EV Rates in Coronado, El Cajon, Lemon Grove, Poway, Santee
Who this is for
- Homes in Coronado, El Cajon, Lemon Grove, Poway and Santee. None of these cities belongs to a community power provider, so SDG&E both supplies and delivers your electricity.
- That opens one plan most of the county can't use: EV-TOU-5-P, SDG&E's Reduce Your Use plan.
- Charging 1,000 miles a month overnight on EV-TOU-5 costs about $37 to $39 in electricity.
Your EV plans and what they cost
| Plan | Super off-peak | Off-peak | On-peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| EV-TOU-5 | 13.1¢ | 49.6¢ | 80.2¢ |
| EV-TOU-5-P (Reduce Your Use) | 12.2¢ | 47.6¢ | 74.8¢, plus $1.16 on event days |
| TOU-ELEC | 34.5¢ | 38.9¢ | 72.6¢ |
| EV-TOU (separate car meter) | 30.9¢ | 55.7¢ | 86.3¢ |
From November through May, EV-TOU-5 drops to 12.3¢ overnight, 46.6¢ off-peak and 52.4¢ on-peak. On top of any plan, SDG&E bills a Base Services Charge of about $24 a month (about $12 with FERA and $6 with CARE). EV-TOU-5 requires an electric vehicle registered with the California DMV.
Super off-peak is midnight to 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, and midnight to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays. On-peak is 4 to 9 p.m. every day.
What charging costs on EV-TOU-5
Assuming the car averages about 3.3 miles per kWh, and before the Base Services Charge:
| Miles a month | Energy | Overnight, summer | Overnight, winter | 4–9 p.m., summer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | 150 kWh | $20 | $18 | $120 |
| 1,000 | 300 kWh | $39 | $37 | $241 |
| 1,500 | 450 kWh | $59 | $55 | $361 |
Is Reduce Your Use worth it?
EV-TOU-5-P is EV-TOU-5 with a discount and a catch. Every kWh is a little cheaper: 0.9¢ overnight, 2.0¢ off-peak and 5.4¢ on-peak in summer. In exchange, SDG&E can call up to 18 event days a year, and on those days every kWh used from 4 to 9 p.m. costs an extra $1.16.
An example. Take a summer month with 300 kWh of overnight charging, 250 kWh off-peak and 50 kWh on-peak. The discount saves about $10 that month. Now the event days: using 5 kWh between 4 and 9 p.m. on each of 18 event days adds about $104 over the year. A central air conditioner running through those five hours uses well over 5 kWh, so the plan only works for households that can genuinely go quiet on event afternoons, for example by cooling the house before 4 p.m.
TOU-ELEC or EV-TOU-5?
TOU-ELEC is cheaper than EV-TOU-5 at every hour except the one that matters most for a car: overnight it costs 34.5¢ against 13.1¢. Charging 300 kWh a month overnight costs about $104 on TOU-ELEC and $39 on EV-TOU-5. TOU-ELEC's off-peak price is 10.7¢ lower, so it only catches up if the house uses roughly 600 kWh or more a month outside the overnight hours. That is a home with a heat pump or a battery doing heavy work through the day, not a typical home with an EV.
Installing a charger in these five cities
The rate plan only pays off with a charger that can fill the car overnight. Each of these cities permits it its own way:
- Coronado: applications go in by email, by mail or in person, and inspections are booked by phone at 619-522-7361 by 4 p.m. for the next business day. Coronado permit steps.
- El Cajon: online through PACO, with a scaled site plan, a single-line diagram for chargers of 50 amps or more, and a $276.44 standard permit fee. El Cajon permit steps.
- Lemon Grove: online or at the counter Monday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to noon; inspections are requested by voicemail at (619) 825-3808 before 3 p.m. Lemon Grove permit steps.
- Poway: electronic submittals only, and inspections booked before 4 p.m. for the next business day. Poway permit steps.
- Santee: through the city's permitting portal, following its residential plug-in EV checklist. Santee permit steps.
Sources
- SDG&E: Electric vehicle pricing plans (prices from August 1, 2026)
- SDG&E: Schedule EV-TOU-5 total rates table, effective August 1, 2026
- SDG&E: Base Services Charge
- SDG&E: Active community choice providers
- Permit details: our EV charger permit guide, checked October 2026.