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68℉Energy: Household Energy Use
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Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?
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San José Clean Energy is working towards delivering 100 percent carbon-neutral electricity to all customers by 2030. Until that happens, reducing household electricity use will contribute to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
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Burning natural gas in water heaters, space heaters, clothes dryers, and other household appliances generates carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Natural gas systems also leak methane during production, storage, and distribution. Methane is over 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, making it a particularly urgent target for reduction. We must reduce, and eventually eliminate, natural gas use in our homes and buildings to stop climate change.
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Reducing household electricity use, especially at peak times (late afternoon to early evening), strengths the resilience of our electric grids and can help lower energy bills. Shifting to off-peak hours helps prevent stress on the system and reduces the need to activate high-emissions power plants and lower the risks of outages.
What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?
Completed
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Building reach code incentivizing all-electric buildings (adopted for 2019 and 2022 building code cycles)
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Natural Gas Infrastructure Prohibition for low-rise residential new construction (adopted 11/19/19) and Updated Natural Gas Prohibition Ordinance for all new construction (adopted 12/1/20) (both on moratorium)
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Updated Natural Gas Prohibition Ordinance for all new construction (adopted by City Council 12/1/20, on moratorium)
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Bay Area Home Electrification Expo (October 2019)
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Silicon Valley Energy Watch energy efficiency programs (2004-2020)
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Electrify San José: Framework for Existing Building Electrification (adopted 6/14/22)
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Cost benefit analysis of electrification and energy efficiency upgrades in San José low-income communities (2024)
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San José Clean Energy’s residential super-off peak rate pilot (2024)
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Home electrification webinar series (2023, 2024)
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Multiple incentive programs, including the Electric Homes San José residential electrification incentive program (2024) and the Electrify San José heat pump water heater rebate program (2019-2021)
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Multifamily electrification pilot in Santee neighborhood, as a part of the Zero Emissions Neighborhoods (ZEN) pilot, which replaced the gas-powered water heater and gas furnaces with heat pump technology in a four-unit multifamily building (2025)
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Multiple energy efficiency programs (2021 – 2024) through San José Clean Energy, which together:
- Provided 281 appliances and over 700 energy saving devices to income qualifying residents
- Contributed to over $480,000 in customer savings
- The Do-It-Yourself home energy and water savings toolkit can be checked out at a San José library and help residents save energy and water use in their home
- The Induction Cooktop Checkout Program is available to all San José residents interested in learning about the benefits of induction cooking
In Progress / Ongoing
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EcoHome Rebate program, which has an annual budget of over $2.5 million to support at least 775 residential heat pump water heater and HVAC system installations annually
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EcoHome Payment Plan pilot program, providing interest free financing for residential customers
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San José Clean Energy’s Peak Rewards demand response program
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Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which include actions for reducing energy use at the household level
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The Building Performance Ordinance’s Beyond Benchmarking component requires covered multifamily buildings that do not meet energy efficiency standards to perform an audit, undertake retrocommissioning, or make energy efficiency upgrades (2023-present)
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Ongoing trainings for the public
Planned
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Present to City Council an existing building reach code that would incentivize the installation of heat pump HVACs and require electric ready infrastructure for other natural gas equipment replacements (expected to City Council in Fall 2025)
Evaluating
- Participating in PG&E’s zonal electrification pilot under SB 1221
About the data
Sources
Data on electricity and natural gas use by residential customers in San José were provided by PG&E and San José Clean Energy.
Data on numbers of households in San José are from the California Department of Finance’s Demographics Unit (Table E-5).
Limitations
Households are included by PG&E based on service address. Due to the complex nature of San José’s incorporated boundary and its ZIP codes that overlap with other cities, there may be inaccuracies in the data. For instance, this data includes properties with a San José service address that are located outside the incorporated city boundary.Household energy use may have been unusually high in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place orders.
Last updated
October 2025