Summer Savings for Your Business

The summer heat is here. Learn about a range of programs and solutions that prepare your business to reduce energy use and maximize savings on your energy bill.

Summer for Business

Know the Details of Your Pricing Plan

Your pricing plan impacts your bottom line. As summer temperatures rise, review your business' pricing plan to learn when to conserve energy. If your plan includes event days, prepare for on-peak and event-day hours (4 - 9 p.m.) to reduce your energy use when an activation is called.

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Business Programs

Programs to Help You Save
Savings Programs Tailored to Your Business

 We offer a variety of programs to help your business save energy and money. 

Learn more about savings programs

Demand Response Programs
Demand Response Programs to Help You Save

If your business can conserve energy when demand is highest, we have a program for you.

View Demand Response Programs

Resources For Builders
Resources for Builders, Developers and Contractors

Find resources and self-service tools for more efficient project application and management.

View resources for project application and management

Explore Electric Vehicles for Your Business

Power Your Drive for Fleets

Save money, eliminate tailpipe emissions, and simplify maintenance by transitioning to an electric fleet.

Learn more about Power Your Drive

Go Green Financing

GoGreen Financing

An official State of California initiative, GoGreen Financing provides easy access to private financing with exceptional terms and qualified professional contractor services.

Learn more about GoGreen Financing

No Cost Energy Education Classes

No-Cost Energy Education Classes

Whether you’re a skilled tradesperson or sales professional looking for the latest industry updates, enroll in training classes that help you provide added value to your customers. 

Learn more about energy education classes 

Tools to Help You Save Energy

Sign into My Account to review various tools in the Notifications and Alerts section to help your business conserve energy and save money. 

View My Energy Charts

Take advantage of easy-to-use features that help your small- or medium-size business monitor your energy use.  

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Manage Bill Alerts

Sign up for email or text notifications to track your energy use and costs, set a dollar threshold and payment reminders, and more.

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Energy-Saving Tips for Your Business

thermostat

Save on Cooling

Cooling (and heating) makes up about 40% of the energy used in commercial buildings. To keep your HVAC system running efficiently, follow the recommended maintenance schedule. Clean condenser coils, replace air filters, and check ducts and pipe insulation for damage.

Save on lighting

Save on Lighting

Use motion detectors to control lighting in frequently unoccupied areas and photocells to turn lights off automatically when enough daylight is detected. Increase your savings even more by installing energy-efficient products, such as LEDs. 

thermostat

Power Down

Turn off office equipment, including monitors and printers, along with lights. Consider upgrading to ENERGY STAR models that shut down or hibernate after inactivity.

adjust your water heating

Block the Heat

To conserve natural gas, weatherstrip and caulk drafty doors and windows to keep cold air in and hot air out.  

Get PSPS Alerts

In the event of a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS), do we have your business’ current contact information — and have you signed up to receive outage notifications? Visit sdge.com/notifications to learn more about PSPS notifications and additional support.

Summer FAQs

Hotter summer temperatures can drive up energy use, and when combined with summer pricing, our customers can experience higher than normal bills during this time.

During the summer, there is also a greater risk for a “Reduce-Your-Use” or "Critical Peak Pricing" Event Day to be called. Event Days happen when the demand for energy spikes in our region or across the state. We may ask customers to conserve energy if they are on a participating pricing plan. On an Event Day, a surcharge is in effect from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. significantly increasing the price of electricity. Combined with on-peak Time-of-Use pricing between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., this means businesses who do not conserve on Event Days may receive bills up to 400% higher than average.

A helpful starting point is for customers to log into or sign up for My Account. SDG&E offers various pricing plan options to give customers more choice and control over their energy use and maximize savings. My Account allows you to compare pricing plans side-by-side to find the one which fits your business’s needs.

Within My Account, customers can also enroll in text or email alerts and be notified in advance of a Reduce-Your-Use Event Day. Also, customers can elect to receive weekly energy use summaries to stay on top of their bill.

For customers on a Time-of-Use Plus (TOU P) or Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) plan, managing energy use during peak hours is also important. The highest energy costs occur during the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. when the demand for energy is highest throughout the state. SDG&E may also call a "Reduce-Your-Use" or "Critical Peak Pricing" Event Day, adding a surcharge to energy used during the hours of 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. It is critical to be mindful of when you use energy most.

Lastly, there are no-cost actions businesses can take to help reduce their energy use. For example, businesses can

  • Communicate with employees to be mindful of their energy use
  • On Event Days, pre-cool buildings in the early morning hours before 4 p.m.
  • Turn off or set office equipment to power down when not in use
  • Turn off lights or exhaust fans in unoccupied areas that are not necessary for security or safety
  • Seal off unused areas and reduce or eliminate heating or cooling in these spaces
  • At the end of the day, turn off all energy-consuming devices (lights, kitchen equipment, computers, monitors, printers, copiers, etc.)
  • Consider shifting work schedules for employees. Some manufacturing and industrial companies have shifted their schedules to 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Level Pay is a program which averages out your bill and allows you to budget more easily.

Customers eligible for the Level Pay Program (LPP) service are:

  • Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) and Direct Access (DA) customers. The LPP amount for UDC billed CCA and DA customers is calculated using both the customers’ UDC and CCA charges.
  • Commercial electric customers with maximum monthly demand < 500kW per month.
  • Commercial gas customer using < 250,000 therms of gas per year, who are not Core Aggregation Transportation (CAT) customers.
  • GT or DT (Mobile Home Parks).  

 Note: Co-Generation accounts are not eligible for LPP. 

Net Energy Metering (NEM) customers are not eligible for Level Pay.  

Per state law, SDG&E does not profit off the sale of electricity to our customers. The electricity we purchase for our customers is directly passed through onto customer bills.

You can find several resources by scrolling to the footer below. Click on links such as Rates & Regulations, Total Electric Rates and more.