About three dozen people from a collection of environmental and community groups gathered in front of the Rady Shell on Monday, protesting San Diego Gas & Electric\u2019s rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have witnessed increasing rates for decades,\u201d said Barbara Pinto, a Logan Heights resident and member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cIt is appalling that San Diego Gas & Electric can continue to make millions of dollars of profit every year off the backs of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The demonstration was held outside of DTECH<\/a>, an annual meeting billed as the largest gathering of utility professionals in the country. This year\u2019s event is being held at the San Diego Convention Center, and SDG&E President Scott Crider was one of the speakers at the meeting\u2019s keynote session<\/a> at the Rady Shell.<\/p>\n \u201cSDG&E keeps squeezing and squeezing, lobbying for every bit of profit they can eke out of us,\u201d said Lisa Eyler, UC San Diego psychiatry professor<\/a> and a member of the SanDiego350<\/a> environmental organization.<\/p>\n High utility bills have long been a sore spot for SDG&E customers, as well as for ratepayers across California, but complaints have grown louder in recent years.<\/p>\n According to the California Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office<\/a>, average rates for SDG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison increased between 48% and 67% from 2019 through 2023.\u00a0A blog post in 2023 by the Haas Energy Institute at UC Berkeley<\/a> reported SDG&E had the highest electricity rate in California.<\/p>\n \u201cAt SDG&E, we work every day to manage our costs and develop programs and tools that help keep energy more affordable and accessible,\u201d the utility said in a statement released after the protest. \u201cWe know that any change in energy costs makes a difference to our customers, and we work to keep bills as low as possible while continuing to deliver the safe, reliable energy that families and businesses across Southern California depend upon every day.\u201d<\/p>\n