Option S

About Option S

“Option S” is a limited rate option available to customers who install storage and take service on one of PG&E’s non-residential “B” rates (rates B19 Voluntary, B19 Mandatory, and B20). To be eligible for Option S, the rated capacity of the installed storage system must be equivalent to at least 10% of the customer’s peak demand over the previous 12 months.

Because of the limited availability, PG&E has created a reservation process through which customers can ensure their project will have the requisite capacity reserved for the rate beginning at the submission of an interconnection agreement. For details about the reservation process, see below.

Option S Benefits

Option S may provide a more advantageous rate structure for customers with storage. Without Option S, customers on the “B” rates are charged demand charges ($/kW) only on a monthly basis. With Option S, a portion of the demand charge revenue is collected through daily demand charges, and monthly demand charges are lower than those assessed customers who are on the regular “B” rates. This reduces customers’ exposure to higher demand charges associated with infrequent periods of elevated load. When demand charges are assessed monthly, a period of elevated load within the month sets the applicable demand charges for that month. When demand charges are assessed daily, a period of elevated load will result in higher demand charges for that day, but a customer is able to manage demand charges on other days in that month. This can result in a customer on Option S paying a monthly sum of demand charges that is less than what their monthly demand charges would have been on a regular business rate.

Option S Cap

Enrollment on the Option S rate is capped at 150 Megawatts (MW) in PG&E’s service area¹, with separate 50 MW caps for each of the three rate categories: B19 Voluntary; B19 Mandatory; and B20. To help stakeholders view how enrollment by PG&E customers in Option S is tracking toward the cap, the tables below show information on current and reserved Option S capacity. The tables will be updated monthly until enrollment of each rate B19 Voluntary, B19 Mandatory, and B20 reaches cap capacity of 50 Megawatts (MW).

Reservation Process

Any customer interested in enrolling or reserving capacity on the Option S rate will need to follow the reservation process outlined below.

Reservation Request

To reserve capacity on the Option S rate, email OptionS@pge.com with the following information:

1. Name of Customer of Record for the Service Agreement
2. PG&E Interconnection Application ID
3. Service Agreement ID that will be served by the storage system
4. Selected Rate (B19-V, B19, B20)
5. kW capacity you would like to reserve for the project
6. Attach your customer-signed PG&E Interconnect Agreement

Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation email and your reservation request will be checked for completeness within five business days. Any missing or erroneous information may result in a delay.

Reservation Confirmation

Once your request has been verified to be complete, your eligibility for the rate will be checked and you will be notified of your accepted reservation within 10 business days.

If you were not deemed eligible, you will also be notified within 10 business days.

If you were deemed eligible but there is not sufficient capacity available to reserve for your project, you will be offered to be placed on a waitlist.

Reservation Period and Extensions

Once your reservation is confirmed, the reserved capacity will be held for 18 months. If your project does not reach PTO within 18 months, you may request up to two (2) six-month extensions. These extensions will not automatically be granted. To request an extension, email OptionS@pge.com prior to the end of the initial 18-month reservation period.

If, after 30 months holding the reservation (18 months initial reservation plus two six-month extensions), the project has still not reached PTO due to a pending service upgrade by PG&E, the reservation will be extended until PG&E performs the needed upgrades and clears the way towards PTO.

Pending Permission to Operate (PTO)

If you have a pending PTO, and currently have an Option S reservation confirmed, no further action is required, until you receive PTO.

Once you have received PTO, reply to the Option S reservation confirmation email you received from PG&E OptionS@pge.com, with an attached copy of PTO requesting to enroll on your preferred Option S rate.

Upon receiving the customer request for rate enrollment, confirmation of the project Option S reservation, and PTO, PG&E will process the customer request. PG&E will process the customer selected rate enrollment of NEM billing within 30 days from the customer granted Permission To Operate (PTO) date.

Existing Permission to Operate (PTO)

If you have an existing PTO for your project, and do not have an Option S reservation. Please email OptionS@pge.com, to request for an Option S reservation, with an attached copy of PTO.

Please include the following list of documentation, when emailing OptionS@pge.com, below.

1. Attach your Permission to Operate ( PTO)
2. Name of Customer of Record for the Service Agreement
3. PG&E Interconnection Application ID
4. Service Agreement ID that will be served by the storage system
5. Selected Rate (B19-V, B19, B20)
6. kW capacity you would like to reserve for the project
7. Attach your customer-signed PG&E Interconnect Agreement

Once receiving the customer request for an Option S reservation with attached PTO, PG&E will process the customer request for the reservation to ensure available capacity. PG&E will process the customer selected rate enrollment of NEM billing within 30 days from the customer granted Permission To Operate (PTO) date.

Questions?

Any questions about the Option S reservation process or details can be directed to OptionS@pge.com.

Cap Tracker

Table 1 shows the enrollment cap. Table 2 displays the number of applicants and megawatts enrolled as of the date this web page was last updated shown below. Table 3 shows the remaining cap.

Progress toward the Option S Cap in PG&E’s Service Area:

Last updated: 05/18/22