• Safe and sound: Rated one of the safest cities in the country for natural disasters, our seismic stability is over 8 times better than the California average.
• Gateway to tech: San Francisco and Silicon Valley are a short drive away (1.5 hours).
• Close to everything: World-famous Lake Tahoe and Napa Valley vineyards are within 2 hours for quick, relaxing getaways.
• Easy to access: With an international airport (SMF), Port of Sacramento, Interstates 5 and 80 and multiple rail lines, you’re connected to the country—and the world.

• More for your money: Our home prices average 76% lower than those in San Francisco, which means you can own for less than the price of renting in the Bay Area—not to mention Seattle, Los Angeles or Seattle. At nearly half the cost of real estate in California’s other major metropolitan areas, office and industrial space in Sacramento proves to be the most affordable option. Combine that with the comparative cost of living standards, Sacramento is a prime option for your expansion or startup.
• Join the feast: We’re America’s true farm-to-fork capital, and we pride ourselves on our vibrant, locally-sourced restaurants.
• Check out our NBA team: See the Sacramento Kings in action at the Golden 1 Center—the NBA’s newest and the most technologically advanced arena in the world—located in the new heart of downtown.
• Catch big-league ball: Root for the San Francisco Giants’ AAA affiliate baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats, at Raley Field.
• Feel indomitable spirit: Cheer on the Sacramento Republic FC, our championship-winning professional soccer team.

• Do what you love and love what you do: Forbes rated Sacramento as the #1 city in America for employee engagement.
• Power up for less: SMUD’s electricity rates are up to 45% lower than some other California service providers.
  • Special electric rates to help large energy consumers stay cost-effective
  • Rebates, loans and advice to equip your buildings with the most energy-efficient technology
  • Customized energy management systems
• Be where the business is: California’s economy ranks 5th in the world.
• Connect with key demographics: Millennials make up 42% of the working population in Greater Sacramento—a higher percentage than in San Francisco or Seattle.
• Find talent: More than 13,000 new college graduates every year means you’ll be diving into a constantly refreshed talent pool.

• Taking a byte out of Silicon Valley: Tech giants like Apple, Intel and Oracle call Greater Sacramento home.
• Moving on up: This is where startups like Flipboxx, Voxpro and NRC Manufacturing come to scale up.
• Data central: 20 data centers in the Greater Sacramento area offer services to Fortune 500 companies.
• Next stop–Sacramento: We’re the #1 destination of 74% of the millennials considering leaving the Bay Area in the next 5 years, looking for a better quality of life and a break from the rising cost of housing.
• Staying local: Sacramento is the #2 destination for UC Davis grads and #3 for Berkeley grads looking for jobs.

Sacramento has the fiber optic infrastructure needed to communicate with Silicon Valley and the world. We’re California’s sweet spot for data centers, with many large companies located here. We have 20 large data centers in our service area that support many Fortune 500 companies. Data centers like RagingWire, Quality Technology Services, Sungard Technology Services, Verizon Data and the State Office of Technology, to name a few, chose Sacramento because of our unique strengths:

• Seismic stability
• Among the lowest electricity rates in California
• Gateway to the Silicon Valley
• Low natural disaster risk
• More than 55% carbon free electric generation with a goal of 100% carbon-free by 2030
• 3,500mw grid capacity over 900 square miles

Sacramento is our home, and as your neighbor, we want to help your business with energy efficiency and electrification solutions. Whether you’re looking to start a new business or expand your current one, we can help you grow.

SMUD’s low rates and high reliability keep your operation running effectively, and our Commercial Custom Incentive and Integrated Design Solutions programs can help implement cost-effective energy efficiency and electrification measures. We also offer incentives to help pay for the incremental cost of energy-efficient and electrification technology and equipment. 

Our Energy Advisors can audit your facilities and create energy rate and bill projections to help you budget wisely. We also can assist with the design and construction of new electrical service in the safest, most cost-effective way.

For more information, please contact Mather Kearney at 1-916-732-5650 or Mather.Kearney@smud.org.

Data center cooling

Our custom incentives can help you lower both the temperature in your data center and your electric bill.

As your partner in the quest to maximize energy efficiency, we'll pay you $0.10/kWh for any annual energy savings that result from pre-approved efficiency measures. We will also pay up to 30% of your project costs or $150,000, whichever is less.

Learn more about our data center cooling incentive.

Please call us before you purchase equipment and begin installation. We approve these incentives on a case-by-case basis.

Jack Haglund
Custom Incentives Program Manager
customenergyefficiency@smud.org