Power Saver Rewards Program
Get paid for reducing your energy
Help make our energy grid stronger and more reliable for all Californians — and get paid for it too. The Power Saver Rewards program rewards you for lowering your electricity use when energy is most in demand. This summer, it pays to be flexible.
How It Works
On hot summer days, increased demand for cooling strains the electrical grid, creating a higher risk of rotating power outages. When this occurs, the state’s grid operator may call a Flex Alert for all Californians to conserve energy. This voluntary call for conservation also triggers the Power Saver Rewards program for eligible and participating residential customers.
If you’re eligible and can reduce your energy use during a Power Saver Rewards event, when the grid is especially stressed — as a reward, you’ll receive a bill credit of $2.00/kWh. Participating is entirely voluntary, and the more energy you reduce, the more you can earn!
A Power Saver event may occur any day of the week from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the months of May through October. You’ll be notified a day ahead of the event if you have chosen to receive emails or text messages, so that you can plan and prepare how you can save energy.
By participating in Power Saver Rewards, not only do you have the power to support the grid, but you can also benefit the environment by using energy when there are more available renewable energy resources earlier in the day.
Program Eligibility
- Be a residential electric customer with a smart meter within SDG&E’s territory.
- Not be a participant of other SDG&E energy incentive programs such as AC Saver, Capacity Bidding or a third-party program. (Note: If you later enroll in these programs, you will be automatically unenrolled from the Power Saver Rewards Program.)
- Residential customers participating in Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) or Direct Access (DA) are eligible for the program.
- NEM customers are eligible to participate.
Requirements and Conditions
Power Saver Rewards customers are eligible to receive a bill credit if they can reduce their energy use below their Typical Use on similar days prior to the Power Saver Rewards event.
Typical Use for a Power Saver Rewards event that takes place on a weekday, Monday through Friday, is calculated by:
- Reviewing energy use the five weekdays prior to the event, and identifying the three weekdays in which a customer used the most energy between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
An average energy use of the three days between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. is the Typical Use to be used during a Power Saver Rewards event. Days in which a Power Saver Rewards event occurred are not used in the Typical Use calculation.
Typical Use for a Power Saver Rewards event that takes place on a weekend or a holiday is calculated by:
- Reviewing energy use on the three weekend/holiday days prior to the event. Identify the one weekday/holiday day that used the most energy between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.; the energy used on this day is the Typical Use. Days in which a Power Saver Rewards event occurred are excluded from the Typical Use calculation.
How do I apply?
- You can apply to participate in the Power Saver Rewards program by submitting an online application.
- Your application will be reviewed within two weeks, and you’ll receive an e-mail notifying you of the status of your application once it’s been reviewed.
- To ensure that your application is approved as quickly as possible, please make sure all the information provided on the enrollment form is correct and that the email address submitted matches the one on file.
- Once enrolled, if you have an email address on file, you will receive an e-mail the day before an event at the e-mail address on file with SDG&E. If you would like to also receive text messages notifying you of events or would like to change your e-mail, go to My Account.
For more information, you can contact our Power Saver Rewards program call center by phone: (866) 291-9516.
Sign up for Flex Alert Notifications
Flex Alerts notify us of preventable power outages. Sign up for Flex Alert notifications so you’ll know when to voluntarily conserve electricity. Find out more at flexalert.org .
Cost rewards earned through energy conservation actions during a Flex Alert event will be credited to a future bill statement. To find more details on how cost rewards are calculated and applied to your bill, and additional program details, visit SDG&E’s Power Saver Rewards website.
Additional Information
The Power Saver Rewards fact sheet is available in English, Spanish and 20 additional languages. Browse additional languages.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can unenroll from the Power Saver Rewards program by submitting an online application. Once you unenroll you will no longer be eligible for bill credits. It may take up to 2 weeks to process your request to unenroll.
Customers who have been enrolled in Power Saver Rewards will receive an email or direct mail letter welcoming them to the program.
Go to MyAccount > Click the “Account” tab > Click “Notification Settings” > Click “Billing and Account Updates.”
Make sure to add a check to the box that says “Text” and input the phone number to receive text notifications of Power Saver Rewards events along with other account and billing notifications.
Go to MyAccount > Click “Account tab” and on "My Profile." Select the edit icon to edit your email or phone number.
All participants with an email on file will receive an email notification the day before a Power Saver Rewards event. Participants may not opt out of this email.
Typical Use is calculated based on when a Power Saver Rewards event happens, either on weekdays or weekends and holidays, and the participant’s energy use.
- Typical Use on weekdays: The Typical Use for each customer is calculated by taking the 5 weekdays prior to the event and choosing the 3 weekdays in which the customer used the most energy between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00p.m. Then the energy use between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on the 3 days is averaged to come up with the Typical Use for the customer for the Power Saver Rewards event.
- Typical Use on weekends or holidays: The Typical Use for each customer is calculated by taking the 3 weekend/holiday days prior to the event and choosing the weekend day in which the customer used the most energy between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The amount of energy used on this day is the Typical Use.
If you successfully conserved energy below your typical use on a Power Saver Rewards day, a bill credit will be included on your energy bill that includes the energy use on the date of the Power Saver Rewards event day. This will usually occur within 31 days of the Power Saver Rewards event day.
For questions, call (866) 291-9516.
When a Power Saver Rewards event is called, you can reduce your energy use by adjusting your air conditioning thermostat up a few degrees or switch to fans (health permitting); avoid doing things like laundry, running the dishwasher and other high-energy use activities. Click here to learn more energy-saving tips.
Yes. While it's anticipated that most Power Saver Rewards event days will be declared when a Flex Alert is called, a Power Saver Rewards event can be called during other grid emergencies where conservation is needed.
The programs described herein are funded by California utility customers and administered by San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E®) under the auspices of the CPUC.