SAN DIEGO, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) today announced the launch of Reduce Your Use day rewards. Starting this summer, most SDG&E residential and small business customers are eligible to earn a bill credit for using less electricity on specific days. These Reduce Your Use days may be called on hot summer days when energy demand is high and will last from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Customers who are eligible for Reduce Your Use day rewards are encouraged to set up email or text alerts by visiting sdge.com/reduceuse so that they can be notified the day before a Reduce Your Use day occurs. This will enable customers to plan ahead and take steps to save the most energy and maximize their reward.           

SDG&E customers who respond by reducing their energy use from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Reduce Your Use days will see a credit of $0.75 per kilowatt hour (kWh) on their next energy bill. Customers can log into My Account at sdge.com on Reduce Your Use days to view their conservation goal. The online tool will also display how much energy they used and saved during the Reduce Your Use day.                     

"Saving energy on all levels is becoming a way of life for all of us as we continue to look to new ways to reduce the demand on the electrical grid and help the environment," said Ted Reguly, director of customer programs and assistance at SDG&E.

This summer, SDG&E is also sponsoring the San Diego Energy Challenge contest that is being managed by authorized contractor Simple Energy. Through the San Diego Energy Challenge, San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) area residents are eligible to earn their Reduce Your Use day rewards by saving energy, while also earning points for the SDUSD middle school of their choice by signing up at sdenergychallenge.com. This innovative program recently earned backing from the Department of Energy (DOE), with an announcement that SDG&E was awarded a prestigious DOE funding opportunity to run the program.

Customers who opt in to the San Diego Energy Challenge will have the chance to earn individual prizes—including gift cards and tablet computers—and help their local SDUSD middle school compete for a chance to win a cash grant based on how much energy they save. Schools can earn $500 for school supplies, and the top three overall winning schools will split a cash grant of $30,000. Building on the success of last summer's Biggest Energy Saver pilot program, the San Diego Energy Challenge uses Simple Energy's "Social, Fun and Simple"™ online game platform to encourage customers to save energy through friendly competition with their friends and neighbors.

"SDG&E's goal is to help customers make smart energy choices by offering tools and resources that can help them manage their electricity use. Now that nearly all our customers have smart meters installed, we are able to accomplish this goal with initiatives like Reduce Your Use and San Diego Energy Challenge that utilize smart meter data to help customers manage their energy use, while having fun, earning rewards, and helping improve the community in the process," continued Reguly.

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 more than 850,000 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.  

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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric