Dive Brief:
- Regulators last year authorized San Diego Gas & Electric to spend almost $40 million improving its demand response programs, but they are unsatisfied with how the utility has been performing thus far.
- Earlier this month the California Public Utilities Commission sent the utility a letter alleging it had not sufficiently worked to expand customer knowledge of demand response programs or to bring in third-party vendors to propose solutions.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune reports SDG&E installed more than 15,000 smart thermostats last year and intends to show regulators how its programs are in compliance.
Dive Insight:
When San Diego Gas & Electric updated regulators in January as to the status of their demand response programs, it was mostly done in the "future tense," according to the Union-Tribune. But the improvements, which regulators authorized to the tune of $39.8 million last year, should already have been in progress.
“SDG&E’s program improvement plans are insufficient or inconsistent with the program improvements it was directed to implement,” CPUC Energy Division Director Ed Randolph told the utility in a letter earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the utility told the newspaper the company will be responding to show that it is in compliance, and highlighted the power provider's efforts so far: More than 15,000 smart thermostats installed last year, and a 70 MW power reduction during a heat wave last year.
SDG&E currently has a number of demand response programs offered to residential and commercial customers. Its "Summer Saver" plan is a direct load control program allowing it to cycle a customer's air conditioner anywhere from one to 15 days per season. Qualifying customers can’t exceed usage of 100 kW at any point in a 12-month period.
Its Base Interruptible Program targets businesses that can reduce electric load by 15% of their monthly average peak demand, or a minimum of 100 kilowatts (kW). The utility said customers can enroll directly with SDG&E or via a third-party aggregator.
