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Map showing the service areas for Community Choice Aggregration Service Providers as of February 2022

Community Choice is coming to electric customers of San Diego County but what is Community Choice and what does it mean for you as a customer?

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a locally run not-for-profit organization that was enabled by the California Legislature in 2002 AB117. The first CCA in San Diego County began operation in June 2018 and Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) continues to grow.

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Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) does not generate electricity. Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) enables communities to pool ( i.e. aggregate) their electric load and purchase clean energy on the open market at competitive rates as well as develop local programs that benefit the community. The existing Investor-Owned Utility (IOU) continues to deliver power and maintain the grid.

The goals and benefits of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) are:

Accountability, transparency, local control and consumer choice
Assist communities with reaching their climate and economic goals
Promote transition to a cleaner energy supply
Reinvest revenues in the community instead of distributing to shareholders
Allow communities to develop renewable energy projects
Act as a tool for establishing local energy resources and programs

Since Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) works with local Investor Owned Utilities (IOU), customers are billed through their local Investor Owned Utility (IOU). Utility Customers are automatically enrolled in the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) per State Mandate but can opt out of the program by contacting your local CCA. Terms and conditions may apply to opting out of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).

You still call your local Investor Owned Utility such as SDGE, SolCal Edison, or PG&E, if you have questions about your account or issues with your utility service such as downed power lines or power outages.

There are some programs offered through the Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) that are impacted by the switch to Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).

For SDGE customers, the following programs are not offered to Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) participants:

EcoChoice
EcoShare
Reduce Your Use Rewards (ended for all SDGE customers on 2-31-2018)
Direct Access

SDGE customers enrolled in any of these programs who choose to stay enrolled in Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) will be removed from the above listed SDGE programs.

Ethical Energy Efficiency Report

Makello’s Ethical Energy Savings Report is the result of a detailed trade-off study of discount utility rates, Community Choice Aggregation options, grants, rebates, tax credits, and equipment options, to determine the fastest payback and highest return on investment, to meet your home, business and vehicle energy needs.

SDGE customers receiving California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE), Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA), and Medical Baseline discount within their San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) energy delivery charges will continue to receive the discount after switching to Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).

SDGE Customers on Net Energy Metering (NEM) rates will still have Net Energy Metering (NEM) if offered through the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) provider. If you are grandfathered on a NEM pricing, you will see no change in your grandfathered rates if NEM is offered through your CCA.

Please check with your local Investor Owner Utility to find out if your program enrollment or billing will be impacted by the switch to Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).

*Service territory of the now defunct Solana Clean Energy Alliance active between June 2018- May 2021*

The first CCA in San Diego County was the Solana Energy Alliance which began operation in June 2018 and merged with Clean Energy Alliance in May 2021.

The Clean Energy Alliance CCA is currently servicing Solana Beach, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Escondido, and Del Mar. Service began in May 2021 for customers in Solana Beach, Carlsbad, and Del Mar. Service roll out began in December 2021 for Escondido and San Marcos. Please visit the Clean energy Alliance for more information regarding rates and other information for this CCA. https://thecleanenergyalliance.org/ The Clean Energy Alliance currently has all the information in pdf documents and does not have an online comparison tool.

*Map showing the Clean Energy Alliance service territory as of February 2022*

The Clean Energy Alliance offers rates based on 50% clean energy production, 75% clean energy production or 100% clean energy production as well as Net Energy Metering (NEM) for customers with renewable energy production systems.

The Net Energy Metering (NEM) program from Clean Energy Alliance is similar to the current program offered by SDGE. The energy usage and excess production are tracked and at the end of the 12 month relevant period, the account is trued up. If there is a net charge due, the customer will be billed. If the customer had a net excess generation, they are eligible to receive Net Surplus Compensation which is set as of February 2022 at $0.06 per kilowatt-hour for Net Excess Generation.

SDGE customers enrolled in Net Energy Metering (NEM) will automatically be enrolled in the Clean Energy Alliance Net Energy Metering (NEM) Rate. Customers who install a solar, wind or other self-generation system after switching to services provided by Clean Energy Alliance can sign up for Net Energy Metering (NEM) with SDGE and be automatically enrolled in the Clean Energy Alliance Personal Impact Net Energy Metering (NEM) rate.

Map showing San Diego Community Power service territory.

The largest CCA in San Diego County is San Diego Community Power. This organization covers the majority of the County. The organization is initially offering two rates tiers, PowerOn and Power100 as well as Net Energy Metering (NEM).

The City of Encinitas has opted for automatic enrollment of residents in Power100 rate and Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Chula Vista, and San Diego will be enrolled in the standard PowerOn rate. The Net Energy Metering (NEM) program is similar to the current SDGE program except San Diego Community Power bills monthly instead of issuing a potentially large bill at the annual true up. If you prefer to true up annually, you may contact San Diego Community Power and sign up for that option.

San Diego Community Power has an incentive for customers that have energy generation systems producing an excess of electricity as measured in annual net kilowatt-hours at the end of their 12 month relevant period. Those customers will be compensated at the Net Surplus Compensation rate which is based on SDGE’s True Up Monthly rate plus a $0.0075/kWh adder. More information on SDGEs excess generation compensation may be found here https://www.sdge.com/residential/savings-center/solar-power-renewable-energy/net-energy-metering/billing-information/excess-generation

San Diego Community Power has a tool to help customers in their service territory estimate their bill with the different rates. The button for the Bill Comparison Calculator for residential and commercial rates is located at the bottom of the page. Please click this link to access the tool. https://sdcommunitypower.org/your-choice/compare-service-plans/

Since the service territory is so large with such a large number of customers, San Diego Community Power service has been rolled out in steps. The dates are as listed in the chart below.

San Diego Community Power Service Territory Eligibility Dates

Location	Residential Eligibility Date	Commercial Eligibility Date	Municipal Eligibility Date
Unincorporated Areas of San Diego County	2023	2023	2023
City of San Diego	May 2022	June 2021	May 2021
Chula Vista	May 2022	June 2021	May 2021
Encinitas	April 2022	June 2021	May 2021
Imperial Beach	February 2022	June 2021	May 2021
La Mesa	March 2022	June 2021	May 2021
National City	2023	2023	2023

For those who prefer a picture, here is a map showing the Cities with residential roll out in 2022 for San Diego Community Power and the dates noted in the legend.

San Diego Community Power Service Territory with Eligibility Dates for residential customers enrolling in 2022

Here is a map showing the communities that are scheduled to be eligible for service from San Diego Community Power some time in 2023. Stay tuned for more information on service roll out as it becomes available.

Map showing San Diego Community Power service territory for customers with a 2023 enrollment date.

Makello is an authorized distributor for Green Energy EPC CA Lic #978836

Reference:

https://cal-cca.org/powered/https://

www.sdge.com/customer-choice/community-choice-aggregation/active-ccas

https://thecleanenergyalliance.org/

https://sdcommunitypower.org/

https://bill-compare.communityenergysolutions.com/ui-https://sdcommunitypower.org/v2/home/4/1/1

Annual Savings with Wipomo chart — This graph shows approximately how much you pay SDGE per year using various amounts of electricity, specifically as an average of the Coastal and Inland areas.

“SDGE’s Electricity Rate Hike”: How to Read It
If your home uses about 900 kWh of electricity a month (found on your electricity bill), find 900 on the horizontal axis, and then go straight up to the orange line (how much SDGE charges after the rate hike in September 2013). Your annual bill is approximately $3,000, which is close to $1000 more than before the September 2013 rate hike. Compare that to your potential electricity bill with Wipomo’s Energy Ecosystem: almost nothing every year.

SDGE’s Annual Charge to You
The annual cost of electricity from SDGE was made from SDGE’s own data posted on their website, here. We took the average cost of the Coastal and Inland areas at each monthly kWh usage (after the rate-hike) and multiplied that by 12 months. The result is the average annual cost of electricity for a given monthly electricity use.

To calculate how much SDGE raised your electricity bill, we did the same procedure with the cost of electricity before the rate hike, and then found the difference.

You can see from the graph: the more you use, the more money it costs. On the other hand, the more you use, the more Wipomo’s Energy Ecosystem can save for you. Your annual cost could be nearly $0 if you buy it upfront. You may even see that SDGE pays you if your system produces enough energy. SDGE will still charge the standard service fees for being connected to their electricity network, but on a per-year basis, a typical San Diego home (4 person household, 4 bedroom, 2 bath), could save as much as $5,000 annually, depending on their actual electricity needs. If you can’t purchase the system, it’s likely not a problem. In many cases, you can save instantly by financing the Energy Ecosystem. That means your monthly payments could be lower than your electric bill.
What about the initial cost of purchasing the energy ecosystem? See below.

Lifetime Energy Cost – 25 years: How to Read It

Save roughly $250,000 over the lifetime of the system

The lifetime saving graph captures a fuller picture that includes the cost of purchasing the energy ecosystem. And in this case, it also captures the cost of fueling 1 vehicle.
Just like in the annual graph, find how much energy you use per month on the horizontal axis. As an example, we’ll take 900 kWh again.
The red line shows how much you will likely pay SDGE for electricity in 25 years. At 900 kWh, that’s about a whopping $250,000! What could you buy with $250,000 if you could keep it? With Wipomo’s Energy Ecosystem, you can keep the lion’s share of it.
The green line shows how much you will likely pay for electricity if you buy only the Solar Photovoltaic part of the Wipomo Energy Ecosystem. At 900 kWh, the 25-year-cost comes in at a much lower $115,000, approximately. That’s almost $150,000 that you don’t have to pay SDGE.
The blue line shows you can save more if you use an electrically powered vehicle. If you break free from SDGE, you can do the same from the gas companies: power your car with your own fuel from solar photovoltaic electricity at less than 1/3rd the cost of gas.

The Cost of Doing Nothing
The Cost of Doing Nothing is calculated using Wipomo’s cost projection models. We started from the base scenario: a residential home with 1 Toyota Tundra. We used this base scenario across different amounts of energy consumption (kWh). Our model assumes that SDGE continues raising its rates at its historical level across all tiers: 6% per year. The model also calculates the annual fuel cost of a vehicle fuel rating of about 22 MPG and average annual use of 15,000 miles. The model used a flat rate cost of fuel.

Wipomo Solar Power
We’ve been developing this model for years so that we can hand over nearly instant quotes. Our model calculates exactly how much Solar Power you need (in kW and dollars) to produce any percentage of energy use for home or business. At every point along the horizontal axis, the cost of purchasing solar is in the final life-time cost.

The life-time cost of purchasing solar explained.

We try to be as detailed as reasonably possible, so within the lifetime cost, we’ve added a few other figures: 1- the cost of fueling your vehicle, for comparison purpose 2- the lifespan of solar modules and 3- future SDGE rate hikes.
For point 2, solar modules actually have a very long lifespan of up to 30 years. Their efficiency does start to degrade slowly, however. So by year 25, the solar modules can produce only approximately 80% as much energy as they can in year 1. If your solar modules’ energy production falls below your consumption, you will have to pay SDGE the difference. That’s why we also include future SDGE rate hikes because you will be paying the higher rate. Still, you’re saving a lot of money and you can always add more solar modules later.

Wipomo Solar Power + 1 Electric Vehicle
Adding an electric vehicle into the mix increases your savings. In this graph, we modeled switching out an inefficient vehicle for a Super Prius: a Prius upgraded with Wipomo’s EV battery pack and plug. You can charge your vehicle with your own solar electricity. The model accounts for needing more solar modules to cover the extra electricity you need for an electrically powered vehicle. Although there is an upfront cost of purchasing a new EV or upgrading a Prius to a Super Prius, over the lifetime of the solar system and electric vehicle, you save even more money.

If you are tired of paying SDGE, tired of electric energy rate hikes and ready to see how much money and how quickly solar photovoltaics and/or electric vehicles can save for you, call, email or request a quote today. -Joseph Ocampo, Wipomo Research Intern

Tag: SDGE

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