My Charges

Electric Charges

Items in the Electric Charges section include the cost of the electricity you use, along with the costs of getting the electricity to you.

• Electricity Generation: This is the cost of the electricity that you use, which can be based on tiered usage or on when you use energy for time of use customers.
  • Electric Generation Credit: This credit is for customers who receive their electric generation from a provider other than SDG&E. This is an electric generation credit to offset what SDG&E would have charged. 
  • Tiered rates:  Some residential electric rates are tiered so the cost per kWh goes up when your overall electricity use rises from one usage level to the next. There are up to two tiers where your usage can fall into.
  • Time of use rates
• Transmission: This charge pays for the delivery of high-voltage electricity from power plants to distribution points near your home or business.
• Distribution: This is the cost to distribute power to customers. It includes power lines, poles, transformers, repair crews and emergency services.
• Nuclear Decommissioning: This charge pays for the retirement of nuclear power plants.
• Competition Transition Charge: Through this charge, SDG&E recovers costs for power plants and long-term power contracts approved by state regulators that have been made un-economic by the shift to competition.
• Local Generation Charge: This includes the costs associated with generation power suppliers, which the CPUC has determined should be recovered from all benefiting customers.
• Reliability Services: This includes the costs associated with having enough generating facilities available to meet the demand for electricity at all times.
• Total Rate Adjustment Component: This charge achieves legislative and CPUC subsidies such as maintaining the Commission approved tier differential between rates for usage up to 130% of baseline and usage above 130% of baseline; discounted rates for assistance programs; and elimination or modification of seasonality in rates by lowering Summer rates and increasing Winter rates.

CCA Electric Generation Charges

or ESP Electric Generation Charges

Charges for electric generation that are provided by a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) or Energy Service Provider (ESP) for customers who receive their electric generation from a provider other than SDG&E. 

Gas Charges

Costs in the Gas Charges section include the cost of the gas that you use, along with the costs of getting the gas to you.

Public Purpose Programs

This charge includes the costs of state-mandated programs such as low-income and energy efficiency programs.

Taxes and Fees

Charges in this category include items such as taxes from the state of California and from the City that you live in. Examples include the State Surcharge Tax, State Regulatory Fee,  Franchise Fees and other similar taxes and fees.

• State Surcharge Tax: Collected by the State of California for the conservation and development of energy resources in the state.
• State Regulatory Fee: Charged to all utility users to pay for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) operations.
• Franchise Fees: A fee charged by cities for the right to operate or have transmission and distribution equipment in public streets and highways. SDG&E collects the surcharge and remits it to the appropriate municipality. 

Other Charges

Fees

Fees include items such as your Wildfire Fund Non-bypassable charge, Delayed Payment Charge and event day charges (Reduce Your Use days).

Discounts

Discounts can include CARE and FERA discounts for eligible customers enrolled in those programs.

Credits

Credits can include credits received from the State of California like the California Climate Credit and credits for solar generation such as the Applied Generation Credit.

• DWR Bond Charge: The “DWR” in DWR Bond Charge stands for the Department of Water Resources (DWR), and the DWR Bond Charge pays for bonds issued by DWR to cover the costs of purchasing power during the electricity crisis.
  • Notice: For applicable customers, the current DWR Bond Charge line item is now used for collecting for the Wildfire Fund effective Oct 1, 2020. Once SDG&E has implemented its new customer information system in 2021, the line item will be renamed the Wildfire Fund. The amount collected is not impacted.
• Delayed Payment Charge: This is the cost of a late fee when payment of your bill is past due.
• Event day charges (Reduce Your Use, Critical Peak Pricing): These are the charges for the additional cost of electricity that you use during event day periods.

• California Climate Credit: This is part of California’s efforts to fight climate change, the credit results from fees charged by the state to reduce carbon pollution and increase use of cleaner forms of energy. These fees are returned to customers as savings on their electric bill. Households will receive the credit twice a year, and small businesses will receive it monthly.
• Applied Generation Credit: These are credits that have been applied to your account to offset outstanding net metering charges.
• Excess Generation Credit: These credits represent any excess generation payments at the time of your True-up. Excess generation remaining at True-up will be credited as provided by law at rates approved by the CPUC.