In December 2014, the Commission issued D. 14-12-024 (PDF, 1.79 MB) which requires Southern California Edison Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (collectively, the IOUs) to design and implement Demand Response Auction Mechanism (DRAM) pilot programs for 2016 and 2017 capacity (called the 2016 DRAM and 2017 DRAM, respectively). Then in D. 16-06-029 the CPUC ordered the IOUs to continue the DRAM pilot for a third and fourth year (2018-2019 DRAM), and gave PG&E a budget of $12 million for this pilot.


The 2018-2019 DRAM is a pay-as-bid solicitation where PG&E is seeking monthly demand response (DR) system capacity, local capacity, and flexible capacity for January 2018 – December 2019. Sellers will bid aggregated demand response directly into the CAISO day-ahead energy market, and PG&E will acquire the capacity, but will have no claim on revenues the winning bidders may receive from the energy market. The current Commission DR requirements to qualify for Resource Adequacy (RA) can be found in D.15-06-063 (PDF, 1.1 MB) and require the DR resource to offer into the CAISO energy market under the CAISO must-offer obligation for DR.


The 2018-2019 DRAM implementation proposal was filed on September 1, 2016 via PG&E Advice Letter 4900-E (PDF, 1.68 MB). This Advice Letter was later approved, with certain modifications, on January 19, 2016 in the Resolution E-4817. The IOUs submitted modifications to DRAM contracts and related documents in compliance with Resolution E-4817 (PDF, 556 KB) on February 2, 2017, via Supplemental Advice Letter 4900-E-A (PDF, 1.68 MB). On March 7, 2017, the CPUC Energy Division Director Ed Randolph issued a letter to the IOUs, instructing them to launch the 2018-2019 DRAM RFO on March 10, 2017, as outlined in Resolution E-4817.

PG&E's expected schedule for the 2018 DRAM RFO

EventDate

PG&E Issues 2018-2019 DRAM RFO

3/10/17

DRAM RFO Bidders' Webinar, 10 AM (PPT)

3/21/17

DRAM RFO offer package due by 1:00 PM (PPT)

4/10/17

PG&E notifies non-conforming Bidders (Request to "cure")

4/11/17

Bidder cure period ends

4/24/17

PG&E notifies bidders of selection and sends final PA for execution

5/24/17

Advice letter filing for executed PAs

6/30/17

Energy Division gives notice of approval or other action

8/4/17

2018-2019 DRAM RFO Solicitation Protocol and attachments

Power Advocate registration information and instructions

All Bidders who are interested in submitting a bid package into PG&E's DRAM RFO will need to register with Power Advocate before submitting an offer into the RFO. To register at Power Advocate, click on the following link:


https://www.poweradvocate.com/pR.do?okey=64789&pubEvent=true



Only those bidders that have been accepted through the Power Advocate platform will be permitted to bid into this RFO. We encourage you to register now.


The following link provides instructions on how to use Power Advocate:
Power advocate instructions (PDF, 472 KB)





DRAM RFO Bidders' Webinar



The IOUs held a joint 2018-2019 DRAM RFO Bidders’ Webinar on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm PDT. You may access the webcast using the following link:


Webinar Link: https://engage.vevent.com/rt/sandiegogasandelectriccompany~032117


Alternatively a PDF of the 2018-2019 DRAM Bidders’ Webinar presentation is available here:


2018-2019 DRAM Bidders' Presentation (PDF, 1.3 MB)





Scheduling Coordinator request for information


As part of DRAM, the IOUs issued a Scheduling Coordinator (SC) Request for Information (RFI) from Scheduling Coordinators (SC) open to providing SC services to demand response aggregators. SC information received from this RFI is provided here: Scheduling Coordinator Request for Information Packets (PDF, 1.94 MB)





CAISO bidding information



DRAM Sellers providing RA to PG&E will need to register their Proxy Demand Resources (PDR) and Reliability Demand Response Resources (RDRR) at the CAISO. An initial step of this process is to input customer location information into the CAISO Demand Response Registration System. PG&E requires that Sellers obtain customer authority to access historical and ongoing customer specific information, which is needed for this CAISO registration process and for energy settlements.


Electric Rule 24 (PDF, 178 KB) (Rule 24) governs how PG&E interacts with third party demand response providers (DRPs), including DRAM Sellers. The Commission, in D.15-03-042 (PDF, 600 KB), authorized PG&E to put into place certain processes and systems to facilitate a third party DRP's ability to bid PDR and RDRR into the wholesale market. This Decision establishes process timeframes and volume limits which pertain to Rule 24 implementation.


Rule 24 requires that DRAM Sellers submit a Customer Information Service Request for Demand Response Providers (CISR-DRP Form 79-1152) to PG&E, in order to obtain customer data necessary for wholesale market participation.


The links below provide the steps necessary for DRAM Sellers to obtain customer data:



For more information on Rule 24 and the current number and forecasted capacity of available CAISO locations, please refer to PG&E's Rule 24 website for third party Demand Response Providers.





Other information





Frequently asked questions


2018 DRAM FAQs (PDF, 113 KB) Updated April 6 at 3:30 p.m.





Contact & registration information



For information or questions about PG&E's DRAM RFO please email: DRAMRFO@pge.com and the Independent Evaluator at waynejoliver@aol.com.

 

You may register to receive or unsubscribe from email notifications on PG&E's DRAM RFO using the following link: Registration Link.