The cost of housing in San Diego has gone up 25.8% in a year. The cost of water, food, gas, etc. has also gone up with the rest of the Biden inflation policies. San Diego is now one of the most expensive communities in the nation—far more expensive than either L.A. or San Fran. At the same time, the local and State government are forcing people to buy electric cars—which cost $55,000 just for the car.
Bottom line: San Diego is just for the rich and illegal aliens. This is how they are getting rid of the middle class, making it too expensive to live in the area.
San Diegans demand action from Mayor Todd Gloria over outrageous SDG&E rates
KUSI Newsroom, 2/22/22
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – As KUSI has reported, a new study found San Diego to be the least affordable city to live in, surpassing both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Two major components that led to this are San Diego’s gas prices, and SDG&E having the most expensive electricity rates in the entire country.
But back in May of last year, Mayor Todd Gloria was touting the deal he made with SDG&E, saying it would be “a better deal for the city and for ratepayers.”
But almost a year later, that deal has led to San Diegans paying the highest rates in the country.
Gloria’s office told KUSI News they have “no jurisdiction over those rates,” but our viewers tell KUSI they want to see Mayor Gloria do something.
Former San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre warned Gloria’s deal would lead to price increases.
He joined KUSI’s Ginger Jeffries on “Good Evening San Diego” to discuss SDG&E’s rates.
“We have the ability to pull the plug on SDG&E because SDG&E has to have a franchise to use the streets and the underground of the City of San Diego to deliver their electricity,” said Aguirre.
Aguirre elaborated that his team has a lawsuit challenging the awarding of the franchise to SDG&E because it was done behind closed doors and in violation of California’s open meeting law.
KUSI has repeatedly reached out to Mayor Gloria’s office to request an appearance on our newscast, but we continue to be denied.
The La Jolla Light published a detailed article in March 2021 that shows Gloria and other San Diego Democrats touting the deal they made with SDG&E. You can read it here.
A statement from Mayor Gloria’s office on the high rates is below:
Hi (KUSI),
Thanks for reaching out. Regulatory authority over SDG&E’s rates resides with the California Public Utilities Commission, and the City of San Diego has no jurisdiction over those rates. The rate increase customers are experiencing right now was approved by the CPUC in 2019. The increases in rates are compounded by rising natural gas costs, which SDG&E is authorized to pass directly on to its customers. Again, the City of San Diego has no jurisdiction over that.
What we can and have done is formed a publicly owned and operated power-procurement agency, San Diego Community Power, which buys power for customers in the five cities in the joint powers authority: San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Encinitas and La Mesa.
By procuring the power delivered to San Diegans, we invest in renewable energy and reduce customers’ reliance on fossil fuels, which makes us less vulnerable to the volatility in the natural gas market that’s causing bill spikes right now. (The price of sun and wind never goes up.)
In addition, the City’s franchise agreements for gas and electric services provides for unprecedented transparency around rates, including an annual presentation to the City Council on rate structure, planned rate filings and rate changes.
I hope you will encourage the journalists on your staff to gain a thorough understanding of the true reasons behind the spike in their bills, the regulatory structure that limits the City’s authority over rates and how the City is doing everything within our limited authority to relieve those costs through our joint operation of a not-for-profit power-procurement agency.
Thank you,
