Staff Report – Item 5
Item 5: Adopt Resolution to Establish EV Rate Pilot Program From: Monica Padilla, CEO
Prepared by: Justin Zagunis, Director of Customer Success Rebecca Fang, Manager of Data and Analytics
Michaela Pippin, Communications Manager
Peter Mustacich, Technical Manager of Decarbonization Planning and Strategy Date: 1/14/2026
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Board of Directors (“Board”) adopt Resolution 2026- 03 to establish the “EV Rate Pilot Program” with a budget of $1.5M to better understand SVCE’s ability to align home charging with lower daytime grid emissions through Time-of-Use (TOU) rate structure design.
BACKGROUND
SVCE has been actively supporting electric vehicle (EV) owners through customer programs since 2020 with the launch of the GridShift app, designed to save customers money on home charging by automatically aligning charging with times of lowest electricity rates. In 2023 SVCE launched a rate pilot program, the SVCE E-ELEC rate, designed to incentivize shifting home energy usage to Off-Peak TOU periods. While intended to support home electrification, the SVCE E-ELEC rate pilot program saw especially high enrollment from EV owners before the pilot ended in Fall of 2025. After five years of implementation, SVCE is now phasing out the GridShift program, but leveraging the lessons learned from both GridShift and the SVCE E-ELEC rate pilot program to inform the development of a new SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program designed to incentivize daytime charging to align with periods of lowest grid emissions. The SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program design and goals are described in further detail in this staff report, as well as an update on the GridShift program.
GridShift: EV Charging Program
Ev.energy was selected through SVCE’s fall 2019 application round for the Innovation Onramp program that focused on mobility. The pilot was to demonstrate the value and viability of a mobile application (app) based customer offering to facilitate smart EV charging to lower costs and emissions. SVCE branded the pilot as “GridShift: EV Charging” for customers. To participate in the pilot, customers downloaded the SVCE-branded app, connected their vehicles, and set preferences (e.g. that the vehicle must be fully charged by 7AM every day). Then, the ev.energy platform automatically optimized their charging to minimize retail electricity bills and reduce grid emissions.
The pilot agreement was executed in May 2020 and ran until July 2021 with a final cost of $95,500 over two fiscal years.
Staff subsequently carried out an informal bid process for the scaled-up GridShift: EV Charging program, to assess the current capabilities of competitors and ensure competitive pricing. Based on experience from the pilot as well as the results from the informal bid process, ev.energy was selected again. The three-year agreement was executed in May 2021 and extended for an additional year in April 2024 for a total cost not to Item 5
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exceed $650,000. This enabled SVCE to continue providing managed EV charging services to SVCE customers and to address key points of survey feedback through improved communications and streamlining the customer experience.
Starting in spring 2024, SVCE partnered with ev.energy to scope and test dynamic pricing via the ChargeWise dynamic grid signals pilot. This work was partially funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) Responsive, Easy Charging Products with Dynamic Signals (REDWDS) grant. Dynamic pricing, also referred to as real-time or hourly pricing, has the potential to better convey the hourly costs of energy consumption to customers throughout the day – and if EV charging can respond to this signal, it will help reduce the overall system cost of serving this load. The ChargeWise pilot, deployed through SVCE’s existing GridShift: EV Charging app, allowed SVCE to learn more about the effectiveness of these new rates as a mechanism to reduce procurement and customer costs in the long run. To enable SVCE to run the one-year pilot and analyze pilot results, the ev.energy agreement was extended through December 2025.
As the GridShift: EV Charging Pilot Program closes, staff recognize the growing number of EV owners in the region and the value in keeping these customers engaged with SVCE offers and services. Additionally, significant emissions reduction opportunity was observed for shifting overnight charging to daytime hours when grid emissions are lowest. These key learnings, combined with learnings from the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program (described below), led to the development of the EV Rate Pilot Program presented to the Board for adoption.
EV Pilot Rate Program
In December of 2022, the SVCE Board established by Resolution No. 2022-38 the E-ELEC residential rate mirroring PG&E’s new rate established December 1, 2022. Qualification for the E-ELEC rate included owning and operating a heat pump space or water heater, an energy storage system (ESS), and/or an electric vehicle.
The E-ELEC rate follows a TOU structure similar to the EV-2A rate, which includes a daily schedule of Peak (4- 9pm), Partial-Peak (3-4pm and 9pm-12am), and Off-Peak (12am-3pm) TOU periods. At that time the SVCE Board approved $9.5M for an electrification discount, referred to in this report as the “E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program”. The E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program was intended to support decarbonization of existing homes by reducing potential on-bill impacts of electrifying major gas-fired appliances. The vast majority of the budget for this rate pilot program went towards strategically offering a deeper discount during the daily Off-Peak TOU period (12am-3pm) to help lower customer bills and incentivize behavior change to reduce Peak energy consumption.
After two years of the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot program, staff recommended a program design update based on pilot findings, specifically that the majority of enrolled customers (over 80%) were EV owners rather than heat pump owners as originally intended. In May 2025, the Board authorized the termination of E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot program and established the E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot program (with a budget of $3.5M) through the adoption of Resolution No. 2025-12, with a goal of better meeting the original pilot program objectives:
1) To reduce bill impacts of home electrification, and
2) To incentivize behavior-driven load shifting to periods of lower grid emissions The E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program included two significant design changes: first, it requires customers own both space and water heating heat pump technology to qualify for participation; and second, it introduced a new time-of-use period, referred to as “Super-Off-Peak”, between 9am and 3pm daily. The rate design aligns the largest customer discount (i.e., lowest pricing) with the Super-Off-Peak period as this aligns with the lowest emission hours for the California grid.
When staff presented the updated E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program to the Board in May 2025, the Board expressed interest in staff exploring similar options for EV owners.
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Agenda Item: 5 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
GridShift: EV Charging Program
A key consideration of expanding and extending GridShift, after the years of learnings and assessments and testing, was whether it made financial sense to continue to scale this offer to customers. Results showed that the app was successful in shifting additional EV charging load to off-peak (including daytime) hours, flattening the 12AM charging peak, and reducing hourly emissions associated with EV charging.
But a scalable contract was needed to ensure that each EV enrolled by SVCE would provide a similar level of value as the cost required to support that customer – that is, growing from 1,500 to 15,000 EVs would incur significant new cost and it needed to make sense for SVCE to pursue.
In July 2025, in anticipation of the end of the ev.energy agreement, Staff carried out a solicitation to assess options to continue the GridShift: EV Charging program beyond 2025. In its evaluation of the ten proposals submitted, staff determined that, per EV enrolled in the program, the cost was not commensurate with the value. Staff made the decision not to pursue a new agreement to continue the program beyond 2025. As such, the GridShift: EV Charging program has been closed. Its accompanying EV charging rebate program and ChargeWise dynamic pricing pilot have also closed. Staff are now working with a vendor to conduct a comprehensive third-party evaluation of the full duration of the GridShift: EV Charging program and ChargeWise pilot. The evaluation is slated to be completed in June 2026, to provide updated and more in-depth results from the program.
EV Rate Pilot Program
Existing TOU rate structures have successfully shifted the majority of EV charging out of Peak periods (4-9pm) and into Off-Peak hours (12am-3pm). As shown in Figure 1 below, the vast majority of residential EV charging currently occurs between midnight and 4am, when grid emissions are generally much higher than they are during daytime hours when solar resources provide the majority of the grid’s electricity mix. Despite lower emissions, residential EV customers have no financial incentive to charge during daytime hours as their rate is the same from midnight to 3pm.
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Figure 2-5 Annualized Load Shapefor Treatment1 [Steady State) Agenda Item: 5 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
Figure 1. Average 2024 residential EV customer daily charging profile compared to hourly CAISO grid emissions (11/15/2024).
As part of the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program evaluation, a residential customer survey was sent to customers enrolled across all available SVCE residential rates to better understand their relationship to rates. One of the key findings was that EV owners had high appetite for more rate options. The other key finding was that over 50% of EV owners indicated working from home at least 4 days per week, implying that there is significant potential for increased daytime EV charging.
In designing the EV Rate Pilot Program, staff is combining the learnings from both the GridShift program and the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program in an effort to reach the following goals:
1) Better align charging costs with periods of cheapest, cleanest grid electricity; and 2) Provide more rate options and bill savings opportunities for EV customers previously enrolled in E-ELEC 1.0 and/or the GridShift: EV Charging program; and 3) Test SVCE’s ability to influence charging behavior through time-of-use rate design Consistent with the new E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program approved in May 2025, the EV Rate Pilot Program is designed to provide the lowest price electricity during the "Super-Off-Peak" period in the middle of the day (9am-3pm daily), to incentivize customers to change their charging behavior by charging mid-day instead of overnight whenever possible. The Off-Peak period is shortened to 12-9am daily, and pricing will rise slightly to help offset the significantly deeper discount during the Super-Off-Peak period. To protect customers that have less mid-day flexibility and rely on some amount of overnight charging to meet their needs but who are still interested in participating and are able to do some amount of daytime charging, the proposed increase in overnight rates is modest (10% generation rate increase) compared to the much more significant discount provided during daytime hours (50% generation rate decrease). This proposed pilot rate discount structure is shown in Table 1 below.
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8,000
•••• CAISO Grid Emissions EV Charging
Agenda Item: 5 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
Table 1. SVCE EV Rate Pilot discount structure as currently designed, compared to the SVCE EV-2 residential rate discount structure.
Note that staff continue to evaluate the final rates to be used for the pilot and will bring an item to the consent calendar in the first quarter of 2026 for the board to approve the final numbers. The staff report today is seeking approval of the creation of this pilot rate and for staff to proceed in this direction.
The addition of the EV Rate Pilot Program will allow EV customers who were previously on the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program but may not qualify for the E-ELEC 2.0 rate an opportunity to continue maximizing bill savings and engaging with SVCE pilot rate programs. SVCE estimates that there are approximately 45,000 customers that will qualify for the EV Rate Pilot program.
The EV Rate Pilot Program will use $1.5M from the remaining funds of the previously approved $9.5M rate pilot budget from E-ELEC 1.0 rate pilot program. This budget will provide $1.3M in direct customer bill savings, with the remaining $0.2M being used for program administration. This budget will support an enrollment of up to 5,000 customers over three years. The low program administration costs are made possible by strategically aligning the EV Rate Pilot Program design and implementation schedule with the already approved E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program efforts currently underway. Both pilot rate programs would be developed in parallel, with anticipated customer launch in Q2 of 2026.
STRATEGIC PLAN
Rate pilot programs to reduce customer bills from electrification actions is directly supported by SVCE Strategic Plan Goal 7 – “Support all SVCE communities to decarbonize through local investments that reduce barriers and demonstrate sensible, scalable, and equitable solutions”. Additionally, the level of customer education and communication included in the rate pilot program design support Goal 8 – “Engage customers and community stakeholders to build trust of SVCE and advance decarbonization”.
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SVCE generation rate discount relative to PG&E
Super-Off-Peak
Off-Peak
Partial-Peak
Peak
Super-Off-Peak
£
Off-Peak
E
,5 Partial-Peak
Peak
SVCE EV-2
SVCE EV Rate
Pilot
9a-3p -1% -50%
12-9a -1% +10%
3-4p & 9p-12a -1% -1%
4-9p -1% -1%
9a-3p -1% -50%
12-9a -1% +10%
3-4p & 9p-12a -1% -1%
4-9p -1% -1%
Notes:
1. Negative means “cheaper than PG&E", positive means “more expensive”.
2. SVCE EV Rate Pilot discounts reflect anticipated discount based on current design. Finalized rates will be brought back to the Board for approval after adoption of the rate pilot program.
Agenda Item: 5 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
ALTERNATIVE
Not adopting the proposed EV Rate Pilot program would result in only one rate pilot program being offered by SVCE in 2026, the E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program, which requires two heat pumps for enrollment (space and water heating). The 80% of customers enrolled in the E-ELEC 1.0 Rate Pilot Program who own EVs would not be eligible for E-ELEC 2.0 and therefore would be unable to participate in a rate pilot program. Additionally, this would result in staff missing the opportunity to test an approach to EV load shifting and customer response not previously evaluated. Not adopting the proposed EV Rate Pilot Program would result in the requested $1.5M budget remaining in the general programs allocation.
Alternately, the EV Rate Pilot Program could be approved by the Board but with requested alterations - for example, a different discount level. Staff have presented a proposed rate design and discount level believed to balance customer incentive and SVCE cost.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Board’s approval of the proposed Resolution will not have a new fiscal impact as the funds were already allocated for programs. If approved, SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program expenditures will be tracked and reflected in future budgets and financial forecasts.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution 2026-03 Approving Establishing the SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program with Dedicated Funding Item 5
1 RESOLUTION 2026-03
SILICON VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY AUTHORITY
RESOLUTION NO. 2026-03
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SILICON
VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY AUTHORITY APPROVING
ESTABLISHING THE SVCE EV RATE PILOT PROGRAM WITH
DEDICATED FUNDING
WHEREAS, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority (“Authority”) was formed on March 31, 2016 pursuant to a Joint Powers Agreement to study, promote, develop, conduct, operate, and manage energy programs in Santa Clara County; and WHEREAS, at the June 8, 2016 Board of Directors Meeting, the Board adopted the policy that the Authority’s customer generation rates for the default service will be 1% lower than Pacific Gas & Electric’s generation rates in place as of January 2017; and the policy allows reexamination of the rates, provided significant deviations in market prices or other extraordinary circumstances mandate an adjustment to the rates; and
WHEREAS, on December 14, 2022, the Board of Directors adopted Resolution No. 2022-39 approving $9.5M for an electrification discount, to be commenced January 1, 2023 as a 10% discount to the E-ELEC residential rate, but which staff would reevaluate in 2023; and
WHEREAS, on May 14, 2025, the Board of Directors adopted Resolution No. 2025-12 approving establishing the “E-ELEC 2.0 Rate Pilot Program” with a budget of $3.5M incentivizing behavior-driven load shift to hours when the California electric grid is cheapest and cleanest, thereby helping customers with heat pump technology reduce monthly electric bills while ultimately helping reduce system costs for all customers; and
WHEREAS, by establishing the SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program will help reduce customers’ monthly electricity bills for homes with electric vehicles while incentivizing behavior-driven load shift to daytime hours when the California electric grid is cheapest and cleanest, thereby having the potential to reduce SVCE’s regulatory compliance costs and ultimately reduce system costs for all customers; and WHEREAS, the results from the SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program will be of use to SVCE in designing future rate offerings to spur behavior-driven load shifting to apply to all customers.
NOW THEREFORE, the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority does hereby resolve, determine, and order as follows:
Section 1. The Authority shall allocate $1.5M to establish the SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program to achieve the objectives stated above.
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Attachment 1
2 RESOLUTION 2026-03
Section 2. The Authority’s adjusted SVCE EV Rate Pilot Program electric generation rates shall be set forth in an updated 2026 Electric Generation Rates Schedule to be brought to the Board of Directors for final approval.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 14th day of January 2026, by the following vote:
JURISDICTION NAME AYE NO ABSTAIN ABSENT
City of Campbell Director Scozzola
City of Cupertino Director Wang
City of Gilroy Director Hilton
City of Los Altos Director Meadows
Town of Los Altos Hills Director Tyson
Town of Los Gatos Director Rennie
City of Milpitas Director Barbadillo
City of Monte Sereno Director Mekechuk
City of Morgan Hill Director Martinez Beltran
City of Mountain View Director Showalter
County of Santa Clara Director Lee
City of Saratoga Director Page
City of Sunnyvale Director Klein
Chair
ATTEST:
Andrea Pizano, Board Secretary
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Attachment 1
Staff Report – Item 6
Item 6: Approve the Transportation Electrification Programs Budget Reallocation From: Monica Padilla, CEO
Prepared by: Justin Zagunis, Director of Customer Success Nupur Hiremath, Manager of Decarbonization Programs
Hannah Gustafson, Programs Lead
Date: 1/14/2026
RECOMMENDATION
Staff requests that the Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Board of Directors (“Board”) approve Transportation Electrification (TE) programs budget reallocation of $7.2 million to scale three core TE programs.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
During the October 24, 2025, Executive Committee meeting, SVCE staff presented background information and key learnings from TE programs, outlining a plan to reallocate unspent TE funding to three core programs.
The main topic of discussion was the reallocation of program funding originally allocated exclusively to new construction affordable housing projects. Staff confirmed that such projects will continue to be eligible for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging rebates if they apply, and staff will continue outreach regarding this program to both member agency staff and developers. Staff noted however, that despite outreach over the previous few years around this program and including discussions with local affordable housing developers, there has not been much participation in this program. At the current level of $5.8 million, staff expects these funds will not be substantially drawn down and will remain largely unspent within the next 3-5 years. Maintaining an earmark dedicated to affordable housing would guarantee funds for new affordable housing EV charging projects, but this would be contingent on funds being reserved by affordable housing developers. Therefore, releasing the program budget to a larger pool of potential customers, which would still include new affordable housing, would balance continued support and an interest in seeing these funds reinvested in a timely fashion.
The Executive Committee voted unanimously to support the proposed reallocation of $7.2 million to three core TE programs.
BACKGROUND
In September 2019, the Board approved the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Joint Action Plan (EVI JAP), which described strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. The EVI JAP identified four priority use cases where EV charging is most needed: residential, workplace, fleet, and public. The plan also outlined six key programs to support the growth of EV charging for these use cases. The Board approved the EVI JAP with $7.4 million in funding and also approved subsequent allocations of $3.5 million in March 2022 and $6.0 million in August 2022 to supplement those funds.
Since 2019, SVCE has implemented all TE programs outlined in the EVI JAP, as well as additional programs.
To date, these programs have resulted in the installation of 28 DC fast chargers, 601 Level 2 and Level 1 Item 6
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charging ports, with 286 more under construction. Nearly two-thirds of these chargers have been installed at multifamily residential sites.
Despite growth in EVs relative to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, transportation continues to be the largest contributor (54%) of greenhouse gas emissions in SVCE’s territory. As such, SVCE plans to continue programs that support the growth of electric mobility solutions, especially EVs and EV infrastructure, with a focus on serving customers who have the greatest need. Leveraging the learnings from past TE program implementation and current market conditions, staff propose consolidating and doubling down on three programs focused on EVs and EV charging for the next few years, using existing allocated TE program budget.
ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
The current portfolio of TE programs, as shown in Table 1, comprises 11 programs that offer rebates, technical assistance, direct installation services, and fleet electrification planning services. Several TE programs have closed in 2025, largely due to the end of grant funding or contracts, or due to a decision to pivot based on program learnings.
Table 1. Current Transportation Electrification (TE) Program Portfolio Program Description Status Impact
EV Charging Rebates Incentives for existing multifamily properties to add EV charging on site.
Active 221 L1/L2 ports installed at
25 multifamily properties
New Construction
Affordable Housing EV
Charging Rebates
Incentives for newly constructed affordable
housing to install EV charging on site to comply
with local reach codes.
Active 7 L2 ports at 1 multifamily
property
EV Rebates and
Education
Rebates for new and used EVs (income-qualified).Active 330 EV rebates paid; 8 EV Education Events
Multifamily Retrofits Whole building electrification, including EV charging, for selected deed-restricted
multifamily affordable housing.
Active 2 multifamily properties
enrolled
Fleet Electrification
Planning
Fleet electrification technical assistance for
public and non-profit fleets.
Active 15 public fleets enrolled
Innovation Onramp Grant funding for EV infrastructure pilots designed to address multifamily charging costs.
Active 3 pilots live; 4 multifamily
properties enrolled
E-bike Rebates E-bike vouchers for income-qualified
customers.
Planned
(launching
2026)
Goal: 400-450 e-bikes
California Electric
Vehicle Incentive
Program (CALeVIP)
Incentives for DC fast chargers and Level 2
chargers in public, multifamily, or business
lots.
Closed (Dec
2025)
26 DCFC; 338 L2s installed
EV Charging Technical
Assistance
Planning assistance for multifamily properties
interested in installing EV charging.
Closed
(June 2025)
112 EV charging solution
reports provided
Fast Charging
Incentives (Priority
Zone DCFC)
Incentives for DC fast charger installations near
dense multifamily housing.
Closed
(June 2025)
8 DCFC ports installed at 3
sites
CEC Grant Match
programs for EV
Charging
Grant funds provided as a match to CEC grants
awarded to non-profit and private entities to
install EV charging at multifamily sites.
Closed
(June 2025)
Co-funded 34 ports at 8
multifamily properties
Key Learnings
Through the implementation of these TE programs over the last five years, SVCE has learned a great deal about barriers and solutions to accelerating EV adoption. Two of the most common barriers to broad EV adoption are: 1) higher upfront vehicle cost compared to ICE vehicles, and 2) lack of accessible home charging. As a result, EV adoption patterns have historically been highly correlated with higher wealth and single-family home ownership where there is easy access to home charging. To address these key barriers and ensure a more equitable transition to EVs, SVCE TE programs have largely focused on helping multifamily residents gain access to convenient home charging and supporting low- and moderate-income customers overcome the high upfront vehicle cost barrier.
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Agenda Item: 6 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
Some of the biggest program learnings in the last five years have been that:
1. Rebates and technical assistance drive EV charging installations, especially for multifamily properties. High EV charging project costs are the most significant barrier, and incentives are critical to help most property owners overcome these. Technical assistance provides an on-ramp for property owners who value independent guidance on cost-saving strategies, billing management, and being connected with incentives and installers.
2. Right-sizing EV charging can reduce project costs and serve most daily driving needs.
Lower-powered EV charging options, such as Level 1 and low-power Level 2, are more affordable than full-power Level 2 charging stations, and they reduce grid strain and avoid service upgrades, while serving most daily driving needs.
3. Education is Key to Scale Adoption. Engagement, outreach, and tailored education help reach new audiences and overcome barriers, for both vehicles and charging. Through ongoing community engagement and valuable feedback from community members, property owners, multifamily residents, and EV charging vendors and installers, SVCE staff have gained insight into the key concerns, questions, and barriers that customers face during this transition. Ongoing education is crucial for continuing to scale program impact.
4. Fast charging is growing with external investments. Since 2020, DC fast charging ports in Santa Clara County increased threefold1, largely driven by Tesla, EVgo, and Electrify America installations2.
Between 2022-2025, SVCE’s Fast Charging Incentive program incentivized 8 DCFC ports near dense multifamily neighborhoods. Staff decided not to run another round of this program due to challenges experienced during implementation, including the bankruptcy of a participating DCFC company, which raised concerns about reliability and ongoing maintenance. SVCE re-focused efforts on lower-power charging solutions that complement existing private and state investments in DC fast charging growth.
Further, the market growth of DCFC charging in our service territory, funded by private and other public investment, means that the need for SVCE investment in this type of charging is now lower.
5. New construction affordable housing program hasn’t seen much uptake. Launched in January 2023 as a subprogram within the EV Charging Rebate Program, the New Construction Affordable Housing EV Charging Rebate Program was created to ensure that local EV reach codes did not pose a burden for new affordable housing projects by providing rebates to cover the incremental EV charging costs driven by local codes. This incentive program has had very low participation over the last three years. Only one new affordable housing property has participated and completed its charging installation to date. Staff’s understanding from conversations with affordable housing developers is that new construction affordable housing has very long and challenging development and financing timelines, and developers were more focused on funding the larger parts of projects than EVI.
Additionally, state codes have largely caught up with local EV charging reach codes, meaning that new affordable housing developments are required to install EV charging to comply with state codes, and the need for ongoing reach code compliance support is less. However, SVCE plans to continue to support both new and existing affordable housing properties with their EV charging installations to accommodate the longer development and construction timelines that these projects face.
With several programs ending (as noted in Table 1), SVCE can now pivot towards the next iteration of its TE programs.
Doubling Down on Core Programs
As several first-generation programs wind down, this presents an opportunity to leverage program learnings and existing TE funding to consolidate and scale the impact of three core programs:
1. EV Charging Rebates
1 California Energy Commission (2025). Electric Vehicle Chargers in California. Data last updated September 8, 2025.
Retrieved October 27, 2025 from https://www.energy.ca.gov/zevstats 2 Alternative Fuels Data Center. Alternative Fueling Station Locator. Retrieved October 28, 2025 from https://afdc.energy.gov/stations#/find/nearest?fuel=ELEC Item 6
Agenda Item: 6 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
2. EV Charging Technical Assistance
3. EV Rebates and Education
SVCE has already run these programs and has identified them as priorities to continue and scale because:
• EV charging and EV rebates are top performers in delivering value directly to customers and additional budget will allow for greater scale and impact more quickly. • These programs fill important gaps in the existing landscape of broader public and private EV and EV charging funding programs.
• This support has been necessary for installations that have lower costs and minimal grid impacts; continued learnings and demonstrations in these areas will help inform the local EV charging installers in deploying in these optimal ways.
• Multifamily charging projects depend on funding and assistance to scale effectively, and currently budgeted incentive funds are expected to be fully reserved within the next year.
Increasing funding to core programs will allow SVCE to continue to focus on multifamily EV charging installations while also including workplace and public locations. Relaunching a technical assistance program focused will allow SVCE to focus on right-sizing solutions that reduce project costs and install EV charging at more multifamily properties. Continuing EV education and extending funding for EV rebates for income-qualified customers will be valuable for more EV adoption, particularly in light of the federal tax credit ending.
Lastly, staff anticipates that fewer, larger programs that consolidate similar efforts for more efficient administration will further support rapid scaling.
Reallocation Proposal
To fund the expansion of the three core SVCE programs, staff recommend reallocating $7.2M in unspent or unlikely-to-be-spent funding from four previously allocated program budgets, shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Unspent Funding
Program Total Budget Unspent
Budget Reason for Unspent Budget
New Construction Affordable
Housing EV Charging
$5,795,431 $5,781,431 Lower than expected participation; very long development timelines; unlikely to be fully
spent.
Fast Charging Incentives
(Priority Zone DCFC)
$1,875,000 $1,327,210 Program ended; shifted focus to L1/L2 solutions that complement existing external
DCFC investment.
CEC Grant Match for EV
Charging
$175,000 $90,500 Grant period ended.
CALeVIP $2,500,000 $36,000 (est.) Ended Dec 2025.
Total $10,345,431 $7,235,141
Most of the unspent funds ($5.8M) were dedicated to solely supporting new construction affordable housing in compliance with local EV reach codes. Reallocating and consolidating this large remaining program budget to expand the core EV Charging Rebates and Technical Assistance programs will continue to support new construction affordable housing developments when and if they need financial support but will also allow other project types to benefit and draw the total allocation down.
Fast Charging Incentives, formerly known as Priority Zone DC Fast Charging (DCFC), has the second largest unspent budget ($1.3M). The remaining unspent funds are from CEC grants and the CALeVIP program, which closed in 2025. While the exact amount of leftover CALeVIP funds is not yet known, we anticipate that approximately $36,000 will remain after the program officially closes.
The specific budget reallocation recommendation is detailed in Table 3 below.
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Agenda Item: 6 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
Table 3. Recommended Budget Reallocations to Existing Core Programs Program
Current
Total
Budget
Current
Available
Budget
Recommended
Reallocation
Recommended
New Total Budget
Estimated Impact of
Reallocated Funding
EV Charging Rebates
(Active) $3,900,000 $1,175,085 +$5,135,141 $9,035,141
Adds +900-2,000
chargers at 50-100
new sites
EV Charging
Technical Assistance
(Closed)
$725,000 $8 +$1,100,000 $1,100,008 Supports 200+ new
sites
EV Rebates and
Education (Active) $1,500,000 $741,185 +$1,000,000 $2,500,000 Adds 450 EV rebates
and at least 10 new
EV education events
TOTAL $6,125,000 $1,916,278 $7,235,141 $11,135,149
The added funding will, at a minimum, double the impact of the core programs. Staff see this as the most effective, scalable path to enhancing EV charging options and encouraging EV adoption in our territory. No new funding is being allocated to the TE programs portfolio; this is merely shifting funds away from some TE programs and towards others. Staff will continue to consider additional adjustments to these three core programs based on program performance, market and technology changes, and community feedback.
STRATEGIC PLAN
This recommendation supports Goal 7 of SVCE’s Strategic Plan to “Support all SVCE communities to decarbonize through local investments that reduce barriers and demonstrate sensible, scalable, and equitable solutions.”
ALTERNATIVE
In the absence of approving this program reallocation, the Board may direct staff to:
1. Not reallocate any unspent TE program funds. Leave current allocations as-is.
2. Not reallocate any unspent TE program funds. Move unspent funds to unallocated program budget and reallocate them at a future date. Continue to administer the “Active” and “Planned” programs at currently funded levels, which are expected to be fully reserved or spent within 6-12 months.
3. Reallocate funds to different TE programs other than those proposed.
Staff requests approval for the proposed reallocation as this will help ensure the longevity of high-impact TE programs with improved administrative efficiency. Without the reallocation of these funds to core programs, SVCE's ability to reduce carbon emissions from transportation will be limited.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with reallocating the remaining TE program funds as these funds have already been authorized and committed by the Board to fund TE programs. All expenditures will be reflected in the appropriate mid-year and fiscal budgets as drawdown from the overall Programs Fund if approved.
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Staff Report – Item 7
Item 7: Receive Update on Net Billing Tariff (NBT, NEM 3.0) Following First Year of Customer Performance
From: Monica Padilla, CEO
Prepared by: Justin Zagunis, Director of Customer Success Peyton Parks, Energy Services Manager
Date: 1/14/2026
RECOMMENDATION
Staff requests the Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Board of Directors (“Board”) receive an update on the status of solar and the Net Billing Tariff (NBT, NEM 3.0) after the first year of customer performance. This is an informational update with no action requested.
BACKGROUND
Net Billing Tariff diverges from previous versions of solar Net Metering in the underlying mechanics and calculations for determining the value of excess solar energy exported to the grid. While the previous versions of Net Metering, NEM and NEM 2.0, were predominantly retail rate-based, NBT operates under hourly tracking of the value of exports at a varying rate much closer to the wholesale price of energy. Accounting for exported energy values in this way significantly reduces the total incentives paid to customers generating solar energy compared to previous versions of the program but aligns the incentives with the actual value of that excess energy to the grid.
The roll-out of NBT was a statewide effort led by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) and adopted by the three major Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs). Ultimately, the goal of the NBT program was threefold: 1) to better align solar incentives with the market price of energy, 2) to slow the deepening of the duck curve and encourage electrification in California by incentivizing self-consumption and storage by reducing the benefits paid for exports, and 3) to increase equity across the system by correcting for the cost-shift to non-solar customers. SVCE and its Board believed that the goals of the NBT program were directionally correct and aligned with its own.
At its November 8th, 2023 meeting, the SVCE Board of Directors voted to approve the SVCE Net Billing Tariff without modification in order to mirror the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) version of the program for at least the first year. During that time, staff was directed to observe and measure the impact that the tariff’s adoption had on customers individually, collectively, and on the local solar industry. This staff report serves as the report-out on these items.
Originally slated to become operational in December of 2023, PG&E was forced to delay NBT’s implementation within its billing system until April of 2024 due to the complexity of NBT’s underlying mechanics. One year later, in April 2025, SVCE performed its first solar cash-out process for NBT customers. These inaugural cash-outs were concluded in early June 2025 and represented the conclusion of the first year of NBT.
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SILICON VALLEY \3/ CLEAN ENERGY
Agenda Item: 7 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION
Overall Solar Adoption
After passage of the Net Billing Tariff by the CPUC in December 2022, a firm end date for NEM 2.0 was put in place, after which all customers filing interconnection applications for solar projects would be defaulted to the Net Billing Tariff. In the months leading up to the April 15th, 2023 end date, an influx of solar applications were received and processed by PG&E as solar vendors ramped up their marketing efforts based on the urgency to secure a NEM 2.0 interconnection agreement – as NEM 2.0 represents a shorter return on investment for solar equipment installation. New applications under NBT dropped sharply after the deadline, but the backlog of NEM 2.0 installations from this influx ended up being smoothed across 2023 and into 2024 due to installer logistical constraints.
Though reduced in number, initially, NBT interconnection applications were received in 2023 and began to ramp in 2024. Some customers with NBT interconnection agreements had their systems commissioned prior to PG&E’s implementation of NBT within its billing system. These customers were allowed to net meter under NEM 2.0 rules until NBT billing functionality was made active in April 2024.
Strong installation numbers through 2024 partly indicate that NEM 2.0 installations were concluding from a previous backlog. However, the growth in installations through October 2025, represented in the table above, seems to indicate that customers have a continued appetite for solar installations under the Net Billing Tariff.
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New Residential Solar Applications By Month
100,000
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
O
(Source: author calculations fromCalifornia DG Stats)
Solar In SVCE Territory
Year
SVCE Solar
Customers
SVCE NBT
Customers
TotalSolar
Customers
Solar Growth
YOY
2018 17,995 17,995
2019 20,599 20,599 2,604
2020 21,329 21,329 730
2021 25,559 25,559 4,230
2022 29,916 29,916 4,357
2023 34,592 34,592 4,676
2024 36,685 1,767 38,452 3,860
2025 39,248 2,009 41,257 2,805
Annual stats 2018-2024 gathered from December of each year. 2025 stats are from October Agenda Item: 7 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
As of September 2025, SVCE is supporting 3,776 NBT customers, of which 3,106 installations are paired with energy storage (82%). As NBT systems were commissioned under the tariff in April 2024, data reveals that there were 91 NBT installations that became operational at the time, indicating that a relative few customers had chosen to pursue solar under the updated tariff in the time between April 15th, 2023 and April 30th, 2024.
NBT installations have increased since the initial roll-out to an average of 216 installations per month.
First Cash-Out for NBT Customers
There were 780 NBT customers, or about 28%, that were net generators at the end of their first solar year, meaning that they had exported more kilowatt hours than they had consumed over the course of 12 months.
As with NEM and NEM 2.0 net generators, these NBT net generators are entitled to be paid by SVCE for this excess energy at the end of the year. The average payout for excess annual exported energy across NBT customers in 2025 was ~$56. NEM and NEM 2.0 customers, by comparison, had approximately 23% net generators with the average payout amounting to ~$137.
Other Factors Affecting Solar and Storage Adoption
There are other factors that affect customer decisions and ability to install solar and storage beyond the export compensation methodology, though that has historically been a strong driver. SVCE can play a facilitating role through things like:
• SVCE’s Solar + Storage Assistant on the eHub website, which helps prospective solar customers gather quotes for their project and consider the impact of storage. This is currently open to customers and has been part of SVCE’s services since October 2020. • SVCE’s Zero Interest Financing program is testing the interest and impact of offering financing for solar and storage alongside electrification projects and will inform possible offers in the future. This program is currently open to customers.
• SVCE previously ran a program with Sunrun to install and enroll local batteries in a program to provide resource adequacy benefit. This included targeted outreach and incentives to customers who enrolled.
This program is no longer enrolling new customers.
• As part of updated demand flexibility efforts, SVCE’s Board approved a contract with Lunar to run a software platform that can manage the dispatch of various behind-the-meter assets to SVCE’s and the customer’s benefits. In 2026, SVCE will be offering an incentive program to support the enrollment of existing batteries and the installation of new batteries to connect to this platform and provide aggregated flexibility and support customer financial savings.
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350
300
250
200
150
100
50 0
NBT Interconnection by Month
|Battery No Battery
Source:Pacific Gas andElectric Company4013 customer file Agenda Item: 7 Agenda Date: 1/14/2026
Staff has continued to monitor and identify ways to better serve current and potential future solar customers while balancing against the needs of the grid and other non-participating customers. Further, the adoption of solar and storage can provide significant benefits as part of a customer’s electrification journey in alignment with SVCE’s mission.
There are also recent changes that may have a negative impact on solar and storage projects that are not yet reflected in the data from this year:
• The end date for the federal solar tax credit for owned solar systems (30%) is ending on December 31, 2025. Leased systems, or those commissioned under power purchase agreements (PPAs) qualify for the tax credit until December 31, 2027 as a direct-to-installer incentive. Battery storage in third-party-owned systems will qualify until December 31, 2032. • Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS), a California Energy Commission (CEC) funded reliability program - and the largest "Virtual Power Plant" in California - did not receive additional funding for 2026 and beyond. The program began in 2022 and has over 700 MW of enrolled capacity statewide and helped lower the net cost of battery ownership paired with solar, through standby capacity payments and ongoing performance payments.
• SVCE made a change to its Net Surplus Compensation (NSC) rate that will go into effect for the 2026 cash-out, reducing the payment for the net generators to the value the energy has to the grid. As explored in the February 2025 staff report, this cash-out change better aligns the compensation with actual grid value.
Continued Observation
With many recent and upcoming changes, staff plan to continue to monitor the local solar and storage market in the coming years, specifically to ensure that customers are receiving fair value for the benefits that their projects offer to SVCE and the grid. As major changes are observed, staff will consider additional programs or support that could be offered if necessary and return to the Board with another update and proposals. Staff plans to return to the Board in first quarter of 2026 to propose adjustments to the NBT cash-out process for April 2026 based on initial findings of how the NBT rules interact with the Net Surplus Compensation process, which will provide some additional customer benefit if approved.
STRATEGIC PLAN
This informational update is provided in alignment with Strategic Plan, Goal 7: ‘Support all SVCE communities to decarbonize through local investments that reduce barriers and demonstrate sensible, scalable, and equitable solutions’ and Goal 8: ‘Engage customers and community stakeholders to build trust of SVCE and advance decarbonization’.
FISCAL IMPACT
Receiving this informational update has no fiscal impact.
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