CARLSBAD, Calif. (KGTV) — Some San Diegans are receiving letters telling them they're automatically being enrolled in the Clean Energy Alliance. It's a program that buys and sells extra power from people with solar panels on their homes.
Justin Fox owns Carlsbad Solar. He says the Clean Energy Alliance, also called the CEA, helps more people use solar power. The program covers seven cities in North County including Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido.
"They're buying hopefully clean energy, solar energy, and then selling it to the general public," said Fox.
Homes with solar panels send excess power back into the grid for a discount on the utility bill. CEA does the same thing. But Fox says the program gives him twice as much money, compared to San Diego Gas and Electric Company's parent company Sempra Utilities.
"At the end of the year if you have a surplus production for the year and you've met all the production for what you used, they'll give you the six cents per kilowatt hour versus the three cents that Sempra was giving you," said Fox.
While this program relies on power from solar panels on homes, it still uses SDG&E's grid to get transport power.
So people in North County still receive their bills from SDG&E. The only difference is the line item for power generation will be relaced with a CCA charge.
This comes as the state's public utilities commission put Net Metering 3 into effect last week, reducing the money people get for their surplus solar power by about 75% if they're new users. So some homeowners question whether the lower energy credit will be used to boost profits for SDG&E and the CEA, as San Diegans' average monthly bills get more expensive.
"Did they just get a huge windfall, huge profit margin there?" said Fox. "Whereas the solar customer's really getting taken advantage of?"
In a statement to ABC10 News, SDG&E says, "while SDG&E will no longer be responsible for buying electricity for a majority of our customer base, we will continue to operate and build the infrastructure needed to deliver clean, safe and reliable electric service to everyone in the region."
The Clean Energy Alliance says it's not changing its rates right now, and has not reduced its credit for solar energy. But the group's board will discuss a possible rate change during its regular meeting in June.
