State-funded building-decarbonization direct-install program launches in San Diego; CBO network to run local outreach

San Diego Community Power staff told the Community Advisory Committee on June 23 that the agency will lead local outreach and education for the California Energy Commission's Equitable Building Decarbonization (EBD) direct-install program and has accepted $1.4 million to support five years of local marketing, community engagement and enrollment work.

Senior program manager Nelson Lemeli said the statewide EBD program pays for no-cost electrification and energy-efficiency measures for income-qualified single-family and multi-family households in initial community focus areas (ICFAs). He told the committee San Diego's target is roughly 1,300-1,700 units over the program period, which staff estimate could channel about $40 million in retrofit investment into the region.

"We're targeting just over 1,700 units, and based on our estimates that means that we could potentially see an investment of over $40 million in our region from this program," Lemeli said. He emphasized the program is targeted to low- and moderate-income households and includes measures such as heat-pump water heaters, induction ranges and wiring upgrades.

LA County is the program administrator for California's southern region; Community Power's role is local marketing, outreach and coordination with community-based organizations (CBOs) and member agencies. Lemeli said the agency's Power Network procurement attracted interest from local groups and staff selected ten CBOs to deliver outreach (eight were named publicly at the kickoff): Center for Community Energy, Good for Others, Groundwork, I Love a Clean San Diego, San Diego 350, Urban Collaborative Project, United Women of East Africa, and others (two additional partners were pending final administrative approvals at the time of the meeting). Lemeli described a three-tiered partnership model to account for varying CBO capacity and minimize onerous reporting burdens.

The committee asked how the program will serve renters. Lemeli said renters are eligible but the program requires landlord sign-off for property-level retrofits; the program guidelines include tenant protections such as limits on rent increases tied to upgrades and restrictions on displacement for a stated period following retrofits.

As a real-world test, staff described the program's rapid-start project at McKinney Manor, a senior housing facility in Southeast San Diego, which completed 50-unit retrofits (heat pump water heaters, induction ranges, updated wiring) and held a ribbon-cutting with state commissioners. Lemeli said lessons learned from that rapid-start site informed permitting and program delivery plans.

Public comment included concerns about how investments reach renters versus owners and a critical remark about local CBOs; staff reiterated tenant-protection elements and said the outreach network will aim to reach communities inside the defined ICFAs (examples named: Ramona, El Cajon, neighborhoods in central San Diego, Chula Vista and portions of National City).

What happens next: Staff said outreach and education will ramp up in the coming quarter, coordinating workshops, on-the-ground enrollment via CBO partners, and coordination with member agencies to meet retrofit targets over the five-year program period.

(Reporting based on San Diego Community Power Community Advisory Committee meeting, June 23, 2026.)