So why is SSJID going through the time, effort and expense to become the electric provider for the homes, schools, businesses and city governments in South San Joaquin County?
We’re doing it because it will bring tremendous benefits to our customers and the local economy.
As a publicly-owned utility, SSJID’s customers will have local control and a voice in how their electric service is provided and priced. SSJID is governed by a board of directors who must reside in the district, and who are elected by district residents. As members of the community, directors are accessible by, and directly accountable to, the public they serve.
SSJID has provided water service in a safe, honest, customer-focused and cost-efficient manner for more than 110 years, and if given the opportunity, will do the same with electric service
As a public nonprofit agency, SSJID is also committed to providing electric service at substantially lower rates than PG&E’s. Studies have shown SSJID will be able to serve its customers at rates at least 15% lower than currently charged by PG&E on average. We estimate these lower rates will save customers more than $14 million in the first year alone, including nearly $2,400,000 in disposable income annually for communities. Additionally, new jobs with competitive compensation, benefits and a fulfilling, service-based purpose will further enhance our local economy. SSJID is committed to investing in public benefit programs and providing California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) rates in the same manner as PG&E, with the added discount commitment. That’s a significant economic benefit for local businesses and the whole region that will continue year after year.
SSJID is committed to shaping its energy procurement to meet our State’s renewable energy goals, and its service to match local priorities for safety, accountability, reliability, and value. SSJID currently owns and operates a 1.5 MW solar project used to offset power used to provide treated drinking water to Manteca, Lathrop, and Tracy. The district also generates zero-carbon hydroelectric power for Californians through its Tri-Dam Project.
SSJID is committed to improving long-term reliability. At home or at work, you need to be able to trust who’s delivering your power. And when something happens, you need to have confidence that the problem will be addressed right, the first time, as soon as possible. SSJID has been providing water distribution services to our communities for more than 110 years in a safe, reliable and affordable manner. We believe our history and commitment to exceptional service to our customers makes us uniquely qualified to also provide local electrical power in a reliable manner. As a local public agency, we are “locally owned”— meaning we are owned and directly accountable to our customers. Local ownership also means operations are carried out by people who live in and around the same communities they serve. It is this local commitment that differentiates SSJID from PG&E, a large, state-wide investor-owned utility.
Here’s how SSJID can offer such low rates:
We don’t collect a profit from ratepayers to benefit shareholders like PG&E.
Our overhead is lower and we don’t have to pay corporate income taxes.
We can borrow money for major improvements at lower interest rates than PG&E.
SSJID is capable and willing to provide power service to Manteca, Escalon and Ripon if it is granted the opportunity to take over that responsibility from PG&E.
What SSJID is proposing is not new or out of the ordinary.
There are other local irrigation districts in Modesto (MID) and Turlock (TID) that provide power to hundreds of thousands of customers.
If successful, SSJID would join more than 2,000 not-for-profit public utilities across the United States (53 of them in California) that efficiently and reliably deliver power each day to more than 49 million Americans. That’s 1 out of every 7 people in this country.