SDG&E Bill Help for San Diego Seniors: CARE, FERA, Medical Baseline, and LIHEAP

By Diane Whitfield, CSA · October 27, 2026

Why the energy bill belongs in a senior care budget

When families work out whether a parent can keep living at home in San Diego, the conversation starts with caregiver hours and ends with a number that does not quite work. The energy bill is one of the few lines on that page that paperwork alone can lower, and it is the one families most often skip.

It matters more here than families expect. An older adult who is home all day, who feels cold at 72 degrees, who runs an oxygen concentrator overnight, or who cannot safely ride out an inland heat day without air conditioning uses far more energy than the SDG&E baseline assumes. El Cajon, Santee, Escondido, and Ramona run hotter than the coast, and summer bills there routinely surprise families who moved a parent inland to save on rent.

Four SDG&E and county programs apply here, and they are not alternatives to one another. Most seniors qualify for at least two.

CARE and FERA: a straight discount based on income

CARE, the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, is the largest of the four. It takes 30 percent or more off the electric bill and about 20 percent off natural gas. FERA is the step above it, an 18 percent electric discount for households whose income lands just over the CARE line. You do not choose between them: if you apply for CARE and come in slightly high, SDG&E checks FERA eligibility automatically.

The income limits in effect from June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027 are generous enough that a great many San Diego seniors on Social Security alone qualify without a second thought.

There is a second door that skips the income math entirely. If your parent already receives SSI, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, CalWORKs, or LIHEAP, that participation alone establishes CARE eligibility. Apply online at sdge.com/CARE with no documents, or by automated phone at 1-877-646-5525. The discount runs two years before renewal, and households verified as fixed-income renew every four years.

Two cautions before you file. CARE applies only to a primary residence, so it is not available on a vacant family home held during a placement. And unusually high-use households can be pulled for a usage review, which is exactly the situation the next program addresses.

Medical Baseline: more energy at the lowest rate, not a discount

The Medical Baseline Allowance is the program families overlook, and the one that most often applies after a hospital stay. It is not a discount. It adds 16.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, 0.822 therms of gas per day, or both, to the household's standard baseline allocation, so that medically necessary usage is billed at the lowest tier instead of pushing the account into expensive upper tiers.

Two paths qualify. The first is equipment: a CPAP machine, an oxygen concentrator, a dialysis machine, a suction machine, a nebulizer, or a motorized wheelchair. The second is a condition that makes permanent heating or air conditioning medically necessary, such as paraplegia or quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, a compromised immune system, or a life-threatening illness. Heating pads, humidifiers, saunas, and hot tubs do not qualify.

A licensed practitioner, meaning an M.D., D.O., nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, must sign Part 2 of the application. The easiest moment to get that signature is at discharge or the next follow-up visit, while the equipment order is fresh in the chart. If the condition is permanent, self-certify every two years; if not, self-certify annually and resubmit with a new signature every two years. SDG&E takes Medical Baseline questions at 1-800-411-7343.

LIHEAP: one-time help when the bill is already past due

When the bill has gone unpaid and a shutoff notice has arrived, the program to call is LIHEAP, the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In much of San Diego County it is administered by MAAC, which pays up to $1,500 once in any 365-day period toward current or past-due energy charges, including accounts already carrying a 24- to 48-hour disconnection notice.

Households that include someone 60 or older receive priority points, as do those with a young child or a member with a disability. CalFresh or CalWORKs participation can establish eligibility without separate income documentation. You will need a photo ID, proof of income, and a complete copy of the most recent energy bill, not just the payment stub.

Build in time. MAAC reports eight to ten weeks from application to payment, funding is finite, and applications can be waitlisted. Reach MAAC's energy team at 619-434-3829 on Mondays and Thursdays, or start with 2-1-1 San Diego, which routes callers to the agency covering their ZIP code.

How this fits the larger care decision

Stacking CARE with Medical Baseline is routine, and for a homebound senior running oxygen in an inland ZIP code the combined effect is often $80 to $200 a month. That is real money against a caregiver shift or an adult day program.

One distinction to keep straight: these programs attach to a residential SDG&E account. A parent living in a licensed assisted living community or board-and-care home has utilities bundled into the monthly rate, so there is no account to discount, and the lever there is the rate sheet and care level instead. You can verify any San Diego RCFE's license, capacity, and citation history on the CDSS Community Care Licensing site at ccld.dss.ca.gov.

For help assembling the whole picture, including IHSS, the Medi-Cal Assisted Living Waiver, and VA Aid and Attendance for veterans at the VA San Diego Healthcare System in La Jolla, Aging and Independence Services runs the county's information line at 800-339-4661. Our advisors are local and consultations are free.

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