San Diego Launches Community Choice Energy Program

After seven years of debate a community choice energy program will be available for those living in San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Encinitas, and Imperial Beach. San Diego Community Power (SDCP) began serving municipal accounts in these five cities on Monday, March 1. SDCP is part a Community Choice Aggregation program (CCA) and plans to serve around 767,700 residential customers by January 2022 making SDCP the second largest CCA in California.

Community Choice Aggregation programs allow consumers to choose between investor owned utility companies (SDG&E) and community choice utility companies (SDCP). Under the CCA model, local jurisdictions are able to take over a portion of responsibility of an investor owned utility company's purchasing power for a given community. Furthermore, CCA’s help establish a boost in renewable energy sources by using the revenue generated from customers to invest in renewable energy projects in the area.

SDCP offers two rate plans:

1. PowerOn: Promises to deliver power from 50 percent renewable sources and 5 percent from sources that are free of greenhouse gas emissions. Customers who opt for PowerOn will pay a monthly bill that is about 2 to 3 percent less expensive than SDG&E.
2. Power100: A slightly more expensive option that pencils out to 100 percent renewable and carbon-free sources. If customers choose Power100, the costs will be about the same as SDG&E

Another CCA, Clean Energy Alliance, will be available with roll outs beginning in May which include the cities Del Mar, Solana, and Carlsbad. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is also considering forming a CCA for unincorporated areas of the county.

Sources

https://www.energytoolbase.com/newsroom/blog/a-guide-to-modeling-solar-storage-on-ccas

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/story/2021-03-01/sdcp-newser