Privileged and Confidential
Residential Rate Reform
Residential Electric Rates Summit
February 20, 2019
Maril WrightDirector, Pricing Products
Time-of-Use Default Pilot Highlights
Background:
• Initial population of ~160k customers to default to the new TOU Rate (Everyday, 4-9pm)• Customers received a combination of 90, 60 and 30 Day communications• In April 2018, PG&E transitioned ~114k customers
Highlights:
• Customer retention has been high
through 9 months (over 101,223customers remain on rate)
• Based on qualitative and quantitative
studies, customer awareness has been
high (68% aware they were part of a
transition)
• Self-serve rate change selection was high
(60% on-line/web)
• Preliminary Load Impacts show an overall
reduction of 4.2% of total peak load per
customer per hour
• To date, bundled customers have been
paid ~$440K in bill protection. Estimated
bill protection remaining to be paid to
default pilot customers is ~$2.33M
Customer awareness and retention remains high
3
Time-of-Use Default Pilot Highlights
5
Pre-Transition Post-Transition
60%
24%16%
Online IVR CSR
Rate Change Channel
65%
2%
33%
Online IVR CSR
Rate Change Channel
Remain on Default Rate 88%
Switched to Tiered 1.4%
Switched to Another TOU 1.3%
Stopped Service 8.5%
%
Voluntary Sign-Up for Default Rate (Since Transition)
12,364
4
Summary Survey Results
5
Continued high levels of awareness, despite some small drops
Pre-pilotBaseline Goal Target
Part of Transition 68% 62%
Aware…
TOU rate plans 84% 81% 68.8%60%
On a TOU rate plan 59% 56%10%
Rate choices 59% 52% 47.5%35%
Wave 1Post transition
Wave 2Post summer
5
Load Impacts
5
Day TypeDef Pilot Peak-period
Load Impact (kWh/hour/customer)
% Load Impact
Weekday 0.048 4.4%Weekend/Holiday 0.043 3.8%
All 0.046 4.2%All impacts reported above are load reductions and statistically significant at 99% level
Average peak period reduction for a customer who transitioned is 0.046kWh per customer per hour. This translates to 4.2% reduction of total peak load per
customer per hour
Customers are taking action to shift and reduce
Privileged and Confidential
Appendix
January Dashboard
8
Sample Time-of-Use Default Communications
90/30 Day Notification60 Day Rate Comparison Welcome Letter
TOU Acquisition
5
2018 2019
• Rate Options messaging included in digital newsletter deployed to 2.1M customers
• Rate options included in October Home Energy Report
• Outer envelope bill messaging in March and October
• Digital Campaign – Digital video to educate customers on rate options and encourage a rate comparison
• Summer Campaign to promote rate options
• Acquisition campaign
Integrated Marketing Efforts
Residential Digital Newsletter (April/May/June):
PG&E’s digital newsletter provided its 1.9 million recipients with information about electric rate plan choices, ways to reduce energy usage and bill forecast alerts. Customers were driven to pge.com to learn more/engage with the solutions
Integrated Evergreen Collateral (April):
The multipaneled brochure provides information on online account features, rate plan options, Medical Baseline, Home Energy Checkup, Bill Forecast Alert & energy savings tips. Customers were driven to pge.com page for more details. The brochure is available in 6 languages & will be used by PG&E employees/3rd party partners at events.
SmartRate Welcome Kits (May/June):
PG&E sent welcome kits via direct and email to welcome SmartRate customers to the 2018 season. The communication provided program details, tips to prepare for SmartDays, info on how to sign up for SmartDay notifications, and ways to shift or avoid high usage appliances.
CARE and ESA Web Updates (June): The CARE and ESA webpages on pge.com featured an easy link to the Summer Tips page to help reinforce summer savings opportunities through the end of September. The webpages were promoted in the CARE and ESA outreach in June/July.
CARE Direct Mail Insert (June): As part of the CARE acquisition communication a summer seasonal insert was included. It told customers about ways to save during the summer and highlighted Bill Forecast Alerts and Home Energy Checkup. Customers were encouraged to visit pge.com/savetoday for more information.
High Usage Surcharge (HUS) Quarterly Awareness Outreach (June):
In June, PG&E sent notifications to customers “at risk” of incurring the High Usage Surcharge (HUS), who had not received previous information on the surcharge. The letter/emails provided details about the HUS and featured ways to manage energy use like High Usage Alerts (HUA), Home Energy Checkup, Medical Baseline and the Residential Energy Fitness Program. Customers were driven to pge.com for more details.
Electronic Home Energy Report –eHER (February/March):
PG&E sent eHERs to approximately 342,000 customers in February and March. The content encouraged customers to explore their electric rate plan options and included a link Electric Rate Plan Comparison Tool.