At its Jan. 29 meeting, the Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) Board of Directors approved rate relief measures to allow customers to decrease their energy costs. The measures will mitigate significant increases in state-mandated charges for CEA’s customers, ensuring customers can continue to pay competitive rates compared to the local investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).
CEA approved two resolutions providing approximately $10.6 million in available rate relief. The action comes in response to substantial increases in SDG&E’s Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) rates for 2026, which threatened to increase costs for CEA customers across seven member cities.
“Our team is committed to keeping electricity affordable and offering customer choice while maintaining our mission to deliver clean energy,” said CEA Chief Executive Officer Greg Wade. “Together with our Board of Directors, we are acting decisively, ensuring our customers can benefit from competitive rates while maintaining the value of local control over their energy choices.”
For residential and commercial customers on CEA’s Clean Impact plan, the approved rate relief credits will provide an immediate bill reduction through Dec. 31, 2026. Residential customers will receive a credit of $0.03871 per kilowatt-hour, while non-residential customers will receive a credit of $0.02657 per kilowatt-hour. These credits are designed to achieve rate parity with SDG&E for customers on CEA’s Clean Impact power supply option, with most customer groups seeing their bills match or fall below SDG&E rates.
An additional agriculture rate reduction of 6.9% will decrease costs for all agricultural customers on the Clean Impact plan, addressing the unique needs of farming operations in CEA’s service territory. The reduction ensures agricultural customers also achieve competitive rates compared to SDG&E.
The PCIA is a state-mandated charge that compensates investor-owned utilities like SDG&E for long-term energy contracts when customers switch to community choice providers like CEA. While CEA has no control over PCIA rates, the locally controlled utility’s strong financial position has allowed it to absorb these increases and continue to effectively serve its community.
“Even with these relief measures in place, CEA will maintain a healthy financial outlook,” added Wade. “Our careful financial management means we can support our customers during challenging rate environments while continuing to invest in our local clean energy projects and programs.”
The rate relief measures take effect Feb. 1, 2026, and will remain in place through the end of the year.
To help customers make informed decisions about their electricity choices, CEA also recently launched a new Bill Comparison Calculator, a digital resource designed to help customers better understand their energy bills based on their household needs, priorities and budgets. The calculator provides a clear, side-by-side comparison of CEA’s three energy options and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), giving customers greater visibility into how electricity supply costs are calculated and how different service options may affect their monthly bill.
For more information about CEA’s rates and programs, visit TheCleanEnergyAlliance.org or contact info@thecleanenergyalliance.org.
About Clean Energy Alliance
Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) is a locally controlled, not-for-profit power provider serving over 255,000 customer accounts in the cities of Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, Solana Beach and Vista, with a focus on clean energy, sustainability, competitive rates and community reinvestment. CEA follows a community choice aggregation (CCA) model that allows local governments to purchase power to meet their community’s electricity needs, offering an alternative to investor-owned utilities’ bundled rate service.