— the community energy program that purchases power for seven cities in San Diego’s North County — will pay more on their monthly bills starting this fall, largely due to higher energy costs.
During the summer months from June 1 to Oct. 31, those customers using 377 kilowatt-hours per month will pay $192.08, compared to $182.50. A smaller portion of the budget increase was due to about $3.5 million in costs associated with CEA expanding its customer base into the service territories of Oceanside and Vista earlier this year.The rate increase, which will affect customers in all seven communities, will lead to a net improvement of $33.3 million in the 2024-25 budget and will meet CEA’s requirement that its financial reserves make up at least 5 percent of total annual revenues.
Board members of the Clean Energy Alliance at a meeting in Oceanside in September 2023. , or CCAs, that have sprung up across the state in recent years that purchase electricity generation for residents and businesses in their respective municipalities.to encourage the growth of renewable energy and provide competition to traditional investor-owned utilities such as San Diego Gas & Electric by offering customers higher percentages of renewable sources at comparable or slightly lower rates.
The Clean Energy Alliance serves more than 244,000 customer accounts, making it the 10th largest CCA in the state.is the other CCA in the county. Launched in 2021, it serves almost 940,000 accounts, making SDCP the second-largest CCA in the state.