Community Renewables Program for Developers

SCE’s Green Tariff Shared Renewables (GTSR) program is the result of SB 43, which was signed into law on September 28, 2013. GTSR is a 600-megawatt statewide program that allows participating utility customers to meet up to 100 percent of their energy usage from eligible renewable resources. There are two structures within the GTSR program:

  1. SCE’s Green Rate program
  2. SCE’s Community Renewables program

 

What is the Community Renewables Program?

SCE’s Community Renewables program allows SCE customers to work directly with developers to subscribe to a portion of a renewable energy project and receive bill credits from SCE based on their portion of the project’s generation.

Information regarding SB 43 and Community Renewables:

How the Program Works

The Community Renewables program allows developers to work directly with customers to develop new renewable projects from 0.5 to 20.0 MW that are in SCE’s service territory. The transaction structure of the Community Renewables program has three main components:

 

Customer Developer Agreement

Customers contract directly with a developer for a specific renewable project and subscribe to a portion of the project’s output corresponding to all or a portion of the customer’s energy needs. This contract is referred to as the Customer Developer Agreement (CDA), SCE is not a party to this contract and each CDA is bilaterally negotiated between the customer and the developer.

 

Power Purchase Agreement

If selected, developers sign a Renewable Auction Mechanism Renewable (RAM) Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Enhanced Community Renewables Rider with SCE (the CR-RAM PPA). The customers are not a party to the CR-RAM PPA, which is submitted and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission by advice letter and is not negotiable.

 

Customer Energy Statement Credit (a Bill Credit)

Eligible once customers are enrolled, they will receive a bill credit on their SCE energy statement. For more information regarding rates in effect, please review SCE’s GTSR Schedules in Advice Letter 4977-Eopens in new window Bill credits are subject to change at any time, including after a customer enrolls.

All rates and bill credits are updated annually as part of SCE’s Energy Resource Recovery Account proceeding, or when there is a substantial change to the generation revenue requirement. A customer who enrolls in the community renewables program does not have a fixed bill credit, the bill credit will change and current rates do not reflect future rates. The California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) has ruled that it is essential that participants in the Community Renewables program be protected and that utility customers do not bear the cost of any securities litigation associated with a securities claim related to the Community Renewables program. Therefore, the Commission requires each developer and project to comply with securities laws. Accordingly, SCE makes no representation or warranty regarding whether a Community Renewable project or its developer are in compliance with securities laws, and that customers and participants in the Community Renewables program are solely responsible for ensuring that they and the Community Renewable developer are in compliance with all securities laws.

The California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) has ruled that it is essential that participants in the Community Renewables program be protected and that utility customers do not bear the cost of any securities litigation associated with a securities claim related to the Community Renewables program. Therefore, the Commission requires each developer and project to comply with securities laws. Accordingly, SCE makes no representation or warranty regarding whether a Community Renewable project or its developer are in compliance with securities laws, and that customers and participants in the Community Renewables program are solely responsible for ensuring that they and the Community Renewable developer are in compliance with all securities laws.

 

Getting Started

Some of the Community Renewables program requirements that a developer must satisfy are:

  1. Comply with Green-e® Energy National Standard
    1. In accordance with D.15-01-051, SCE’s Community Renewables program is required to be Green-e® Energy certified pursuant to the Green-e Energy National Standard. For more information visit Green-e® Energy.opens in new window
  2. Green-e® Energy Marketing Communication Guidelines
  3. Community Interest
  4. Customer Developer Agreement

 

Summary of Green-e® Energy Marketing Communication Guidelines

Under the Community Renewables program, renewable energy project developers take on the responsibility for marketing their renewable project(s) directly to customers and must comply with Green-e® Energy environmental and consumer protection standards. This compliance includes following Green-e® Energy guidelines for all product marketing, an obligation to provide customers with accurate and sufficient disclosures regarding the developer’s project(s), and following the California Public Utility Commission’s Decision on Community Choice Aggregation Code of Conduct and the Green-e® Energy Code of Conduct.opens in new window For more information on Green-e® Energy developer requirements under SB 43, please visit Green-e® Energy’s developer requirementsopens in new window.

Note: Many of the Green-e® Energy Requirements must be satisfied prior to marketing to customers.

 

Marketing Material Review Timeline and Requirements for Phase One, Two, and Three

In accordance with D.15-01-051, SCE is required to review all developer marketing material before they are used to market to customers.

All developer’s marketing materials must comply with the following:

  1. Green-e® Energy’s Developer Requirements
  2. The California Public Utilities Commission’s Community Choice Aggregation Code of Conduct
  3. Marketing Compliance Attestation
  4. Must be truthful, accurate, and not false or misleading, and must clearly communicate the benefits and risks of subscribing to the Community Renewables project

Demonstrating Community Interest Requirements for Community Renewables

Prior to reaching out to potential customers, a developer must submit a Community Interest complete package, including a completed SCE Marketing Compliance Attestation, to CommRenewables@sce.com for review.

Developer’s materials must inform customers of an estimated price, when the project is expected to come online, and a contract term. Such materials may be used by developers to demonstrate community interest in accordance with D.16-05-006 and the applicable CR-RAM RFO Instructions.

It is important to note that any customer-facing marketing materials created after the initial marketing review and approval must also be submitted and approved prior to use.

Community Interest Requirements:

 

Resolution E-5028 was issued in 2019 and includes modifications on some of the community interest requirements that were discussed in the California Public Utility Commission’s final GTSR D.15-01-051 and D.16-05-006 which states that in order for a developer to qualify for a Power Purchase Agreement, there must be sufficient demonstration of community interest for SCE’s Community Renewable projects. Developers must demonstrate community interest for Community Renewable projects and must be achieved prior to the start of construction. The following are some of the requirements that must be met as a developer:

  1. Documentation that community members have committed to enroll in 30 percent of the project's capacity or documentation that community members have provided expressions of interest in the project sufficient to reach 51 percent of the project's capacity.
  2. Demonstration that 1/6th (by load) of the demonstrated community interest in the project is from residential subscribers, at the time of commercial operation. 

For the purpose of demonstrating community interest, subscribers must be located within the same municipality or county or within ten miles of the project's address.  Subscribers must also meet the other customer eligibility criteria as defined in GTSR-CR Schedule.

Developers must inform customers committing to enroll of an estimated price, when the project is expected to come online and a contract term. An expression of interest does not require disclosure of these elements.

  • Submit an Expression of Interest Form, a Commitment to Enroll, or an Eligible Guarantee and a Community Interest Summary Form to CommRenewables@sce.com and to the Solicitations website.
  • Requirements applicable to the documents above and the process for submitting the documents above to SCE for review are provided in the applicable CR-RAM RFO Instructions. Required documents are valid for a limited period of time as set forth in the applicable CR-RAM RFO Instructions. To the extent there are any inconsistencies between the information provided on the website and the requirements established for the applicable CR-RAM RFO, the CR-RAM RFO materials will govern.

Customer Enrollment

If SCE decides to execute a CR-RAM PPA with you and you choose to execute a CR-RAM PPA with SCE, after full execution and delivery of the CR-RAM PPA, you must:

  • Submit a complete package of Marketing Materials Phase Two to CommRenewables@sce.com.
  • Satisfy the eligibility requirements and commence marketing for executing a Customer-Developer Agreement (“CDA”). Once you have completed Marketing Phase Two, in accordance with Green-e® Energy requirements, you may begin executing a CDA with each customer.
  • SCE will require information related to each customer’s subscription to determine the appropriate bill credit to apply to each customer’s applicable bill.
  • A developer is responsible to inform SCE if a CDA has expired, terminated or has otherwise been cancelled, if a customer is no longer part of the Community Renewables program, or if a customer has moved out of SCE’s service territory.

Annual Marketing Material Submission

On an annual basis, developers must submit marketing materials used in the previous 12 months to SCE. In addition to all Green-e® Energy marketing requirements and CR-RAM PPA requirements, a developer must:

 

  • Register each project as producing renewable energy by submitting a Green-e® Energy Tracking System Attestation.opens in new window This must be completed, signed, and submitted to Green-e® Energy. This is a reoccurring obligation as attestations expire every few years. Information about Green-e® Energy attestation forms can be found here.
  • If a project is located on-site with an electricity user (e.g., rooftop system), procure Green-e® Energy Host Attestations from any applicable host. This is an annual obligation per Green-e® Energy’s requirements.opens in new window Additionally, once the project begins operating, you must notify all tenants of the host building of the amount of renewable energy that the building and tenants are using from the project. If none of the Renewable Energy Credits are delivered to the host, the developer and any subsequent generator must notify all tenants that “no renewable electricity is used onsite”.
  • Provide customer account information to CommRenewables@sce.com. Distribute welcome packets to all customers within sixty (60) days of a signed CDA and annually at re-enrollment.
  • Continuously submit marketing materials to CommRenewables@sce.com for prescreening or review upon request by SCE or Green-e® Energy.
  • Continuously submit new customer enrollment information on a monthly basis to CommRenewables@sce.com.
  • Inform SCE if a CDA has expired or been cancelled on a continual basis.
  • Complete any changes requested by SCE or Green-e® Energy and customer disclosures within thirty (30) days.

The information on this website respecting Green-e Energy and Green-e® Energy requirements was provided in part by Green-e® Energy. Accordingly, while SCE strives to make the information on this website as timely and accurate as possible, SCE makes no claims, promises, or guarantees and does not represent or warrant the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of the information provided by Green-e® Energy, and expressly disclaims any liability for errors or omissions in contents of this website provided by Green-e® Energy. Green-e® Energy requirements can be found here.opens in new window In connection with a developer’s participation in the Community Renewables program and in connection with the issuance of any Community Renewables bill credit to a customer, the contents of this website do not govern or create privity of contract, the contents of each Customer Developer Agreement, the CR-RAM PPA, or the appropriate advice letter establishing the Community Renewables bill credit will govern, as applicable.

Credit Details

 

Class Average Generation Credit

The amount credited reflects the average cost that you would have paid for generation if you did not participate in the Community Renewables program. This is an average cost per kWh.

 

Renewable Value Adjustment (Time of Delivery Adjustment)

Renewable energy that is purchased is delivered during the day, but most people tend to use more energy at night when prices are higher. This adjustment accounts for the difference.

Charge Details

Renewable Power Rate

This is the cost of the solar power that is procured from a Community Renewables project, but it is offset to zero for Community Renewables participants since payment for the renewable power is assigned to these participants (instead of us paying the developer).

 

CAISO Grid and WREGIS Charges

CAISO grid management charges include energy usage, energy transmission, and reliability service costs and charges that are allocated by the CAISO. These charges also include market services, system operations and congestion revenue rights service charges and costs, as well as eligible intermittent resources forecast fee. The WREGIS charges are based on fees assessed by WREGIS for registration, tracking and retirement of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) associated with generation used to serve Community Renewables participants.

 

Resource Adequacy

This adjustment ensures that there are sufficient generating resources and margin available for anticipated system and local load. This adjustment also accounts for the value associated with the power supplied by the Community Renewables facilities.

 

Renewables Integration Cost

The Renewable Integration Charge includes costs associated with integrating new renewable resources with the grid. The charge is currently $0.

 

Program Administration Charge

This is the incremental per customer cost that we incur to run the Community Renewables Program.

 

Marketing, Education, and Outreach Charge

The per customer cost of promoting and educating participants and potential participants about the Community Renewables Program.

Indifference Adjustment Charges

Indifference Adjustment

The Indifference Adjustment is a rate component intended to ensure that Community Renewables Program participants pay for the above-market costs of resources procured on their behalf prior to taking service on the Community Renewables Program, and to prevent cost-shifting between Community Renewables Program participants and non-participants. The Indifference Adjustment is made up of the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment and the Competition Transition Charge. Based on the date you begin to receive service under the Community Renewables program, you are assigned a particular year, or “vintage”. The vintage will remain constant for as long as you receive service on the program. Even if you move, you will retain your same vintage at your new location (provided you move within our service territory and elect to be served on the Community Renewables program when establishing your new service account). The Indifference Adjustment vintage is updated annually on July 1. If you sign up prior to July 1, you will be placed on the previous year’s vintage. After July 1, you will be placed on this year’s vintage. Therefore, if you enroll in Community Renewables effective June 1, 2023, you will be on the 2022 vintage. For more details on these components, please view Schedule CCA-CRSopens in new window.

Historical Data

2023 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2018 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2017 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2016 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2015 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2013 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

2012 Historical Rate ($/kWh)

The Community Renewables Program is Green-e® Energy certified. Under Senate Bill 43 (SB43), we are required to be Green-e® Energy certified as administered by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions. Green-e® Energy is North America’s leading voluntary certification program for renewable energy. Since 1997, Green-e® Energy has certified renewable energy that meets environmental and consumer protection standards that were developed in conjunction with leading environmental, energy and policy organizations. Green-e® Energy requires that sellers of certified renewable energy disclose clear and useful information to potential customers, allowing consumers to make informed choices. Green-e® Energy Certification provides consumers with assurance that the product sold under SCE meets the Green-e® Energy National Standard, is not double counted, and is marketed in a clear and accurate way to customers.

Under the California Enhanced Community Renewables program, renewable energy project developers take on the responsibility for marketing their solar project(s) directly to customers, and as such agree to comply with Green-e® Energy environmental and consumer protection standards. This compliance includes following Green-e® Energy guidelines on all product marketing and an obligation to provide the end-use customer with accurate and sufficient disclosures regarding the project(s). For more information on Green-e Energy developer requirements under SB43, please visit Green-e® Energy’s California Enhanced Community Renewables Information.