Customer Electricity Costs Case Study - San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE)

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDGE), along with other Investor Owned Utilities (IOU’s), have consistently increased electricity costs for commercial, industrial and agricultural businesses throughout California. This internal case study on the rising electricity rates from SDG&E offered to one of our customers revealed their electricity costs had increased by 41% just from 2017 to 2022.

View the full PDF version of this case study on San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) service area commercial customer business electricity costs here.

SDG&E's Rapidly Rising Electricity Rates For California Commercial Customers

California businesses have seen electricity rates rapidly rising to new heights, prompting them to look for ways to recover those costs. The majority of California’s electrical grid is serviced by California’s three investor-owned utilities (IOU’s); Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Revel Energy wanted a tangible example of how much these rates have changed, so we looked into the increasing costs and rate history for prospective clients within SDGE service area. This business is one example of many, and while not every rate change resulted in an increase in electricity costs, the trend still shows a shocking 41% increase just from 2017 to 2022, an average increase of more than 8% per year within SDGE service area.

As the cost of electricity in California for businesses increases, many agricultural, commercial and industrial businesses are fighting these rising rates sustainably with commercial solar and energy storage.

For a majority of utility customers in California, businesses included, the average commercial retail price of electricity has increased on average by about 3.5% per year from 2001 to 2020. However, after global events in 2020 such as the coronavirus pandemic, rates through 2023 have risen much higher than previous averages. Some customers are paying annual increases as high as 23%.

This was revealed to us in a case study conducted by our team looking at customer utility data through the past few years.

Learn how 2023 electricity rates are increasing for businesses in different IOU territories such as San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison or Pacific Gas and Electric.

Competitive Businesses Looking for Commercial Solutions

After realizing consistent rate growth, this commercial business is now considering solar to help face these increases and inevitable future rising rates. Thanks to lucrative incentives and programs like the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), and state and federal bonus depreciation – the net cost of commercial solar systems are brought down to help provide a quick payback period for increased ROI.

A History of Consistently Increasing Costs from Investor-Owned Utilities

Looking at a broader perspective on rate increases, we averaged together the California IOU’s rate increases across similar commercial and industrial electricity rate plans over the last 20 years. Revenue requirements for IOU’s have put pressure on rates, costs like modernizing the energy transmission system and transmission use charges are passed on to all ratepayers, residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural – every sector is effected.
 
Following significant increases over recent years, SDGE filed a general rate case with the California Public Utilities Commission, again seeking to increase electricity costs and gas rates by at least 8.7% in 2024. Following ratepayer outrage, this action has spurred a collective resistance against this Investor Owned Utility with the highest per-unit electricity prices in the U.S., that annually shares record profits with investors.

In recent news, California briefly ran on 100% clean energy for the first time, with solar providing a majority of the state’s electricity demand on a sunny Saturday afternoon. California and the world still have quite a way to go to achieve climate and sustainability goals, but its clear that increasing electricity are driving businesses to look for sustainable solutions.

Revel Energy’s team of commercial, industrial and agricultural solar specialists offer turnkey solutions for California businesses to lower their electricity costs, ultimately increasing cash flow. For a free comprehensive analysis, contact a Revel Energy commercial solar specialist today.

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See how these businesses saved on electricity, gained valuable tax credits and rebates with commercial solar and energy storage.

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Corporate Business Park in Irvine, CA has created significant electricity cost savings through commercial solar installed across the 5-building business park.

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See how this CPA firm saved on electricity and gained valuable tax credits through commercial solar that they used to keep cash in the businesses.

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