FAQ

SJCE offers renewable and carbon-free electric generation services that are very cost competitive with traditional sources of energy from PG&E, even though renewable energy tends to be more expensive. We are committed to offering you rates that are stable and affordable, and to keeping costs as low as possible for all of our customers. For detailed rate information, please see our Residential Rates page and our Commercial Rates page.

Despite offering more renewable and carbon-free energy, SJCE's default GreenSource service is cheaper than PG&E's standard generation service for three main reasons:

• Renewables Market: We're taking advantage of low prices for renewable energy, which continue to decrease.
• Not-for-profit: As a government agency, we do not have to pay dividends to shareholders and pass savings along to our customers.
• Efficiency: Community Choice Energy programs like SJCE are leaner and operate more efficiently than investor-owned utilities, spending a smaller percentage of revenue on operating expenses.

No. PG&E must provide the same rates for all customers in its service area.

No. We work together with PG&E so you will get just one bill from PG&E each month. The only difference is you will see San José Clean Energy included as a line item for electricity generation on your PG&E bill. SJCE charges for generating the electricity you use. When you begin receiving electric generation from SJCE, the charges for generation that previously went to PG&E instead go to SJCE. PG&E will continue to charge for transmitting and delivering electricity, along with a variety of other regulatory and program charges at the same rates they always have. There are no duplicate charges for electricity generation.

The San José City Council sets rates according to agreed-upon goals of the program and the cost of its energy contracts during that period. Our top goals include rate stability and affordability, so your rates will always be as competitive with PG&E rates as possible. Rates are developed, discussed, evaluated and approved at public meetings, where the public is welcome to speak and give feedback.

The Board is committed to providing the cleanest electricity at the most competitive prices possible. The price of electricity does fluctuate. As a public agency, SJCE’s mission is to serve and benefit all of the residents and businesses in the City. We do not have shareholders that we need to serve, which helps us keep rates lower. We work for you, our customers. We anticipated that SJCE generation rates established in June 2018 will remain in effect until spring 2020.

Yes. CARE, FERA and Medical Baseline are available to SJCE customers, as well as PG&E customers, and provide the same discount regardless of which service you use. Customers enrolled in SJCE automatically continue to receive their CARE, FERA and Medical Baseline discount within their PG&E delivery charges; there is no need to reapply. New CARE, FERA and Medical Baseline enrollments or renewals must still be done through PG&E's customer service center or website, as usual.

Customers with electric vehicles are eligible for specialized charging rates. If you are already enrolled in PG&E’s EV charging rate plan, these rates will continue to applicable once enrolled with SJCE. PG&E maintains all customer account information, so all rate change selections are still made through PG&E. If you would like to enroll on an EV rate, contact PG&E’s customer support line. Your rate selection will be communicated to us by PG&E.

View GreenSource Residential Rates for peak, partial-peak, and off-peak EV charging rates.

Our EV rates incentivize customers to charge during low-demand periods; customers benefit from cheaper rates for doing so. Year round, charging should be minimized during peak (2-9 p.m.) hours as electricity is more expensive during these times. In the summer, costs are lowest between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., making this the best time to charge your vehicle (see graphic below).

Yes, SJCE customers are still eligible for PG&E's electric vehicle rebate since they remain PG&E customers for electricity delivery service. Learn more about the $800 rebate.

San José Clean Energy is the new nonprofit, locally controlled electricity generation service provider for residents and businesses in the City of San José. We will provide residential and commercial electricity customers with clean, carbon-free power options at competitive prices, from sources like solar, wind and hydropower. We source electricity for customers and PG&E delivers it over existing utility lines, and continues to do maintenance, billing and customer service as they always have.

As a city department, any revenues that exceed our costs will be used to benefit the communities we serve.

Until now, PG&E has been the only electricity provider in San José. In 2002, California Assembly Bill 117 established Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a new way for California communities to provide local residents and businesses with a choice of electricity providers. A city or a group of cities pool (aggregate) the electricity demand from residents and businesses in their area and buy electricity for them. CCAs offer cleaner, carbon-free electricity. SJCE is the new CCA for the City of San José and we’re the largest city in the country to operate a CCA.

No, we are partners in providing your electricity service. SJCE replaces PG&E’s electric generation services with a local, publicly controlled electric generation service. We buy clean, carbon-free electricity for you, which PG&E then distributes to San José homes and businesses. PG&E continues to provide customer and billing services, maintains power lines and fixes outages. It also provides all natural gas services.

Yes, reliability will absolutely stay the same. SJCE provides electric generation services, but PG&E still has responsibility for power transmission, distribution, billing and service, and it continues to maintain the power distribution network as it always has.

As a City department, SJCE is governed by San José City Council, which ensures public transparency. There is also a Community Advisory Commission. The City Council meets weekly and the Community Advisory Commission meets monthly. All meetings are open to the public and your comments are encouraged.

No. SJCE is entirely self-funded by revenues we receive from customers.

No. SJCE is “owned” by the City of San José and is a City department called Community Energy. There are no shareholders so all revenues stay right here. We don’t have to charge extra to generate a profit or pay dividends, which helps keep our prices competitive even though renewable energy is more expensive, and allows us to invest in local clean energy generation projects.

SJCE is a Community Choice Energy (CCE) program, also know as a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA).

In 2002, the California state government passed a law (Assembly Bill #117) allowing local governments to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents and businesses, forming CCEs. The law was passed to:

1. Give consumers more control over their energy mix and rates. CCEs are governed by elected officials. CCE customers benefit from cleaner energy at competitive rates.
2. Give consumers a choice for their electricity generation provider – the CCE covering their municipality or the investor-owned utility (here in San José, that’s PG&E). Either way, PG&E remains the sole electricity delivery provider responsible for transmitting the electricity to your home or business, maintaining the powerlines, and responding to outages.

SJCE is one of 19 CCEs currently in operation in California, together providing electricity to over 8 million homes and businesses. CCEs have collectively saved customers millions of dollars and cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically since 2010. Learn more about the impact of CCEs.

San José Clean Energy buys its power from a number of suppliers. Sources of renewable and carbon-free power include California wind, solar and geothermal; Colorado wind; and hydroelectric power from the Pacific Northwest. Like all electricity providers in California, we will report the percentage of each eligible renewable technology to the California Energy Commission on a yearly basis in the form of a power content label. This will happen for the first time later this summer, and the Power Content Label will be posted on both the CEC website and here.

Yes. We report annually to the California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission. They verify the amount of renewable energy procured for our customers. This is the same verification standard used by other California utilities, including PG&E.

We have two clean energy products. GreenSource, our standard product, is at least 45% renewable (from solar, wind and geothermal), with an additional 35% from carbon-free hydropower (water). Or, you can pay a small premium—about the cost of a cup of coffee or two— (1¢ per kilowatt hour)—for TotalGreen that's 100% renewable and 100% carbon-free.

Learn more about renewable and carbon-free energy sources.

All customers will be automatically enrolled in GreenSource, SJCE’s carbon-free, competitively priced, standard electricity service. At least 45% of your electricity will come from renewable sources such as solar and wind farms and 35% from hydroelectric facilities. And costs are 1% below PG&E generation service.

You can choose to upgrade to TotalGreen, SJCE’s premium 100% renewable, 100% carbon free electric generation service at any time. You can enroll online or call us at 833-432-2454, with your PG&E account information on hand.

You can upgrade to TotalGreen, whenever you choose. And if it’s not right for you, you can switch back to GreenSource at no charge (effective three months from the next meter read date). With either service, you can decide to remain entirely with PG&E; please see our Terms and Conditions.

We began serving City-owned accounts in September 2018 and most residents and businesses in February 2019.

Residential customers with solar and some small businesses will be served in a later enrollment phase, likely 2020. You will receive a notice in the mail two months before your service begins. If you'd like to enroll early, can you do so by selecting TotalGreen, our 100% renewable energy option.

State law requires that as we begin to implement our service, we contact our customers in writing a minimum of four times. We will do this starting two months before your service begins and for two months after.

Unfortunately, no. You can only participate if your home or business address is located within the City of San José. But, many other Bay area communities are or will soon be served by a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program; check your community’s website.

Historically, PG&E has been the default power provider for most customers in San José. When state legislators passed California’s Community Choice Aggregation law, the default provider status was transferred from PG&E to a local community choice program like SJCE, if a program is in place. This is true throughout the State.

California’s CCA law requires that SJCE is now the default provider of electric generation for customers within our service area, and that we operate as an “opt out” program. Customer choice is very important to us, so we provide four written notices—two before and two after enrollment—so that you can choose where your electricity comes from and how your dollars are spent.

You can opt out beginning January 2019, which is when PG&E provides your account information to allow us to make the switch. If you have received an enrollment notice, you can choose to opt out. While we don’t want to lose you as a customer, you always have the choice to opt out. You can opt out online or by calling 833-432-2454.

There is no charge for opting out of SJCE before your service begins or within the first 180 days of service. Existing PG&E customers will receive notices before your new service begins. After the first 180 days of service, SJCE will charge a one-time administrative fee to switch; please see our Terms and Conditions.

If you opt out before starting SJCE service or within the first 60 days of service you may return at any time, free of charge. Customers who opt out after the first 60 days of service with SJCE are prohibited by California regulation from returning to SJCE for one year.

Yes. The California Public Utilities Commission authorizes PG&E to collect fees (called public goods charges) from all customers to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy incentive programs. PG&E will still collect these fees and SJCE customers can receive these incentives and services.

All fee and charges are factored into SJCE’s rate setting process so that, in total, customers will still save money compared to PG&E’s rates. PG&E charges SJCE customers a Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) fee, sometimes called an “exit fee,” and a Franchise Fee Surcharge. Both are calculated based on the number of kilowatt-hours used each month. The PCIA involves multiple variables and its calculation is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). It is intended to ensure that SJCE customers pay the difference between what PG&E paid for power already contracted to serve them before to their switch to SJCE, and the current market value of that power. For most SJCE customers, the PCIA is currently two to three cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on when you switched and whether you are a residential or a commercial customer. PG&E assesses other fees such as non-bypassable charges and taxes exactly the same for customers receiving their electric generation service from SJCE or PG&E.

Right now, the CPUC doesn’t set an expiration date for how long the PCIA can be charged to CCE customers. The PCIA is being recalculated as part of current CPUC proceedings, and Community Choice Energy programs, including SJCE, are collectively advocating for a fairer calculation and clear “end date” for PCIA charges.

Yes, you will continue to receive the credit as an SJCE customer. You don't need to do anything to receive it; it's automatically applied to your bill. Learn more about the California Climate Credit.

Commercial customers: SJCE has an easy and attractive program for solar and other distributed electricity generation systems (wind, biogas and fuel cells) for commercial customers.

Residential Customers: We expect to enroll residential customers in 2020, when we can be certain you will receive a fair value for the solar you generate. If you currently have solar, you won’t automatically be enrolled in SJCE standard GreenSource service. But you can now enroll early by selecting TotalGreen, our 100% renewable option. Learn more about our Net Energy Metering (NEM) program.

SJCE is a central pillar of Climate Smart San José, a people-centered plan for a low-carbon city that drastically increases the community’s energy efficiency and investment in renewable energy, and dramatically reduces car emissions, all while promoting living better today for tomorrow. Part of Climate Smart San José is a goal to make us the first city with 1GW of solar distributed generation.

You can remain on the same rate schedule, including closed rate schedules such as E-6, regardless of a transition to or from service with SJCE. There are only a few rate schedules that are not open to SJCE customers, such as SmartRate and Peak Day Pricing.

Direct Access (DA) customer accounts are not automatically enrolled with SJCE. DA customers in our service area will stay with their current DA provider, unless you choose to change providers and enroll in SJCE’s generation service.

SJCE’s commercial rate schedules “parallel” PG&E rate schedules, and apply to generation-related charges only. For instance, SJCE maintains an equivalent schedule for all current commercial rate schedules (e.g. A-1, A-10, E-19) provided by PG&E. This includes time-of-use and NEM rate schedules.

SJCE rate schedules describe only the generation-related charges. By law, PG&E delivery charges remain the same, whether you receive generation services from SJCE or PG&E.

Yes, but only slightly. Large commercial energy customers are usually on rate schedules that have demand charges. These are complicated, comprising generation, distribution and transmission-related charges. Demand charges are based on peak monthly kilowatt demand for a given interval. The distribution and transmission portion of the demand charge remains with PG&E, because it’s on the current PG&E rate schedule. This represents the majority of the current demand charge. The rate for the smaller generation portion of the demand charge is set by SJCE.

As part of a larger change to Time of Use periods, PG&E will be discontinuing its Peak Day Pricing Program in the near future. SJCE is currently evaluating its own demand response programs. If you are interested in participating in a pilot Demand Response program, or are concerned about a loss of value from the discontinuation of Peak Day Pricing, please contact info@sanjosecleanenergy.org, and our account services team will get in touch with you.

Yes. No CCE program has ever failed. SJCE is one of 19 Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs currently in operation in California, together providing electricity to over 8 million homes and businesses. CCEs have collectively saved customers millions of dollars and cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically since 2010.

As government agencies, they have reinvested revenue into their communities through rate savings and energy programs encouraging adoption of electric vehicles, building electrification, installation of rooftop solar, and more. Learn more about the impact of CCEs.

Renewable energy is produced from resources that are never depleted such as wind and solar. Renewable energy is carbon-free because it does not release greenhouse gases. This is in contrast to fossil fuels which emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases when burned, polluting the environment and causing climate change.

But not all carbon-free energy is considered renewable. Carbon-free energy is not renewable if it has harmful environmental impacts. For compliance with California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard rules, nuclear and hydropower are considered carbon-free but NOT renewable due to the impact of nuclear waste and dams.

• Examples of renewable energy sources: wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydropower
• Examples of carbon-free energy sources: large hydropower and nuclear as well as all renewable energy resources listed above
• Examples of fossil fuel energy sources: natural gas, coal, and oil

SJCE’s default GreenSource product contains 45% renewable energy from solar, wind and geothermal and 35% carbon-free energy from large hydropower. It is 80% carbon-free overall. Customers can also upgrade to TotalGreen for 100% renewable energy. Learn about the benefits of renewable energy. 

SJCE only provides electricity generation; we are not involved in metering services. We don’t have any control over whether or not our customers receive Smart Meters from PG&E. If you wish to opt out of a Smart Meter, please contact PG&E directly at 1-800-743-5000.

No. SmartRate is a program offered only to PG&E electricity generation customers. 

Yes. SJCE supports Time-of-Use rate schedules, which have peak pricing during certain periods of the day, Monday through Friday, and off-peak pricing at all other times. The generation rates SJCE customers pay for peak and off peak usage are 1% below PG&E's generation rates. View SJCE Time-of-Use rates.

PG&E: 1-800-468-4743. Since PG&E remains the electricity transmission and distribution provider, they are still responsible for maintaining powerlines and responding to power outages. PG&E is also responsible for notifying customers of planned power outages.

PG&E offers customers two options – a standard product with 33% renewable energy and a Solar Choice product with 100% solar energy.

SJCE is deferring enrollment of residential customers with rooftop solar until 2020 to ensure that they can be enrolled into the program with minimal disruption to their NEM value and with as much time as possible to get comfortable with San José Clean Energy.

When an existing solar Net Energy Metering (NEM) customer is enrolled into a Community Choice Energy program like SJCE, PG&E requires them to true-up their account. This means that any current charges must be paid to PG&E and any current NEM credits are zeroed out. Because of this, most Community Choice Energy programs enroll solar customers on an extended timeline with multiple enrollment periods.

Can’t wait to join SJCE? Residential customers with rooftop solar can enroll early by choosing TotalGreen, our 100% renewable energy service.

San José Clean Energy buys its power from a number of suppliers. Sources of renewable and carbon-free power include California wind, solar and geothermal; Colorado wind; and hydroelectric power from the Pacific Northwest. Like all electricity providers in California, we will report the percentage of each eligible renewable technology to the California Energy Commission on a yearly basis in the form of a power content label. This will happen for the first time later this summer, and the Power Content Label will be posted on both the CEC website and here.

If you have questions about San José Clean Energy you can call us toll free at 833-432-2454or email us at customerservice@sanjosecleanenergy.org. If you have questions about PG&E, call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000.

Residential solar Net Energy Metering (NEM) customers may self-enroll into SJCE service at any time by selecting TotalGreen, our 100% renewable energy service. For many NEM customers, it may make sense to self-enroll immediately after your annual true-up with PG&E. When you enroll as a TotalGreen customer, you are helping bring more renewable energy onto the power grid.

As a solar customer, the extra premium for TotalGreen applies when you are drawing power from the grid as well as when you are generating power and sending it back to the grid. So the $0.01/kWh premium for TotalGreen applies to both your charges and your NEM credits. Your NEM credits are generally exported at more valuable Time of Use periods, so you may still zero out your bill, even if you import more power than you export.

As an SJCE customer, you will continue to receive one bill through PG&E. If you previously signed up for automatic bill pay, this will continue under SJCE – you don't have to do a thing. 

SJCE does not currently offer a Balanced Payment Plan (BPP) or comparable budget billing program. Customers currently enrolled in PG&E’s BPP will remain on the program, however the BPP only applies to the PG&E (electricity delivery) portion of the bill.

Yes. If you enroll with SJCE, you keep your NEM 1.0 status. The non-bypassable charges that NEM 2.0 customers must pay when they export power are distribution charges on the PG&E side of the bill, so SJCE treats NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 customers the same for all generation charges. If you later decide to opt out and remain entirely with PG&E, you still retain your NEM 1.0 status.

Yes. SJCE matches all active rates offered by PG&E and enrollment in a Community Choice Energy program like SJCE does not impact your eligibility in any way. If you later decide to opt out and remain entirely with PG&E, you would keep your E-6 rate, even though it is no longer offered to new customers.

No, SJCE cannot run out of power. Should SJCE fail to purchase enough electricity for our customers on a given day, the California Independent State Operator (CAISO, the grid operator) would step in and provide enough energy to make up the difference. This is a seamless process with no interruption in service for you. CAISO then bills SJCE for the energy procured by CAISO on behalf of SJCE and its customers.

For most solar customers, no. SJCE’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) program is the same as PG&E’s NEM program, keeping customers’ return on investment of their systems the same:

• SJCE provides all customers with full retail credit for their generation charges.
• NEM credits carry over month to month, but must be used within a single true-up period.
• NEM credits offset the same charges.

When your electricity generation provider changes to SJCE or back to PG&E, both PG&E and SJCE will perform a settlement of your account’s net charges and credits (known as a “true-up”). This settlement will result in a balance due for any usage charges owed to-date, or alternatively any excess credits will be zeroed out.

Yes. By default, SJCE residential solar NEM customers will receive monthly energy statements and a single annual true-up bill, but they can elect to receive an actual bill each month. Monthly billed solar customers will still not be able to carry NEM credits over between 12 month true-up periods, but they will pay for the generation charges they accrue each month.

Monthly billing will only apply to the SJCE generation charges, and PG&E will still employ an annual true-up bill for all distribution charges. Customers should consult with their solar company prior to selecting monthly billing, since under a monthly billing system, they may pay for charges they would otherwise have been able to offset with NEM credits later in the year.

Yes. Since PG&E employee discounts are applied to the electricity delivery portion of electricity bills, former and current PG&E employees will continue to receive their employee discount after becoming SJCE customers. 

One of the most important ways that SJCE will support local solar is through its upcoming programs and incentives. Other Community Choice Energy programs have helped promote electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, battery storage, and building electrification. The more thoroughly we electrify and decarbonize our economy, the more economic value solar will have. If you are interested in the programs and incentives being developed and deployed by SJCE, please consider following our Community Advisory Commission. The Commission will play an important role in prioritizing and designing SJCE’s programs.

No, no need to wait to get solar. If you become our customer in February 2019 and then later decide to install solar, you will remain our customer and will be enrolled in our NEM program, which is very similar to PG&E's but has a few benefits.

If you have questions about San José Clean Energy you can call us toll free at 833-432-2454. Or email us at customerservice@sanjosecleanenergy.org. If you have questions about PG&E, call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000.

If you have questions about the San José Clean Energy portion of your bill, you can call us toll free at 833-432-2454 or email us at customerservice@sanjosecleanenergy.org If you have questions about the rest of your PG&E bill, call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000.

If you have questions about San José Clean Energy you can call us toll free at 833-432-2454 or email us at customerservice@sanjosecleanenergy.org. If you have questions about PG&E, call PG&E at 1-800-743-5000.