SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Rent, power, water, groceries — everything has a price to pay. One bill many San Diegans have to pay is their energy bill to San Diego Gas & Electric.
But the utility company is making a change starting in May to give people another way to save when it comes time to pay their bill.
“As of May 1st, customers that are on a time-of-use plan are able to enjoy a super off-peak rate, a daytime super off-peak rate from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,” Anthony Wagner, Communications Manager for San Diego Gas & Electric, said. “Normally, throughout the year, that was only available in March and April. Now we've extended that to all year long so that customers can benefit from that.”
ABC 10News asked SDG&E how it was able to make this change for customers.
“Now there is an influx of solar and battery storage technology on the grid that allows the grid energy from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. to be sourced really inexpensively. So we can pass that savings on to our customers that have a time-of-use plan,” Wagner said.
SDG&E said one of the most common plans for residents is a time-of-use plan. If you go to the utility’s pricing plan, it shows super off-peak hours that are now year-round will cost you 34 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 43 cents per hour.
“Compared to a non-super off-peak time, you're saving about 20%, to do your laundry, your dishes, charge your car, pre-cool your home,” Wagner said.
ABC 10News did some math for a cost comparison based on someone’s usage from SDG&E who works from home in a 1,000-square-foot apartment.
During off-peak hours, it cost $13.76 for energy during that 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. window on a Monday this February. Super off-peak hours would cost them around $10.88, so you’d save $2.88 with the new change from SDG&E.
“California-wide, it's most expensive to produce electricity from 4 o'clock to 9 o'clock,” Wagner said. “It's less expensive to produce energy during the day, namely because it's coming from renewable energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal.”
SDG&E adds that if you’re not on a plan with super peak off-hours, you can find that out, review your plan, compare prices, and see what works best for you.
But, there are plenty of people who are in the office during their 9-to-5 jobs and not at home when those super off-peak hours are happening to use that cheaper power.
“There's a lot of smart appliances now, say for example, your dishwasher, you can put it on a delay, so that it goes off when you want it to go off,” Wagner said. “In addition to that, there's still a lot of San Diegans that actually still work from home, and we wanted those customers to be able to save, to be in control of their electrical use.”
Wagner told ABC 10News they’re working with the state and lawmakers to find more savings for people. If you are having struggles with paying that energy bill, the utility company suggests go to my energy center to see how and what programs are available to help you out.
