2019 Demand Response Auction Mechanism (DRAM)

In December 2014, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued Decision (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 the Demand Response Auction Mechanism (DRAM) Request for Offers (RFO) pilot for 2016 and 2017 capacity (called the 2016 DRAM and 2017 DRAM, respectively). Then D. 16-06-029 instructed the IOUs to conduct a 2018-2019 DRAM pilot, and D. 17-10-017 (PDF, 877 KB) instructed the IOUs to conduct an additional 2019 DRAM pilot. This is expected to be the final pilot year for DRAM.

The 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 2019 – 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 capacity 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 2019 DRAM will generally be the same design as the 2018-2019 DRAM.

2019 DRAM RFO Protocols and Documents

• 2019 DRAM Protocol (PDF, 209 KB)
• Attachment A Offer Form (XLS, 209 KB)
• Attachment B Corporate Structure and Financials (DOCX, 30 KB)
• Attachment C DRAM Purchase Agreement (PDF, 1.92 MB)
• Attachment D: RDRR Bids with Existing Customers Form (XLS, 15 KB)

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

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 2019 DRAM Bidders' Webinar at 10 am PPT on February 1, 2018.

• 2019 DRAM RFO Bidders' Webinar Presentation (2/1/18) (PDF, 1.81 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 capacity 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. PG&E currently has the capability to support 40,000 CAISO locations for third party DRPs, and maintains a table of the number of these 40,000 locations that are used and those that are available on PG&E’s Rule 24 website.

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:

• Rule 24 checklist (DOCX, 19.5 KB)
• DRP information request form (PDF, 317 KB)
• Steps necessary to receive customer data (DOCX, 50 KB)
• CISR-DRP form (PDF, 108 KB)
• CISP-DRP form instructions (DOCX, 435 KB)

For more information, please refer to PG&E’s Rule 24 website for third party Demand Response Providers.

Other information

• DRAM set asides (PDF, 106 KB): This document describes measures to "set aside" (i.e., to encourage or make available) retail customers who are currently enrolled in other PG&E DR programs but who would like to participate in DRAM.
• 2016 DRAM RFO: This website includes the 2016 DRAM Protocol, 2016 DRAM Purchase Agreement (PA), and other material relevant to that RFO.
• 2017 DRAM RFO: This website includes the 2017 DRAM Protocol, 2017 DRAM Purchase Agreement, and other material relevant to that RFO.
• 2018-2019 DRAM RFO: This website includes the 2018-2019 DRAM Protocol, 2018-2019 DRAM Purchase Agreement, and other material relevant to that RFO.
• PG&E SubLAP Information:
  • PG&E SubLAP Map (PDF, 3.14 MB)
  • PG&E zip code to SubLAP reference (XLS, 91 KB)
  
  NOTE: SubLAPs are subject to change. Please check with CAISO on the current subLAP boundaries
• Map of PG&E electric system (requires registration)
• CAISO local capacity information

Frequently asked questions

• Frequently Asked Questions (last updated February 16, 2018) (PDF, 475 KB)

Contact & registration information

For information or questions about PG&E's DRAM RFO please email: DRAMRFO@pge.com and the Independent Evaluator at waynejoliver26@gmail.com.

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