The San Luis Obispo Energy Watch Partnership has been a collaborative partnership between the SJVCEO, PG&E (until June 2020), and Southern California Gas Company for the last two years. In partnership with the County, seven incorporated cities, and the special districts, the SLOEW aspired to create and support clean energy efforts to improve the quality of life for all residents.

In the last two years, we were able to meet with 15 public agencies throughout San Luis Obispo County. 2019, in particular, was the year that we were able to engage in person with many of these customers. At the start of 2019, when the SJVCEO received the contract to implement the partnership, PG&E hosted a suite of PSPS meetings where we were able to meet with the City of San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Morro Bay, Grover Beach, and Arroyo Grande to not only discuss PSPS but also program offerings. It was a successful start to the year!

Moving through 2019, we partnered with the County of SLO’s Civic Spark Program to present Energy Benchmarking data to 8 Community Service Districts throughout the county. From discussing Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades, to streetlighting, and getting to know each agency individually, this effort created a strong partnership amongst the SJVCEO and many of the CSDs.

The highlight to our experience as implementer of this partnership was hosting the Annual CenCal Workshop at Veterans Memorial Hall in San Luis Obispo. Year after year, we value the ability to gather in person and connect on innovations and update one another on what is happening in our industry. We felt a missing piece not being able to host this event in 2020, but we know that with time, events like this will return to our calendars! Special thanks to the staff from County of SLO, City of SLO, City of Morro Bay, Cambria CSD, Heritage Ranch CSD, PG&E, and SoCalGas for representing the San Luis Obispo Energy Watch Partnership at this event!

While 2020 presented many challenges, one of which was unable meeting with you all in person! As we wrap up this virtual year, we are ending the partnership on an exciting note. After nearly a year of coordinating, the County of SLO is moving forward with a large project led by Willdan at their County Operation Center which includes many of their jail/detention facilities. The project is covering a large swath of EE upgrades and we are looking forward to seeing the final product! Special thanks to Annie Secrest at the County of SLO for her constant efforts to move this project forward.

Our time as Lead Implementers for the partnership has been a memorable and rewarding experience and working directly with you all has only pushed our mission as an organization further. While our program in San Luis Obispo County is ending, our efforts to serve rural California communities will continue. We are not going too fat! We are still just to your west covering the Valley, and in exciting news-- to the north, now offering services to public agencies throughout Monterey County. Once we’re able, we’ll get right back to hosting the CenCal workshop as part of our Central California Energy Watch!  We look forward to seeing you all again down the road.

What’s next?
As we enter a year of new beginnings, we have an exciting, new opportunity to announce for you all! Our partners at The Energy Coalition (TEC) have launched the Central Coast Leaders in Energy Action Program! CC-LEAP (for short) is a new local government partnership in the PG&E portfolio. That means they offer no-cost energy efficiency help to local governments, k-12 school districts, and other public agencies in Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County.

Interest in learning more? Visit their website here! To get your energy project started with a CC-LEAP Project Manager, contact us at hello@ccleap.org

If you have any questions regarding Southern California Gas Company, please visit https://www.socalgas.com/ or click here for more resources and contact information.