that service will not change. You’ll continue to receive gas service from SDG&E along with all the other utility program fees, power transmission and distribution fees as you always have.

Our Timeline

2019

After many years of preliminary study and consultation from experts, interested cities came together to form a new Joint Powers Agency; CCA ordinances were passed in September and the first Board meeting was held in late October. SDCP’s Implementation Plan was submitted to the CPUC in December.

2020

SDCP implementation and start-up activities are currently underway; the Board meets monthly on the 4th Thursday of each month; the public is invited to attend.

2021

SDCP will become the official electricity service provider for the cities of Chula Vista, Encinitas, La Mesa, Imperial Beach and San Diego in 2021. We’ll start rolling out service in phases; customers will receive two notices before and two notices after they’re enrolled and service begins. These will include information for how to opt-out if they choose.

2022

SDCP will be fully enrolled and will begin offering customer programs, in addition to providing cleaner power at competitive rates.

A Simple, Sensible Model

Community Choice Energy might be new to you, but programs just like this one have been springing up throughout California for over 10 years. SDCP is one of 23 programs already serving over 10 million customers. Why is Community Choice growing so fast? That’s easy—it’s a simple model that works for people of every age, ethnicity and income group. You get choices that make real sense. Choices that are sensible, affordable, and focused on the future.