An excessive heat warning for the deserts of San Diego County, a heat advisory for the inland areas.
Over the last couple of days, a lot of people have been turning up the air conditioning, if they are lucky enough to have it.
At the same time, more and more San Diegans are being moved to a time-of-use plan, which calls on people to conserve energy between the hours of 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
San Diego Gas & Electric's communications manager Wes Jones said it’s all because of the increasing amount of renewable energy on the power grid.
"There’s a lot of renewables on the grid in the middle of the day, a lot of clean energy, but that starts to decline later in the day," Jones said.
That decline means SDG&E has to fire up its natural gas power plants and that energy is more expensive.
RELATED: Another Day Of Extreme Heat Expected In San Diego County
Nearly everyone in SDG&E’s service area is being moved onto the time-of-use plan, 575,000 since the big roll out began in March.
Jones said 85% of people on the new plan have so far stayed on it. During a one-year pilot program, nearly all participants stayed on it.
If you don’t want to be on the plan you must opt out, but Jones said SDG&E has a strategy so everyone can decide which plan is best for them without incurring financial risk.
"If you go on the plan and after one year, you would’ve saved more on your original plan, we’ll credit you back the difference," said Jones.
RELATED: SDG&E’s New Time-Of-Use Plan Explained
Wes Jones said customers who use solar power have their own way to opt out of the time-of-use plan.
"If you installed your system before mid-2016, you actually have the opportunity to stay on a non-time of use plan for up to 20-years from the date you installed your system," he said.
Jones said the overall idea is to get people to conserve during the hours when the availability of renewable energy dips.
And he said if you can conserve during the 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. window, you could see a smaller bill.
"It’s 19-hours of off-peak prices that are going to be cheaper than you’re getting on the old original plan," Jones said.
SDG&E is the first investor-owned utility in the state to switch to a time-of-use plan. Others are expected to follow suit.
Just think of it as the “new normal” when it comes to where power comes from, and what you pay for it.
