Sustainability Highlight
pge-corp
Our approach
PG&E’s demand response programs enable customers to help balance electricity supply and demand on the grid by reducing or shifting their electricity usage at times when demand is highest. These programs are increasingly important in helping meet California’s evolving grid needs in light of prolonged heat storms, wildfires, and drought conditions, all of which can impact grid reliability.
PG&E’s “Bring Your Own Thermostat” program is open to residential customers who have eligible smart thermostats, and customers who wish to purchase them at a discounted price. The program rewards customers for being more flexible with their smart thermostat schedules to enable lower air conditioning usage during the most high-demand hours. In this way, customers can coordinate their energy usage with thousands of others to prevent power interruptions while remaining comfortable.
At the end of 2023, PG&E had enrolled 111,000 customers, exceeding our goal of 70,000. This makes the program among the largest residential customer demand response programs in the country and demonstrates the important role that customers can play in shifting energy load to help balance the grid.
More than 1.5 million residential customers and over 111,000 commercial and industrial customers were enrolled in our programs and pilots, which include:
2023 milestones
In 2023, the CPUC approved PG&E’s demand response programs for 2024 to 2027, which will include:
- A new program for residential customers, which offers load shaping by leveraging technologies for an automatic response from customers on time-of-use rates. Eligible technologies include smart thermostats, smart appliances, heat-pump water heaters, EV chargers, and stationary batteries.
- A 10% increase in financial incentives for summer months, and a new 15-minute dispatch option which allows for greater flexibility and responsiveness to grid needs for customers enrolled in the base interruptible program.
- A 15% increase in incentive rates for customers enrolled in the capacity bidding program.
- Extended funding for the Emergency Load Reduction Program’s non-residential options.
Measuring progress
Through our demand response programs, PG&E customers had the ability to provide up to 467 MW of load reduction in 2023, helping to balance electricity supply and demand in light of California’s evolving grid needs.