CleanPowerSF is a program of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), an enterprise department of the City and County of San Francisco.
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Date: September 3, 2024
To: Commissioner Tim Paulson, President
Commissioner Anthony Rivera, Vice President
Commissioner Newsha K. Ajami
Commissioner Kate H. Stacy
Through: Dennis J. Herrera, General Manager
Barbara Hale, Assistant General Manager, Power
Michael Hyams, Deputy AGM, CleanPowerSF and Power Resources From: Cheryl Taylor, Manager, CleanPowerSF Operations
Subject: CleanPowerSF Quarterly Update
_______________________________________________________________ This memorandum serves as the regular quarterly update to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC or Commission) on the Power Enterprise’s CleanPowerSF program.
This quarterly update focuses on the following topics:
1. Program Service Statistics and Enrollment Activities
2. Communications Activities
a) Annual Joint Rate Mailer
b) Paulsell Energy Center Commissioning Event
c) Power Customer Survey
d) July 1st Rate Change Communications
3. Customer Programs Update
a) EV Charge SF Existing Buildings Pilot Program Expansion b) Heat Pump Water Heater Regional Contractor Incentive Program c) Peak Day Partners
d) Net Energy Metering (NEM)
e) Load Management Standards (LMS)
4. Energy Procurement and Planning Activities
a) Active Energy Solicitations
b) Regulatory Compliance Highlights
c) Resource Adequacy Program Changes
d) Provider of Last Resort
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1. Program Service Statistics and Enrollment Activities CleanPowerSF continues to provide clean electricity generation services to San Francisco customers, serving about 383,000 active customer accounts as of August 2024. CleanPowerSF’s opt-out rate remains stable at approximately
4.6% of all enrolled accounts. The opt-out rate is 0.1 percentage points higher than the rate stated in the quarterly CleanPowerSF update provided to the Commission on June 11, 2024.1
Figure 1: CleanPowerSF Enrollment, August 2024
Customer enrollment in SuperGreen, CleanPowerSF’s optional 100% renewable energy product, has also remained steady since the last quarterly update at about 2.2% of active accounts. In calendar year 2023, SuperGreen electricity usage represented 14% of CleanPowerSF’s total annual electricity sales, up from 8% in calendar year 2022.
Enrollment in the SuperGreen Saver program has nearly reached the available program capacity at 1,115 accounts.
1 The CleanPowerSF Quarterly Report communicated to the Commission June 11, 2024 may be accessed here: https://sfpuc.sharefile.com/public/share/web- sc92d4c96f10a45a99602eb08f5f96170. Accessed on July 22, 2024.
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Figure 2: 2023 CleanPowerSF Electricity Sales (MWh) by Portfolio
2. Communications Activities
a) Annual Joint Rate Mailer
The Joint Rate Mailer is an annual mailing required under state law to be sent jointly by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and CleanPowerSF to all customers. The notice provides a rate and energy portfolio comparison between PG&E and CleanPowerSF for four customer classes:
x Residential (E-TOU-C rate);
x Small Commercial (B-1 rate);
x Medium Commercial (B-10S rate); and
x Large Commercial (B-19S rate).
The Joint Rate Mailer is intended to promote transparency and energy choice for customers. CleanPowerSF customers received the Joint Rate Mailer via email or postcard before July 1, 2024. The Joint Rate Mailers are also posted on the CleanPowerSF website at https://www.cleanpowersf.org/key-documents [accessed on August 23, 2024].
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Figure 3: 2024 Joint Rate Mailer for Residential E-TOU-C Rate b) Paulsell Energy Center Commissioning Event
Staff celebrated the commissioning of t he Paulsell Energy Center on June 5, 2024.
The Paulsell Energy Center is a 20-megawatt solar and 15-megawatt battery project in Stanislaus County that will help ensure more clean, affordable, and reliable electricity for CleanPowerSF customers. Paulsell will generate enough electricity from solar panels each year to power approximately 17,000 average San Francisco homes. Project developer NextEra Energy Resources hosted the commissioning event. The event also included the commissioning of the Proxima Energy Center, which will serve Sonoma Clean Power, among others.
Assistant General Manager for Power Barbara Hale spoke at the event on behalf of CleanPowerSF, along with other distinguished guests. The SFPUC issued a press release announcing the commissioning of the Paulsell Energy Center project and shared the news with customers in CleanPowerSF’s July e- newsletter and on the CleanPowerSF.org website.
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Figure 4: Power Leadership and Staff Cut a Ribbon at the Paulsell Energy Center Commissioning on June 5, 2024
c) Power Customer Survey
Power and Communications staff engaged with EMC Research, a market research and data analytics firm, this past spring to conduct a Power customer survey (the last Power customer survey was conducted in 2021). The goals of the survey were to assess awareness of power programs like CleanPowerSF, how satisfied customers were with their electricity service, if they were struggling to pay their electricity bills, preferences for customer programs, and more. The survey was conducted in April 2024, and interviewed approximately 450 San Francisco residents in English, Spanish and Chinese languages.
Some key findings included:
x When compared to previous surveys, awareness of CleanPowerSF increased by approximately 15 percentage points.
x There is awareness and concern of electricity bills going up, with 72% of respondents saying their monthly bill has increased in the past year, including 44% saying their monthly bill had increased by a lot. x More people agree today (47%) that the cost of their monthly electric bill is a financial hardship on their household compared to 2021 (37%). x Service reliability and rate affordability are the most important aspects of electricity service amongst those surveyed.
Staff are continuing to analyze the results of the survey and will determine next steps on how to best use this data to inform communications, programs, policies, and more.
d) July 1
st Rate Change Communications
The SFPUC updated electricity rates for both CleanPowerSF and Hetch Hetchy Power customers effective July 1, 2024. Communications staff developed and executed an extensive plan to proactively communicate with CleanPowerSF
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customers about the rate change prior to Commission adoption and also before the July 1, 2024 effective date.
During the spring, staff shared information about the rate setting process and how customers could take part in the proc ess. All materials directed customers to a new rates webpage for both CleanPowerSF and Hetch Hetchy Power rates at www.sfpuc.org/powerrates. Customers also learned about the public rate adoption process through various channels, including:
x Messages on the April and May CleanPowerSF page of the PG&E bill; x Rates information included in the CleanPowerSF e-newsletter in April; x Multilingual, direct mail postcard to all CleanPowerSF customers; x Residential rates webinar on May 1; and
x Blog posts on CleanPowerSF.org and SFPUC.gov websites.
The Commission adopted rates at its May 14, 2024 meeting. Staff continued with post-rate adoption communications to ensure that customers were aware and informed about the approved rate change and what they could anticipate when the rate changes went into effect on July 1. This included:
x Messages on the June, July, and August CleanPowerSF page of the PG&E bill;
x Rates information included in the CleanPowerSF e-newsletter in July; x Publishing the FY 2024-25 Power Rates book at
www.sfpuc.org/powerrates (Accessed August 26, 2024);
x Blog posts on the CleanPowerSF.org and SFPUC.gov websites; x Social media posts on Facebook and Twitter; and
x Talking points for Customer Service to answer customer emails and phone calls.
For the first time, Communications staff al so created a survey for customers to tell us how we did with rates communications this year. Staff are compiling and evaluating results and anticipate reporting on findings in a future CleanPowerSF quarterly report.
3. Customer Programs Update
CleanPowerSF continues to develop and offer programs that help customers manage their energy costs, reduce their carbon footprint, and align with City and state environmental goals. Below are some highlights from this past quarter.
a) EV Charge SF Existing Buildings Pilot Program Expansion EV Charge SF began a time-limited pilot, expanding eligibility criteria for participation to offer financial incentives to CleanPowerSF multifamily, not-for- profit, and small business existing buildings to install EV chargers. If eligible, these customers can combine these incentives with the PG&E/Ecology Action Page | 7
Multifamily Housing and Small Business EV Charger Program 2 (MSDI program) to receive fully designed and installed EV chargers. The MSDI program is offering no cost direct install (technical assistance and construction services) for all affordable deed-restricted housing and multifamily, not-for- profit, and small businesses located in priority communities. 3 These same
customer types outside of priority communities can receive the direct installation of EV chargers at a reduced cost (cost share).
The MSDI program will include and build from EV Charge SF’s incentives below to help make these EV chargers free or low cost for CleanPowerSF customers:
x Level 2 EV Chargers: $5,000 per charger, plus $1,500 per additional port;
x Level 1 EV Outlets/Ports: $2,500 per stall; and
x Conduit Pathway: $250 per stall.
b) Heat Pump Water Heater Regional Contractor Incentive Program To date, 246 incentives have been paid out to contractors to install heat pump water heaters for CleanPowerSF customers under the Heat Pump Water Heater Regional Contractor Incentiv e Program. Another 189 incentive reservations have been made, for an overall total of 435 projects. This amount far outpaces the original funding level. Staff expect to see an additional surge in program participation this fall due to a third round of stackable incentives becoming available through the state’s TECH Clean California program. Due to increased participation and expected future growth, the Commission approved additional budget to support the program through March 2025. There are now 50 contractors that have enrolled in the program that are able to serve San Francisco customers.
c) Peak Day Partners
The Peak Day Partners Program (PDP; formerly known as the Peak Day Pricing Program), is a voluntary demand response program that incentivizes large commercial customers to reduce their electricity consumption between 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm on “Event Days” in the summer and fall during high temperatures when the grid is expected to be strained.
Peak Day Partners has seen a record number of Event Days in 2024. High temperatures in July triggered the full complement of 12 official Event Days plus an additional three Event Days within the first three weeks of the PDP season. For the remainder of the season, the program will offer Voluntary Event Days that let participating customers know to reduce energy consumption but will not pay incentives for doing so. The final PDP Event Day was triggered on July 25
th and, as of August 9 th, three Voluntary Event Days
have been triggered.
2 For more information on PG&E’s Multifamily Housing and Small Business EV Charger Program, see https://pge.com/msevcprogram. Accessed on August 22, 2024. 3 To view the priority community map, please visit
https://pgegisportal.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=11e4e13cf2 584bfe8e334d4327f95a0f. Accessed on August 22, 2024.
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d) Net Energy Metering (NEM)
Starting on April 15, 2024, PG&E began placing eligible customers with rooftop solar onto its Net Billing Tariff service, the successor program to Net Energy Metering (NEM). In preparation, the Commission adopted a modification to CleanPowerSF’s NEM tariff to accommodate rooftop solar customers on PG&E’s NBT service on May 14, 2023, which took effect on July 1, 2024 In addition, CleanPowerSF staff have begun to develop a successor tariff to CleanPowerSF’s NEM program. Currently, staff is conducting analysis to determine potential options. We also plan to conduct community engagement to solicit public input and feedback on a NEM successor tariff. Until a NEM successor tariff is adopted by the Commission, CleanPowerSF’s current NEM tariff remains in effect.
e) Load Management Standards (LMS)
In January of 2023, the California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted an update to the state’s Load Management Standards to support load flexibility and reduce peak electricity demand by encouraging the development of real- time pricing rates and programs that allow automated responses to pricing, greenhouse gas, and grid stress signals at hourly or sub-hourly intervals. The CleanPowerSF Load Management Standards Plan was adopted by the Commission on April 23, 2024. It described how CleanPowerSF would meet the goals of the Load Management Standards. CleanPowerSF’s Load Management Standards Plan concluded that developing real-time pricing rates or qualified programs using automated systems was not appropriate at this time. CleanPowerSF is evaluating partici pation in upcoming real-time pricing pilots authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and may consider participation in the coming months.
CleanPowerSF, as part of the Load Management Standards, has also uploaded its existing time-dependent rates to the CEC Market Informed Demand Automation Server (MIDAS), an online platform that allows automated devices to access rate information at hourly intervals. A forthcoming step in enabling access to rate information is the development of a single statewide tool to allow third parties to access rate information about customers who authorize them to do so, among other features. The Load Management Standards directs the three large Investor-Owned Utilities, the two large Publicly Owned Utilities,
4 and large Community Choice Aggregators, including
CleanPowerSF, to submit a proposal describing the tool and its features to the CEC by October 1, 2024. CleanPowerSF is working collaboratively with these entities on a proposal for the statewide rate access tool. Staff will continue to update the Commission on progress with the Load Management Standards and the implementation of real-time pricing pilots.
4 The large Publicly Owned Utilities under the Load Management Standards only include Sacramento Municipal Utilities District and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and does not include Hetch Hetchy Power.
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4. Energy Procurement and Planning Activities
a) Active Energy Solicitations
CleanPowerSF is actively soliciting renewable energy from new and existing resources. On July 10, 2024, the SFPUC released a Request for Offers (PRO.0280) for renewable energy, renewable energy paired with storage, standalone storage, and long-duration storage to help meet our local and state long-term renewable energy goals and targets. Proposals were due by August 21, 2024.
5 CleanPowerSF also participates in California Community Power (CC Power), a Joint Powers Authority, for procurement of clean energy resources that would benefit from greater buyer economies of scale and project diversification. 6 CC Power recently issued a solicitation to procure new clean energy and reliability resources on behalf of its members. As part of this process, CC Power will be considering offers to acquire projects under a build-transfer agreement (BTA) structure. The BTA structure involves a clean energy project developer constructing a new energy facility and transferring that facility to CC Power to own and operate for the benefit of participating members. The BTA structure enables non-profit and governmental entities to leverage the direct pay feature of federal tax incentives made available under the Inflation Reduction Act. CC Power will be evaluating BTA offers against more conventional power purchase and energy storage agreement commercial structures. Staff will share more information about this solicitation process as it becomes available. b) Regulatory Compliance Highlights
The CPUC implements and administers Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) compliance rules for CPUC-jurisdictional retail sellers of electricity, which include investor-owned utilities, certified electric service providers and community choice aggregators (CCAs). In an effort to ensure compliance with these rules, all load serving entities are required to submit both annual and compliance period reports, the latter covering multi-year compliance periods, established by the CPUC.
For calendar year 2023, the CPUC required jurisdictional retail sellers of electricity energy sales to consist of no less than 41.25% RPS-eligible energy.
On August 1, 2024, CleanPowerSF submitted its 2023 RPS Compliance Report that showed 64.9% of its customer energy sales were supplied by RPS- eligible energy, exceeding the state’s requirement by more than 20 percentage points. As a whole, 100% of CleanPowerSF’s total energy portfolio was supplied by RPS-eligible or greenhouse-gas-free generation facilities in 2023.
5 More information about the PRO.0280 solicitation may be found at:
https://sfbid.sfwater.org/opportunity/details/?cid=280. Accessed on August 23, 2024. 6 The Commission by Resolution No. 21-0023 and the Board by Ordinance No. 25-21, authorized CleanPowerSF to become a member of CC Power. In April 2021, the CC Power Board approved CleanPowerSF’s membership.
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c) Resource Adequacy Program Changes
The state’s Resource Adequacy program is designed to ensure that there will be sufficient electric energy supply to meet demand on the grid. It is the responsibility of load serving entities like CleanPowerSF to procure sufficient capacity to meet their highest forecasted hourly demand each month.
With the primary goal of enhancing grid reliability, the CPUC made significant changes to the state’s Resource Adequacy Program that will become effective in calendar year 2025. In 2023, the CPUC issued Decision 23-04-010, which refined and finalized a new “Slice-of-Day” Resource Adequacy framework. The Slice-of-Day framework attempts to ensure that demand will be met in all 24 hours on the day the California Independent System Operator forecasts it will have the highest peak demand in each month (the “worst day”), rather than just the peak hour on that “worst day.”7
There are a number of challenges to implementing the new framework, including the need to procure Resource Adequacy capacity that has the ability to supply energy in all hours of the day. This is particularly challenging given the tight market for Resource Adequacy capacity and CPUC rules that restrict trading of capacity on an hourly basis. CPUC rules also require load serving entities to utilize Resource Adequacy capacity resources that can produce sufficient energy to charge battery storage resources, if those batteries are used for Resource Adequacy compliance showings. SFPUC staff have been working diligently to procure sufficient Resource Adequacy supplies to ensure compliance with the new regulations. The first Year Ahead compliance filing under the new Slice of Day framework is due to the CPUC October 31, 2024. d) Provider of Last Resort
In 2021, the CPUC, as directed by Senate Bill 520 (Hertzberg, 2019), initiated a rulemaking (R.21-03-011) to improve and strengthen the Provider of Last Resort rules and regulations. The Provider of Last Resort is the electricity provider that will provide electricity service to customers if other providers in the marketplace are unable to (e.g., due to insolvency or other causes). The CPUC has designated the investor-owned utilities to be providers of last resort in the event of a mass involuntary return of customers from a CCA. PG&E is currently the Provider of Last Resort for CleanPowerSF as well as all other CCAs and electric service providers in PG&E’s service area.
With the approval of Decision 24-04-009 in the rulemaking, the CPUC made modifications to the Financial Security Requirement that CCAs must post to the investor-owned utilities to cover the cost of returning and procuring energy for returned CCA customers as well as a “re-entry” fee calculation. This is the fee required to be paid by returning CCA cu stomers if the CCA cannot, or the Financial Security Requirement is insufficient, to cover the incremental
7 Report on Resource Adequacy Slice of Day Implementation and Year Ahead Showings, California Public Utilities Commission, February 2024. Accessed from https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/divisions/energy- division/documents/resource-adequacy-homepage/resource-adequacy-compliance- materials/slice-of-day-compliance-materials/energy-division-report-on-ra-sod- implementation-and-year-ahead-showings.pdf, on August 26, 2024.
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administrative and procurement costs in a mass involuntary return. Decision 24-04-009 also added new financial reporting requirements for CCAs to act as an early warning signal in the event a CCA is in financial distress and new CCA registration and deregistration requirements, among others.
The resulting Financial Security Requirement for CleanPowerSF is estimated and varies depending on the relative cost of power at the time, and PG&E’s generation rate. The estimated minimum amount is $4.24 per customer.
Working with the Business Services Capital Finance team, CleanPowerSF has the financial instruments in place to meet this new requirement.