Sempra Affiliate power label labeled 'misleading'

Sempra Affiliate SDG&E is facing charges that the power content label it sends consumers is not accurate:

Careful utility bill readers – particularly those who favor renewable energy sources – are being misled by a small insert included in San Diego Gas & Electric bills.

The most recent copy of the insert – called a "power content label" – declares that 8 percent of the electricity supplied by SDG&E is derived from renewable resources.

But SDG&E acknowledged that the inserts are inaccurate.

"It is not the percentage we have under contract," said Ed Van Herik, a spokesman for SDG&E. "The plan is to update the label next year."

SDG&E derives about 4 percent of its electricity from renewables. But rather than provide this percentage to customers, SDG&E has been copying the percentage from a second column on the insert that indicates the percentage of renewable power statewide.