SDG&E Encourages Customers to Make Smarter Energy Decisions This Summer

By Jyothi Shanbhag
TMCnet Contributor

San Diego County residents are currently enjoying the sunny weather and are expecting the temperature to shoot up much higher this summer. When the weather continues to warm up, it is common that that energy use rises due to increased use of air conditioning.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), a regulated public utility that provides safe and reliable energy service in San Diego and southern Orange (News - Alert) counties, is reminding its customers that they should promptly conserve energy, even though it has adequate electricity supplies available to meet regional energy needs.

In spite of having adequate electric resources, conditions may change anytime due to unforeseen situations that may be out of SDG&E's control. Conservation and demand response is important during heat waves or an unplanned power plant outage or transmission line emergency, according to SDG&E.

Steven D. Davis, SDG&E's president and chief operating officer said that SDG&E is prepared to meet this summer's energy demand but they expect that there will be days when they will need help from customers through conservation and demand response and they appreciate all efforts by their customers so far this year to help keep the electric system running smoothly during the recent wildfires.

SDG&E has also taken initiative to improve the reliability of the local grid with several major transmission system augmentations as well as continuing to coordinate with the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) and Southern California Edison (News - Alert) on contingency plans for adequate electricity resources for customers throughout Southern California without SONGS in operation.

Also, SDG&E is encouraging its customers to make smarter energy choices by providing tools and resources that can help them manage their electricity use and save money.

People interested can sign up to access the Energy Management Tool, which helps them manage their energy use by providing daily updates on how and where they use energy the most.

SDG&E has also suggested many tips to save on energy use and costs, and decrease impact on the grid during high-demand days.