Enabling the IOUs to be Effective Change Agents
Margot Everett is Senior Director – Rate and Regulatory Analytics, and Cynthia Fang is Manager – Customer Pricing, for San Diego Gas & Electric.
Andre Ramirez is Senior Advisor – Regulatory Affairs, and Jude Schneider is Senior Advisor – Corporate Communications, for Southern California Edison.
Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison have developed a new framework for customer rates that reflects the changing dynamics of the electric power industry and customer choice and continues to "ensure that everyone in California has access to safe, reliable and affordable energy."1 The framework, called Modern Rate Architecture, is based on four key principles:
Transparency: Bills need to separate out actual utility products from the costs to meet state-mandated policy programs, so customers understand what they are paying for.
Equity: Rates must be fair and minimize costs caused by one customer group from being shifted to other groups, while recognizing that customers use the grid, consume products and pay their bills in different ways.
Sustainability: The new framework should be forward-looking and malleable so that it can accommodate new products, services, and business models and help California achieve its goals at a reasonable cost.
Access: Customers should have equal access to the many options to manage their energy services.