Hey! My name is Isaiah and I have an unyielding passion to get rid of SDGE, San Diego’s for-profit investor owned utility company. In January 2023 I started a payment strike with no real aims, goals, or organizational experience. Nearly 2,000 people signed onto my change.org petition to not pay their bills. Doing this got me networked with local organizers working on the SDGE issue. Eventually, I started working on Power San Diego - a grass roots citizen ballot initiative to FIRE SDGE. We turned in around 31,000 signatures on May 14th, forcing a vote in the city council. We needed 80,000 signatures to 100% be on the November ballot. It’s a soft loss/victory. The city council will likely shoot it down.
Now I’m looking toward the future and accepting the length of this fight. I hope in two years, we will try again. In the meantime, what do I do to grow the movement?
I’m thinking about organizing a more focused and professional payment strike - inspired by this organization. I figure the main ask will be to forgive the 1/4 San Diegans in debt to SDGE. Supplemented by a donation -> paying off SDGE debt funnel and general education on SDGE low-income programs that already exist to lower the cost of electricity or pay off debt more slowly over time.
I’m writing this post on this forum to hear advise from those who may already be organizing similar things. Any experience or input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you internet stranger!