What the Reopening of California’s Electricity Market Means for Your Facilities…

As you may have heard, legislation has passed that will further reopen California's electricity market.

Action is needed on your part.

Direct Access is the program in PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E territories that allows commercial customers to procure electricity from a competitive supplier rather than the utility.

The program began in 1998 but was suspended in 2001 during the energy crisis. Customers in the program were grandfathered in, allowing them to continue procuring competitive electricity. Legislation reopened the electricity market in 2009 on a limited basis, allowing 8,400 new gigawatt hours (GWH) into the Direct Access program.

In September 2018, SB-237 increased the program cap by an additional 4,000 GWH.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has until June 1, 2019 to establish a process to determine how the 4,000 GWH will be allocated amongst the three utilities and how customers are accepted. For example, is the 2019 waitlist used? Perhaps a new lottery will occur? It remains to be seen...

Recent market data suggests there is an estimated 7,400 GWH on the 2019 Direct Access waitlist. If the 2019 waitlist is used for the SB-237 reopening, those that are not accepted into the program as part of the 4,000 GWH will need to wait until space becomes available under the cap. This occurs when customers leave Direct Access, install self-generation, complete energy efficiency projects, or the market reopens again.

Since this will happen rather quickly, we will need to get your usage data from the utility so that if the 2019 waitlist is used and your facility is part of the 4,000 GWH accepted, we have your data on-hand to run pricing and analysis.

If you're interested, please reach out using the information below so that I may follow up with a letter of authorization.

Historically, there has been no obligation. This means that even if your electricity accounts are made eligible for Direct Access, you will have the opportunity to accept or reject the sourcing of third-party electricity depending on the savings available at the time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out at info@ecom-energy.com.