EV Charging Rates with San Diego Community Power

Who this is for

Homes in San Diego (La Jolla and every other neighborhood inside city limits), Chula Vista, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, National City and the unincorporated county, including Julian and Rancho Santa Fe.
You can still use SDG&E's EV-TOU-5 plan. SDG&E delivers the electricity and sends the bill; San Diego Community Power supplies the power itself.
On EV-TOU-5, all three Community Power plans cost less than SDG&E's own power in 2026. PowerBase costs the least.

How the bill splits

An EV-TOU-5 bill in these cities has three parts: SDG&E's delivery charge, Community Power's generation charge, and an exit fee called the PCIA, which covers power contracts SDG&E signed before your city switched. The Base Services Charge of about $24 a month sits on the SDG&E side.

The clock is the same one SDG&E uses. Super off-peak runs from midnight to 6 a.m. and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, and from midnight to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays. On-peak is 4 to 9 p.m. every day. Summer pricing runs June 1 to October 31.

One SDG&E plan is closed to you: EV-TOU-5-P, the Reduce Your Use version, is only for homes that buy their power from SDG&E.

What an EV household pays on each plan

SDG&E and Community Power publish a joint comparison for a typical home on EV-TOU-5 using 866 kWh a month. The current one uses SDG&E rates from August 1, 2026 and Community Power rates from May 1, 2026, and includes the Base Services Charge.

Plan	Power	Average monthly bill	All-in per kWh
PowerBase	45% renewable	$290.23	33.5¢
PowerOn	53% renewable, plus 2% carbon-free	$297.75	34.4¢
Power100	100% renewable	$306.41	35.4¢
SDG&E, for comparison	41% renewable	$308.30	35.6¢

For that household, PowerBase comes to about $18 a month less than SDG&E's own power, PowerOn about $11 less and Power100 about $2 less. The comparison leaves out the California Climate Credit, which everyone gets twice a year whoever supplies their power.

Generation prices by the hour

Community Power publishes two sets of residential rates, labeled 2021 and 2022, and which one you pay depends on your city. The 2022 set runs about half a cent higher in every period.

PowerOn generation price on EV-TOU-5, per kWh, from May 1, 2026
Period	2021 rates: summer / winter	2022 rates: summer / winter
On-peak	41.1¢ / 15.4¢	41.6¢ / 16.0¢
Off-peak	12.9¢ / 10.0¢	13.4¢ / 10.6¢
Super off-peak	4.2¢ / 3.5¢	4.7¢ / 4.0¢

PowerBase runs about 2.8¢ less than PowerOn at the summer peak and about half a cent less overnight. Power100 is PowerOn plus 1¢ per kWh in every hour. These are generation prices only: SDG&E's delivery charge and the exit fee are added on top, which is why the all-in figures above are higher.

The gap that matters for charging is the one between hours. In summer, PowerOn's generation price from 4 to 9 p.m. is nearly ten times its overnight price.

City by city

City	Plan you start on	Rate set
San Diego, including La Jolla	PowerOn	2021
Chula Vista	PowerOn	2021
Encinitas	Power100	2021
Imperial Beach	PowerOn	2021
La Mesa	PowerOn	2021
National City	PowerOn	2022
Unincorporated county, including Julian and Rancho Santa Fe	PowerOn	2022

Encinitas starts on Power100

The City of Encinitas chose to enroll its residents in Power100, the 100% renewable plan, rather than PowerOn. For the EV household in the comparison above, that is about $9 a month more than PowerOn and about $16 more than PowerBase. Staying on Power100 is a reasonable choice if 100% renewable power matters to you; if it doesn't, you can switch at any time.

Changing plans

You can move between PowerBase, PowerOn and Power100 at any time on Community Power's website or by calling 888-382-0169. Have your SDG&E account number ready; Community Power asks for the first 12 digits, leading zeros included. The time-of-use plan itself, EV-TOU-5, is changed with SDG&E in My Energy Center.

Installing a charger in these cities

Every city here, and the County for unincorporated areas, permits home chargers differently. Our permit pages cover each one: San Diego, Chula Vista, Encinitas, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, National City and the County.