I live in Northern California under somewhat similar conditions although we get a bit colder up here. Anyway during the winter (Nov-Feb), I tend to run the pump for about 2 hours per day just to keep the leaves off the bottom (suction side cleaner) and to keep the water chlorinated. When water temps get below 50 degrees, only a couple weeks out the year, I found that algae doesn't really grow here so I can allow the pool to go "idle" for a few days or weeks without the pump running or adding chlorine plus the SWG stops working anyway so it is a win win.

Your water may not get as cold as mine so you may not be able to allow the pool to go idle but it takes some experimentation to know exactly what you can get away with. If you let the water go idle, watch it carefully and note any small changes in water color which could indicate a pending bloom.