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San Diego is understood for its pristine seashores, world-class zoo, and a number of the highest electrical energy costs on the earth.
The truth is, if San Diego was its personal nation, its common grid electrical energy worth of 47.7 cents per kilowatt hour would rank fourth highest amongst nations with verifiable knowledge.
Luckily, between San Diego Gasoline and Electrical’s (SDG&E) many electrical fee plans and a sturdy residential photo voltaic and battery market, San Diegans have a number of choices to decrease their electrical energy payments.
On this article, we’ll discover numerous SDG&E tariffs (aka fee plans) and the way to decide on the appropriate possibility on your electrical energy wants.
Use the hyperlinks beneath to leap to a subject:
Let’s begin by taking a look at SDG&E electrical charges at the moment and the way we obtained right here.
What are SDG&E’s electrical charges in 2024?
Heading into 2024, the common electrical fee for SDG&E prospects is 47.7 cents per kWh in line with the newest knowledge from the BLS, which is 16% larger than the common fee of 41 cents per kWh the 12 months earlier than.
Take into account that there are dozens of SDG&E fee tariffs, so every buyer’s common fee will fluctuate primarily based on their consumption habits and fee schedules (which we’ll discover beneath).
SDGE Charge improve historical past
SDG&E has comparatively excessive electrical energy charges for a few years, however they elevated fairly quickly from 2020-2023. From July 2020 to July 2023, the common utility fee elevated from 28.9 cents per kWh to 47.6 cents per kWh — a 65% improve in simply three years!
The chart beneath reveals the common recorded SGE&E electrical fee from 2018-2023, per the BLS, along with charges forecasted within the 2023 Senate Invoice 695 report revealed by the CPUC.
Whereas all forecasts ought to be taken with a grain of salt (i.e., they’re topic to vary), it’s price noting that the nominal fee forecasted for 2023 within the Senate Invoice report is far decrease than what’s been recorded by the BLS up to now, maybe on account of variations in knowledge assortment strategies.
The Senate Invoice report additionally forecasts that SDG&E charges will improve “about 39 p.c via 2026 for a mean annual improve of 10.4%.” If, in reality, the charges recorded by the BLS improve by 10.4% per 12 months via 2026, the common utility fee in San Diego would exceed 64 cents per kWh by 2026.
The underside line is that SDG&E electrical charges are already the very best within the US and are anticipated to maintain climbing. Subsequent, we’ll take a look at the totally different fee plans and establish alternatives to decrease your electrical energy invoice.
SDG&E normal residential charges (Schedule DR)
Schedule DR is SDG&E’s normal residential fee plan that options two tiers of electrical energy prices. As of January 2024, Tier 1 prices are 38.4 cents and Tier 2 prices are 48.3 cents per kWh.
In 2024, the Schedule DR charges are the identical throughout the summer season (June-October) and winter (November-Could) billing intervals and this plan now not features a third tier of Excessive Use Costs (HUC) tier that it did in 2021.
Prospects are charged below Tier 1 charges for the primary as much as 130% of their baseline allowance in every billing cycle. Baseline allowances are primarily based on 4 local weather zones all through SDG&E’s service territory, as proven within the map beneath.
SDGE Baseline allowance zones
Climatic Zone
Summer season (kWh per day)
Winter (kWh per day)
Coastal
9
14
Inland
10.4
9.6
Mountain
13.6
12.9
Desert
15.9
10.9
Every day allowances as posted by SDG&E in August 2024 and are topic to vary.
To search out your baseline allowance for every billing interval, merely multiply the day by day allowance (proven above) by the variety of days within the month.
For those who dwell within the Inland local weather zone your baseline allowance could be 312 kWh in a 30-day summer season month like June (10.4 x 30 days = 312). Which means you need to use 406 kWh (130% of 312) of electrical energy at Tier 1 charges earlier than being billed at Tier 2 charges for the remainder of the month.
So, should you dwell within the San Diego metro space and use 600 kWh of electrical energy in January 2024, you’d purchase the primary 406 kWh at 38.4 cents per kWh ($156) and the following 194 kWh at 48.3 per kWh ($94) for a month-to-month complete cost round $250.
Electrical energy consumption (kWh)
Charge ($/kWh)
Value ($)
Tier 1
406 kWh
$0.384
$156
Tier 2
194 kWh
$0.483
$95
Complete
600 kWh
$250
At the moment, SDG&E Schedule DR charges are among the many highest electrical energy prices within the nation, so it’s price exploring methods to decrease your fee, which many shoppers can do utilizing time-of-use (TOU) fee plans.
SDG&E residential time-of-use (TOU) charges
SDG&E has three totally different time-of-use fee plans for residential prospects (along with plans particularly for EV and photo voltaic house owners, which we’ll talk about later) with per kWh prices starting from 33 to 68 cents per kWh, relying on the speed schedule, season, and time of day. These plans are referred to as:
There are extra variations of every plan for purchasers who qualify for CARE (California Alternate Charges for Vitality) and a Medical Baseline allowance.
Every plan follows the identical schedule, with the costliest charges coming throughout the On-Peak hours of 4 pm and 9 pm. Nevertheless, the electrical energy costs for every plan fluctuate in every TOU interval, giving residential prospects a number of choices primarily based on their consumption habits.
SDGE On-peak, Off-Peak, and Tremendous Off-Peak hours chart 2024
Weekdays
TOU Interval
Summer season
Winter
On-Peak
4-9 pm
4-9 pm
Off-Peak
6 am – 4 pm & 9 pm – midnight
6 am – 4 pm & 9 pm – midnight
Tremendous Off-Peak
Midnight – 6 am
Midnight – 6 am*
*Additionally contains 10 am – 2 pm in March and April
Weekends and Holidays
TOU Interval
Summer season
Winter
On-Peak
4-9 pm
4-9 pm
Off-Peak
2 am – 4 pm & 9 pm – midnight
2 am – 4 pm & 9 pm – midnight
Tremendous Off-Peak
Midnight – 2 pm
Midnight – 2 pm
The secret for TOU fee plans is to keep away from utilizing electrical energy throughout On-Peak hours as a lot as attainable. That is very true in SDG&E territory, the place On-Peak TOU charges can exceed 68 cents per kWh in the summertime – practically 4 occasions the nationwide common worth per kWh of electrical energy!
The chart beneath reveals the winter weekday charges for every TOU-DR schedule as of January 2024, that are in impact from November 1 via Could 31.
Now let’s examine winter charges to the 2024 summer season charges, that are in impact from June 1 to October 31. Typically, summer season charges are decrease throughout Tremendous-Off-Peak intervals and better throughout On-Peak intervals, which may have a considerable affect in your electrical energy prices.
It’s price noting that each residential TOU schedule has a 10-cent per kWh baseline credit score adjustment for the primary 130% of your month-to-month baseline allowance (which we mentioned above). So, should you dwell within the San Diego metro space, you’ll obtain an on-bill credit score of ~$40.6 which displays the decrease price of your first 406 kWh of utilization (130% of your 312 kWh month-to-month baseline allowance).
Alright, let’s check out every SDG&E TOU plan individually to get a way of which one works finest for you.
Schedule TOU-DR1
Proven in purple above, the Schedule TOU-DR1 options the bottom Tremendous Off-Peak charges at 33 cents per kWh throughout summer season weekdays however makes up for it with On-Peak charges north of 68 cents per kWh.
Given this 35-cent swing, this plan is right for purchasers who can shift a majority of their electrical energy utilization to Tremendous Off-Peak hours. For instance, should you work second-shift and may keep away from working your air-con between 4-9 pm, then this plan could also be match.
Schedule TOU-DR2
Proven in pink above, the Schedule TOU-DR2 options the bottom Off-Peak charges at 39 cents per kWh throughout summer season weekdays. Nevertheless, it additionally has On-Peak charges larger than 68 cents per kWh and doesn’t have Tremendous Off-Peak Charges.
For those who can keep away from On-Peak charges, this plan is principally like having a tiered fee plan that begins at round 29 cents per kWh and jumps to 39 cents per kWh after 130% of your baseline month-to-month allowance.
Simply don’t underestimate how briskly 68 cents per kWh can add up should you crank the AC throughout On-Peak hours…
Schedule TOU-DR-P
Lastly, proven in blue above, the Schedule TOU-DR-P presents decrease charges to prospects who comply with preserve electrical energy utilization throughout “Scale back Your Use” occasions to assist stabilize the grid.
Whereas 50 cents per kWh is tempting (a minimum of in SDG&E territory) for On-Peak pricing, there’s a $1.16 per kWh extra cost for utilizing electrical energy from 4-9 pm throughout Scale back Your Use (RDU) occasions!
In response to SDG&E, there might be as much as 18 RDU occasions per 12 months, so it’s essential to join alerts and keep away from utilizing electrical energy throughout these home windows.
For instance, should you miss an RDU alert and run your A/C from 4 to 9 pm, you might find yourself utilizing 15 kWh of electrical energy at $1.77 per kWh, racking up $26.55 in electrical energy prices in much less time than it takes to drive from San Diego to Phoenix.
The suitable TOU plan for you relies upon largely in your consumption habits and skill to keep away from On-Peak pricing, particularly in the summertime. Nevertheless, it additionally depends upon what you’re powering. You probably have an EV, photo voltaic panels, or a warmth pump, there are SDG&E fee plans particularly on your state of affairs.
SDG&E EV charges in 2024
For somebody driving 37 miles per day (the nationwide common), charging an EV requires round 10.5 kWh per day or an extra 315 kWh per 30 days. With considerably extra utilization, SDG&E has 4 TOU fee schedules designed to cut back the price and pressure of charging an EV on grid electrical energy.
These embrace:
EV-TOU and EV-TOU-2 (identical charges)
EV-TOU-5
EV-TOU-5P
TOU-ELEC
The graph beneath reveals winter charges for SDG&E for residential EV charging plans, that are in impact from November 1 via Could 31.
Dwelling charging will get rather more costly throughout On-Peak summer season hours in impact from June 1-October 31. The summer season weekday charges for every SDG&E EV charging plan are proven within the chart beneath.
The SDG&E EV charges observe the identical TOU schedule because the plans listed above. Nevertheless, there isn’t any on-bill credit score on your baseline allowance, so the charges you see within the chart above are the charges you’ll get in the summertime months.
Let’s discover every plan individually to see which one makes probably the most sense on your EV charging wants.
Schedule EV-TOU-5
Proven in purple above, the SDG&E EV-TOU-5 plan options the bottom Tremendous Off-Peak charges of any plan listed on this article. Nevertheless, it comes with a $16 per 30 days fundamental service charge.
The thought is that should you can include your whole EV charging to Tremendous Off-Peak hours, the decrease charges will offset the essential cost and make this plan worthwhile. To be precise, you’d have to cost 122 kWh of electrical energy per 30 days between midnight and 6 am to interrupt even on the TOU-5 plan in the summertime.
EV-TOU-5 notable options:
Very low Tremendous Off-Peak charges
$16 fundamental service charge
Charges apply to dwelling utilization and EV charging
Schedule EV-TOU-5P
Proven in inexperienced above, the TOU-5P plan has barely decrease charges than the TOU-5 plan. Nevertheless, prospects on this plan are topic to Scale back Your Use (RYU) days, throughout which they’re topic to a $1.16 per kWh cost throughout On-Peak hours (4-9 pm).
So, should you can safely keep away from On-Peak hours throughout RYU days, you possibly can take pleasure in decrease charges all year long.
Schedule EV-TOU-2
Proven in pink above, the EV-TOU-2 plan options the very best electrical energy charges however doesn’t have a month-to-month fundamental cost. So, if you’re unable to include your charging to Tremendous Off-Peak hours or just don’t drive sufficient to offset a $16 fundamental cost, this plan could also be match.
This fee applies to each dwelling and EV charging electrical energy utilization, so it’s price being aware of the 67 cents per kWh On-Peak pricing in the summertime.
EV-TOU-2 notable options:
No fundamental month-to-month cost
Greater price per kWh
Charges apply to dwelling utilization and EV charging
Schedule EV-TOU
Proven in inexperienced above, the EV-TOU plan options the identical charges because the EV-TOU-2 plan. Nevertheless, it has no fundamental cost and requires separate meters for EV charging and residential utilization.
So, when you have low family consumption and are unable to keep away from peak hours, you possibly can cost your EV and residential on separate meters to reap the benefits of your baseline allowance credit score for family utilization from 4 to 9 pm.
EV-TOU notable options:
No fundamental month-to-month cost
Greater price per kWh
EV charging on a separate meter and plan from family utilization
Schedule TOU-ELEC
Proven in blue, the TOU-ELEC plan is for SDG&E prospects which have an EV, battery storage, and/or warmth pump for water or area heating/cooling. This plan options the bottom On-Peak and Off-Peak charges, in trade for larger Tremendous Off-Peak charges and a $16 month-to-month fundamental cost.
Whereas it’s nonetheless most economical to devour electrical energy throughout Tremendous Off-Peak hours, it received’t harm as dangerous to run electrical warmth pumps for area and water heating throughout sunlight hours.
TOU-ELEC notable options:
$16 fundamental month-to-month cost
Decrease price per kWh
Charges apply to dwelling utilization and EV charging
Additionally accessible to prospects with battery storage and/or electrical warmth pump for water or area heating
SDG&E electrical charges for photo voltaic house owners
SDG&E prospects with photo voltaic programs might be cut up into two teams: Photo voltaic house owners with Web Vitality Metering (NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0) and photo voltaic house owners with the Photo voltaic Billing Plan (affectionately known as NEM 3.0).
SDG&E prospects that already owned photo voltaic panels or submitted an interconnection settlement on or earlier than April 15, 2023 are within the Web Vitality Metering group. These photo voltaic house owners can select which fee schedule to be on and obtain near-retail worth for the surplus photo voltaic manufacturing they export onto the grid.
Photo voltaic house owners on the Photo voltaic Billing Plan (who submitted their interconnection functions after April 15, 2023) are billed below the EV-TOU-5 fee schedule and are compensated for his or her photo voltaic exports primarily based on their worth to the grid at every hour all year long. On common, Photo voltaic Billing export charges are a lot decrease than the retail worth of electrical energy.
SDG&E photo voltaic plans at a look
Web Vitality Metering
Photo voltaic Billing Plan
Interconnection utility date
On or earlier than April 15, 2023
After April 15, 2023
Charge schedule
Prospects selection
EV-TOU-5
Export worth
Retail fee at time of export
Primarily based on worth to vitality grid at time of export and alter by the hour, day, and month
Clearly, Web Vitality Metering is the extra solar-friendly billing plan. Sadly, it’s now not accessible.
Nevertheless, SDG&E prospects can nonetheless drastically scale back their electrical energy prices with dwelling photo voltaic below the Photo voltaic Billing Plan.
Right here’s how.
Find out how to get probably the most worth out of SDG&E’s Photo voltaic Billing Plan
The important thing to decreasing your electrical energy prices within the Photo voltaic Billing Plan is to pair photo voltaic panels with battery storage to keep away from interacting with the grid as a lot as attainable. Let’s discover why battery storage is so essential.
The chart beneath reveals the distinction between the value of electrical energy within the EV-TOU-5 (import charges) versus the worth of extra photo voltaic electrical energy (export charges) all through a summer season day.
You’ll discover that the import charges (in pink) are often a lot larger than the export charges (in purple), other than sure high-value home windows in August and September.
For instance, between 10 am and 1 pm – peak manufacturing hours for dwelling photo voltaic – photo voltaic exports are price lower than 6 cents per kWh. Nevertheless, from 4-9 pm, when photo voltaic manufacturing is fading and family consumption is growing, electrical energy prices over 65 cents per kWh to import.
So, with a solar-only system, you’re shopping for electrical energy at 40-65 cents per kWh and promoting it for lower than 6 cents per kWh. – which clearly isn’t an ideal deal. However, by storing a budget electrical energy produced throughout the day in a battery, you possibly can keep away from shopping for electrical energy at SDG&E’s extremely excessive charges altogether.
Higher but, there are new “consumption-only” batteries particularly designed for this objective that come at a considerably decrease price than conventional backup batteries. Nevertheless, “consumption-only” batteries is probably not proper for everybody as a result of they don’t present backup energy throughout grid outages.
Photo voltaic and battery vs SDG&E grid
Let’s take a typical SDG&E buyer that makes use of 700 kWh of electrical energy per 30 days or 8,400 kWh per 12 months and isn’t particularly impacted by grid outages and may do with out backup capabilities.
To offset 100% of their electrical energy consumption, they’d want a 5.3 kW photo voltaic system, which at $4.5 per Watt would price $23,850, or $16,695 after claiming the 30% tax credit score.
To shift that photo voltaic manufacturing from day to nighttime, they’d want a 6 kWh consumption-only battery, which comes at a gross price of round $8,500 and a internet price of $5,950 after claiming the 30% tax credit score – and probably decrease if the home-owner claims the Self-Technology Incentive Program (SGIP) rebate.
That brings the whole price of the photo voltaic and battery system to $22,645. This method might be anticipated to supply 195,000 kWh over 25 years, bringing the price per kWh to round 11.6 cents.
Gross price
Web price (after 30% tax credit score)
5.3 kW photo voltaic system
$23,850
$16,695
6 kWh consumption-only battery
$8,500
$5,950
Complete price
$32,350
$22,645
Lifetime manufacturing
195,000 kWh
195,000 kWh
Value per kWh
17 cents per kWh
11.6 cents per kWh
Photo voltaic and battery costs will fluctuate primarily based on market components.
Now, in any SDG&E fee schedule, you’re paying a minimal of 16 cents per kWh and as much as 84 cents throughout On-Peak pricing. In response to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the common utility fee within the San Diego metro space was 47.7 cents per kWh in November 2023, so we’ll use that determine and assume very conservative fee will increase of three% per 12 months.
The chart beneath reveals the anticipated price of shopping for a photo voltaic and battery system (together with the $16 month-to-month fundamental cost) versus shopping for the identical quantity of electrical energy from the SDG&E grid over 20 years.
As you possibly can see, the vitality price financial savings potential is super. And even within the unlikely state of affairs that it’s worthwhile to exchange or add a battery after simply 10 years, you’ll have already got saved greater than $20,000 by then, which is many occasions better than the anticipated price of batteries 10 years from now.
On the floor, Photo voltaic Billing looks like a bitter deal. However, by merely including battery storage and minimizing your interplay with the grid, SDG&E prospects can drastically scale back their electrical energy prices within the quick and long run.
Begin your photo voltaic venture at the moment
With a number of the highest electrical energy costs within the US, SDG&E prospects have a golden alternative to cut back their vitality prices with dwelling photo voltaic and battery programs – even below the Photo voltaic Billing Plan.
Join with a photo voltaic.com Vitality Advisor to design a system and get quotes from our community of trusted San Diego installers that provide backup and consumption-only battery choices!
SDG&E electrical charges FAQs
What are SDG&E electrical charges?
SDG&E electrical charges vary from 12 cents to 68 cents per kWh, relying on the pricing plan, month, and time of day. The common worth of electrical energy in San Diego was 47.7 cents per kWh as of November 2023, in line with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which was the very best fee of any US metro.
What are the cheaper hours for SDG&E?
The most cost effective time for SDG&E prospects to make use of grid electrical energy is throughout the Tremendous Off-Peak time-of-use intervals of midnight to six pm on weekdays and midnight to 2 pm on weekends and holidays. The most costly time is throughout the On-Peak hours of 4 to 9 pm.
These pricing home windows solely apply to prospects with time-of-use (TOU) fee plans and don’t apply to prospects on the Normal-DR fee schedule.
How can I scale back my SDG&E electrical invoice?
The best approach to scale back your SDG&E electrical invoice is to put in a photo voltaic and battery system. SDG&E’s excessive electrical charges current a large alternative for vitality price financial savings, even below the brand new NEM 3.0 Photo voltaic Billing Plan.
Join with an Vitality Advisor to discover your financial savings potential with photo voltaic.
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