SDG&E submits a request to raise monthly bills 8.6% in 2028

San Diego Gas & Electric officials late Monday afternoon filed a rate request with the California Public Utilities Commission that seeks to increase average monthly bills in 2028 for residential customers using electricity and natural gas by 8.6%.

The submission, which ran about 7,000 pages, is part of what’s called a general rate case - essentially a budget outline that estimates what the commission thinks it costs to maintain and upgrade the power system for each investor-owned utility in California over a four-year period.

SDG&E’s current general rate case started in 2024 and runs through the end of 2027. The next one will cover 2028 through 2031.

In its filing, SDG&E officials seek an estimated revenue requirement of about $3.8 billion for 2028 - $2.9 billion for electric operations and $900 million for natural gas operations. That’s an increase of $280 million, or 8.1%, compared to estimated levels for 2027.

If approved, typical residential customers would seen an increase in their average monthly electric bill of $14.03, while an average monthly natural gas statement would rise $8.45 compared to 2027. Combined, that’s an 8.6% increase.

The numbers are by no means final. SDG&E’s submission kicks off a long and complicated deliberative process overseen by the utilities commission, also known as the CPUC, that stakeholders, including consumer groups and SDG&E officials, will take part in and haggle over for about 18 months.

Ultimately, the CPUC’s five voting commissioners will determine what they deem to be a fair and proper revenue amount.

“We’re submitting a focused rate proposal to support the work that is really needed to operate and maintain the energy system serving our region,” SDG&E President Scott Crider said.

The proposal comes as SDG&E’s 3.7 million customers shoulder ever-increasing utility rates and monthly bills.

According to the most recent electric rates report by the California Public Advocates Office, the average per-kilowatt residential rate has increased 98% in SDG&E's service territory in the past 10 years. Southern California Edison customers have seen a 101% increase over the same time frame, with Pacific Gas & Electric average residential rates climbing 69%.

“We know that a lot of families are struggling with the higher costs of absolutely everything right now and we’ve really put that as top of mind for us to make sure we are making a proposal that makes a lot of sense for our customers, for the grid and for the gas system,” Crider said.

SDG&E attributed higher costs to multiple factors, including wildfire expenses. Officials said they are legally required to maintain $1 billion in wildfire liability insurance and that coverage is expected to cost 27% more in 2028 than 2025.

After the catastrophic fires last year in the Los Angeles area, California passed Senate Bill 254 that earmarked an additional $18 billion to the state’s wildfire fund, which is paid equally by utility shareholders and ratepayers.

SDG&E also pointed to:

• overall inflation that, according to the U.S. Consumer Price Index, has raised the costs of consumer goods and services by about 25% and affected the utilities sector as well, and
• expenses associated with medical benefits for SDG&E’s 4,200 employees that the utility says are projected to increase by about 25%, compared to last year.

One of the consumer groups that takes an active role in general rate case proceedings, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), said SDG&E’s proposal is too high for ratepayers to absorb.

“There is an affordability issue with any type of rate increases year over year, and we want to see rates decrease significantly instead of going up constantly,” the group’s communications director, Lee Trotman, said in an email to the Union-Tribune. “The way to do that is to call your legislators and demand action and accountability from the CPUC to stop rubber stamping approvals."

Serena Pelka, senior policy advocate for the Climate Action Campaign, made reference to SDG&E profits of $563 million last year and $891 million in 2024.

“Their greed really knows no bounds,” Pelka said. “So while this has not yet been approved, we already are feeling the impacts of their skyrocketing rates at every turn, and we have major concerns about what this $22.50 per month (increase) would look like for the actual hardworking families across San Diego,” referring to the projected increase of $14.03 for electric bills plus $8.45 for customers with natural gas hookups.

SDG&E officials said the company has made a concerted effort to manage costs by using new technology and re-engineering efforts to improve efficiency across its operations.

They pointed to enhancements that have reduced the cost of undergrounding powerlines in high-risk wildfire areas by about 50% - from $6 million per mile to about $3 million.

“We are definitely not done on figuring out how we can continue to lower bills and, frankly, lower our cost of service at the end of the day,” said Christy Ihrig, SDG&E’s senior vice president of communications and stakeholder engagement.

Since the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice fires in 2007 ravaged large swaths of San Diego County, SDG&E has spent more than $6 billion in ratepayer funds to reduce the risk of widespread fires.

That includes building its Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center and replacing wooden power poles with fire-resistant steel poles.

SDG&E helps support a weather network with UC San Diego that includes 130 cameras that stream views of high-fire risk areas. The system includes 225 stations that measure wind speed, temperature and humidity every 10 minutes.

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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 8:02 PM.