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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, considering prolonged heat storms, wildfires, and intermittent renewable energy sources, all of which can impact grid reliability.
More than 1.5 million residential customers and over 111,000 commercial and industrial customers were enrolled in our programs and pilots, which support affordability objectives and include:
2024 milestones
The CPUC approved PG&E’s demand response program portfolio for 2024 to 2027, which will include:
- A new Automated Response Technology program—a voluntary residential program offering incentives to third-party providers for reducing energy consumption by dispatching smart technologies when requested by PG&E.
- A new 15-minute option in the Base Interruptible Program, which offers up to a 10% increase in financial incentives to participating customers and allows for greater flexibility and responsiveness to grid needs for enrolled customers. For customers in the 30-minute option, we received a 12% increase in incentives for the summer months.
- A 15% increase in monthly incentives for the Capacity Bidding Program and updated program hours to include mandatory Saturday nominations, which aligns with the hours of greatest potential for supply shortfalls and complies with resource adequacy requirements.
- Increased third-party participation in the virtual power plant and vehicle-grid integration options of the Emergency Load Reduction Program. In total, six new partners joined, whose enrollments are expected to ramp up in 2025.
- Facilitated participation in the Self-Generation Incentive Program by enrolling customers in SmartRate or the Capacity Bidding Program in accordance with new requirements.
We reduced energy consumption through a Peak Day Alert offering in our Home Energy Reports. The alert virtually encourages customers to shift their load on peak days. Available to about 500,000 customers, we called 10 events with an average reduction of 10.6 MW per event. PG&E runs one of the nation’s largest programs of this kind.
Measuring progress
Through our demand response programs, PG&E customers had the ability to provide up to 342 MW of load reduction in 2024—helping to balance electricity supply and demand, considering California’s evolving grid needs.