SAN DIEGO, Oct. 15, 2015
/PRNewswire/ -- Climate change is a challenging issue not just
for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) but for America and
the world. Leadership on this issue requires developing and
deploying innovative technologies that reduce air emissions while
making sure that electricity remains reliable and affordable.
SDG&E has significantly reduced its dependence on fossil
fuels over the last 15 years. In 2001 the company had just 1
percent renewable power in its portfolio. Today, renewable energy
from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydroelectric represent
more than 33 percent of the power provided to its 1.4 million
electric customers.
As the first utility to meet or exceed California's 33 percent renewable energy
target – five years ahead of the state's 2020 deadline, the company
is on track to exceed 40 percent in 2018.
By de-carbonizing electricity, a significant opportunity has
been created to modernize the transportation sector. At today's
California Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative's DRIVE THE DREAM
event in Los Angeles, SDG&E
shared its progress toward Gov. Jerry
Brown's commitment to get exponentially more zero-emission
vehicles on California roads. And, the company made a new
commitment.
"Opportunity comes in different shapes and sizes, and at
SDG&E we believe that electrifying transportation is one of
them. We have the opportunity to lower electricity costs
to all of our customers, while also reducing
both transportation costs for motorists and harmful air
pollutants," said Jeff Martin, CEO
of SDG&E. "Reducing air pollutants is particularly important in
Southern California, where smog
levels are higher than almost any other region in the
United States."
With Gov. Brown today, Martin announced the "Race to 500," an
innovative clean transportation program aimed at increasing
employee adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and workplace
charging. The program targets SDG&E becoming one of the
first Southern California
businesses to have 500 employees use EVs as their primary form of
transportation.
"Leadership from California's
utilities is key to growing the plug-in electric market," said
California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative Executive
Director Christine Kehoe. "DRIVE THE
DREAM 2015 garnered enormous support from our utility members, and
that commitment will help get California to 1 million clean electric
vehicles by 2020."
With more than 18,000 EVs in SDG&E's service territory and
more than 900 charging stations, San
Diego has one of the highest concentrations of EVs in
America, with the number on the road locally nearly doubling in the
past year. To learn more about special low electricity
rates, federal tax credits and state rebates for EV
customers, visit SDGE.com/EV.
SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides safe
and reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4
million electric meters and 868,000 natural gas meters in
San Diego and southern Orange
counties. The utility's area spans 4,100 square miles.
SDG&E is committed to creating ways to help customers save
energy and money every day. SDG&E is a subsidiary
of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy
services holding company based in San Diego. Connect with SDG&E's Customer
Contact Center at 800-411-7343, on Twitter (@SDGE)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric