In December 2014, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued Decision (D.) 14-12-024. (PDF, 1.86 MB) which requires Southern California Edison Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) (collectively, the investor-owned utilities, or 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 (PDF, 841 KB), 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. Following the evaluation of the initial DRAM pilots (Final DRAM Evaluation Report (PDF, 1.87 MB)) and subsequent workshops, the CPUC issued D.19-07-009 (PDF, 1.17 MB), later modified by D.19-09-041 (PDF, 436 KB), which authorized an auction to take place in 2019 for deliveries between June 2020 and December 2020 ("2020 DRAM"), as well as annual auctions for deliveries in 2021, 2022, and 2023. On December 23, 2019, CPUC issued D.19-12-040 (PDF, 1.09 MB), which adopted certain recommendations to improve reliability and performance from a stakeholder working group report. These refinements apply to 2021 through 2023 DRAM deliveries.


The 2023 DRAM implementation proposal was submitted on September 15, 2021 via PG&E Advice Letter 6328-E (PDF, 2.7 MB) with no modifications to the existing DRAM contract and related documents. On December 20, 2021 the Commission approved Advice Letter 6328-E via Disposition Letter.


The 2023 DRAM is a pay-as-bid solicitation where PG&E is seeking monthly demand response (DR) system, local, and flexible capacity. 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 DR resources are required to bid into the CAISO energy market under the CAISO must-offer obligation for DR.

PG&E's expected schedule for the 2023 DRAM RFO

EventDate

PG&E Issues 2023 DRAM RFO

02/01/22

DRAM RFO Bidders' Webinar, 10 AM (PPT)

02/10/22

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

03/02/22

PG&E requests that Bidders modify certain non-conforming Offers (Request to "cure")

03/11/22

Bidder cure period ends

03/18/22

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

04/21/22

Deadline to submit Signed Purchase Agreement(s) to PG&E

04/29/22

Advice letter submittal for executed PAs

05/31/22

2023 DRAM RFO Protocols and Documents




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=130338&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, 314 KB)



2023 DRAM RFO Bidders' Webinar


The IOUs held a joint 2023 DRAM Bidders' Webinar at 10 am PPT on Thursday, February 10, 2022.




Scheduling Coordinator 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, with updates provided by the SCs as available: Scheduling Coordinator Request for Information Packets (PDF, 4.9 MB).



CAISO Bidding Information


DRAM Sellers providing capacity to PG&E will need to register their Proxy Demand Resources (PDR) at the CAISO. An initial step of this process is to input customer location information into the CAISO Demand Response Registration System (DRRS). 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, 3.3 MB) (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's current Rule 24 systems support 200,000 Rule 24 third party DRP locations. These registration numbers are dynamic, and do not serve to limit bid evaluation and selection. In 2022, PG&E will further expand its Rule 24 IT systems capability to support larger volumes of third party DRP locations.


Rule 24 requires that DRAM Sellers submit a Customer Information Service Request for Demand Response Providers (CISR-DRP) as defined in Rule 24. This includes Form 79-1152, available on the DRAM website, or through PG&E's electronic authorization "click-through" process.


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


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



Other Information




Frequently Asked Questions



Contact Information


For information or questions about PG&E's DRAM RFO please email: DRAMRFO@pge.com and please CC the Independent Evaluator at MerrimackIE@merrimackenergy.com on every email.