{"id":407370,"date":"2026-07-22T01:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407370\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T01:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:47:08","slug":"consumer-advocacy-groups-formally-challenge-sdges-proposal-to-raise-rates-in-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407370\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer advocacy groups formally challenge SDG&E\u2019s proposal to raise rates in 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several groups are formally pushing back on San Diego Gas & Electric\u2019s request to raise customer rates by 8.6% in 2028, citing affordability concerns.<\/p>\n

Under the proposal<\/a>, an average electric bill would jump about $14 over 2027 estimates, while a natural gas bill would rise about $8.<\/p>\n

Edward Lopez, executive director of the San Diego-based Utility Consumers\u2019 Action Network, thinks that\u2019s too high. He cited a California Public Utilities Commission report<\/a> that found SDG&E\u2019s average residential electric rates have already risen 98% over the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing on the heels of the ever-increasing requests, at some point, isn\u2019t enough enough?\u201d Lopez said. \u201cWe all feel the pain of these rates. They\u2019re getting out of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 20% of SDG&E residential customers are at least a month behind on their power bills, according to same report.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Utility Consumers\u2019 Action Network and several other ratepayer advocacy groups filed formal protests against SDG&E\u2019s rate request with the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday. It\u2019s part of a complicated four-year regulatory process, called a general rate case<\/a>, to determine how much money the utility can collect from customers starting in 2028.<\/p>\n

Now, organizations \u201cintervening\u201d in the regulatory proceedings on behalf of SDG&E customers are hiring experts to dig into the utility\u2019s thousands of pages of application materials<\/a> in order to answer some top-line questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the utility doing? What are they proposing to do more of? Is it reasonable? What are the costs associated with that? Are those costs reasonable?\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

SDG&E wants to collect about $3.8 billion from customers in 2028, a roughly 8% bump over next year\u2019s estimated revenue requirement. The utility says inflation, rising medical benefit costs and wildfire-related expenses are driving the increase.<\/p>\n

For SDG&E and other privately-owned utilities in California, shareholder revenue is partially based on the return from infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

Malinda Dickenson, executive director of the San Diego-based Protect our Communities Foundation, contends SDG&E could lower its requested rates by prioritizing local power generation.<\/p>\n

The foundation\u2019s protest filing calls for greater consideration of small-scale solar generation and storage in order to reduce costs tied to hardening grid infrastructure against wildfire risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re not going to need these transmission upgrades and new transmission lines to bring power from faraway places to urban centers where the power\u2019s used,\u201d Dickenson said. \u201cSo what Protect our Communities will be doing in this proceeding is presenting alternatives to SDG&E\u2019s heavy capital expenditures.\u201d<\/p>\n

SDG&E has until July 30 to respond to intervening groups\u2019 protests.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the utility acknowledged affordability is top of mind for customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur proposal reflects a focused, disciplined plan to keep energy safe and reliable while managing costs responsibly on behalf of the customers and communities we serve,\u201d spokesperson Anthony Wagner said. \u201cWe support the transparent regulatory process that allows customers, community members and other stakeholders to provide input as the [California Public Utilities Commission] reviews our request.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s five voting members will ultimately decide whether to grant or adjust SDGE\u2019s rate request.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several groups are formally pushing back on San Diego Gas & Electric\u2019s request to raise customer rates by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-407370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}