San Diego Community Power presents draft FY 2025–26 operating and capital budgets; staff project net income and authorize program investments

San Diego Community Power staff presented their proposed fiscal year 2025–26 operating budget, the fiscal year 2025–26 capital budget and the capital improvement plan through 2030 to the Community Advisory Committee on June 12, 2025. Staff described priorities—affordability, program expansion, capital investment and organizational capacity—and answered committee questions about implementation, timing and external funding.

Jack Clark, chief operating officer, said the proposed budget is intended to "shape a future that is both sustainable and equitable." Eric Washington, chief financial officer and treasurer, and departmental directors summarized highlights: projected net income, a capital transfer to the CIP, program investments such as a relaunch and expansion of the Solar + Battery Savings program, investments in a data platform and a proposed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Key numbers and program notes included in the staff presentation: - Projected net income for FY 2025–26: approximately $164,000,000 (staff projection presented during briefing). - Organization reserve objective: reach a 180-day cash-on-hand target within the fiscal year. - Capital transfer proposed from operating to CIP: $22,200,000 to fund programs and capital projects, including solar-plus-storage incentives and DRMS (distributed energy resource management system) development. - Solar + Battery Savings program: staff proposed doubling investment for the relaunch; the program aims to support customer bills and provide resource adequacy benefits by aggregating behind-the-meter batteries (staff said the program target includes roughly 45 megawatts in distributed storage for the single-family program). - Enterprise resource planning (ERP): staff said they are in scoping and procurement planning; they expect costs to be clarified via an RFP and estimated implementation cost is likely in the 'hundreds of thousands' range rather than multiple millions, with a phased implementation approach.

Staff explained that most near-term power costs were hedged and that, despite federal uncertainty discussed earlier in the meeting, SDCP expects downward movement in current market renewable prices will support affordability in the near term. Finance staff identified prepayment transactions and middle-office risk functions as priorities to manage energy-market volatility and to seek savings from tax-exempt financing strategies used previously.

The presentation also described staffing requests: additional positions for the middle-office risk function and program accounting support, new analysts in power services and a proposed communications associate to expand earned-media and community outreach capacity. Directors described grant-funded positions supporting programs such as the Solar Advantage and regional energy network (REN); staff said many program positions are funded by external grants and PUC awards, limiting budgetary pressure on the operating fund.

Committee members asked for follow-up reporting on pilot performance for the Solar + Battery Savings program (staff said full 12-month performance results would be available after all pilot installations complete), details on ERP procurement and costing, and clarifications on how program dollars translate to customer incentives. Staff said they will return with additional detail as the budget is refined and before the board takes final action.