Reliability

Reliability remains the same:

Switching to an ESCO will not change the reliability of your energy supply.

Electricity and gas will continue to be delivered through utility-owned wires and pipes, and the Public Service Commission will continue to oversee the safety and reliability of the delivery system.

Your utility is required to continue supplying your electricity and gas without any interruptions if your ESCO cannot provide service for any reason.

Your electricity and gas service can be shut off only by a representative of your utility. However, an ESCO may request that the utility suspend delivery service due to unpaid bills.

For any electric or gas emergency, continue to call you utility even if an ESCO supplies your electricity or gas.

No matter who supplies your electricity or gas, you remain a customer of the utility for your delivery services.

Understanding Your Bill

An example of an itemized bill

Whether you choose to buy energy from an ESCO or your existing utility, supply and delivery charges that used to be bundle together will be itemized. You may still pay your utility for delivery, but your energy supply charges will be a separate line item on your bill.

If you choose an ESCO, you may receive two bills--one bill from the ESCO for the energy portion, and one from the utility for the delivery portion.

There are likely to be other billing options available. You might get one bill from the utility that will include the ESCO's charges for supply, or one bill from the ESCO that will include the utility's charges for delivery. Ask your ESCO about your billing options prior to enrollment.

To help you be a more informed consumer, utility bills list specific services and charges.

SAMPLE ENERGY BILL:

This is a simplified example of a bill for electricity.
(Natural gas bills indicate usage in units of Therms rather than kWhs.)

Your actual usage and charges will vary.

This example is based on a monthly usage of 500 kWh of electricity:

Basic Service Charge $9.00

Delivery Charge
500 kWh @ 6.0 cents $30.00

Taxes (e.g. 4%) $1.56

Total Electric Delivery Charge $40.56

Electric Supply
500 kWh @ 8.0 cents $40.00

Taxes (e.g. 3%) $1.20

Total Electric Supply Charge $41.20

Total Electric Charge $81.76

kWh (KILOWATT-HOUR): The standard unit of electricity use measured by your meter. kWh is an abbreviation for kilowatt-hour. A 100-watt bulb used for 10 hours consumes one kWh. Your electricity use determines the total number of kilowatt-hours on your bill.

THERM: A unit of heat content equal to 100,000 British Thermal units (BTU). A BTU represents the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. The number of therms is used to determine the gas charges on your bill.

TERMS:
Basic Service (or Customer Charge):
This charge covers basic customer-related costs for meter reading, billing, equipment and maintenance. Regardless of how much energy is used during the billing period, this charge remains the same.

Delivery Charge:
This is the charge for bringing electricity form your chosen supplier to your home or office.

Taxes:
This portion of your bill encompasses both the state Gross Income Tax and a Gross Earnings Tax. Many municipalities charge other taxes. The appropriate amounts for these taxes are applied to all rates and charges and vary by locality.

Electric Supply:
This is the charge for the electricity used during the billing period. This is the amount for which you can shop and many vary depending on which supplier you choose.

*System Benefits Charge (SBC:
Your bill includes the SBC which is approximately 70 cents in this example. This amount reflects cost associated with public policy programs, including research and development, low income and energy efficiency programs. This charge does not apply to gas bills.

An Informed Choice

Making an informed choice in the new energy market requires you to do some comparison shopping. In order to make that comparison, you need to know these three things:

1. Your Electric And Gas Usage
You can get this information from your bill or utility.

2. What Your Utility Charges
Your utility can provide information to you about your electricity or gas usage and what if charges you for supply and delivery.

3. What ESCO's Charge
Compare the price of the electric or gas supply portions of your bill to offers from competing ESCO's.

ELECTRIC COST
Electric Supply -- Open to Competition

Electric Delivery -- Regulated utility service

Electricity supply-which represents about 50% of an electric bill-is open to competition. If, for example, your monthly electric bill is $100, you are paying about $50 for electricity supply. This is the competitive portion, and you can shop among ESCO's, as well as your local utility, for the best price. In this example, you are paying about $50 for electric deliver.


GAS COST
Gas Supply -- Open to Competition

Gas Delivery -- Regulated utility service

Gas supply-which represents about 75% of a gas bill-is open to competition. If, for example, your monthly gas bill is $100, you are paying about $75 for gas supply. This is the competitive portion, and you can shop among ESCO's, as well as your local utility, for the best price. In this example, you are paying about $25 for gas delivery.

Many states electric and natural gas utilities once operated as regulated monopolies, supplying and delivering such energy to you. Things have changed.

The combined services that were offered by your utility company have been split into two parts--supply and delivery, with the supply portion open to competition. You no longer have to buy your electricity or gas only from your local utility. Instead, you can shop among Energy Service Companies (ESCO's) that are competing for your business. This change in the energy market has brought about new products and services, and should give you better value for your energy dollar. Each utility service territory has a least three ESCO's serving electric customers and three ESCO's serving gas. Most territories have many more. Utilities are still responsible for delivering electricity and gas to your home or business using their existing wires and pipes and responding to electric and gas emergencies. The safety and reliability you've come to depend on won't change.

Demand Response Overview

In electricity grids, demand response (DR) is similar to dynamic demand mechanisms to manage customer consumption of electricity in response to supply conditions, for example, having electricity customers reduce their consumption at critical times or in response to market prices. The difference is that demand response mechanisms respond to explicit requests to shut off, whereas dynamic demand devices passively shut off when stress in the grid is sensed. Demand response can involve actually curtailing power used or by starting on site generation, which may or may not be connected in parallel with the grid. This is a quite different concept from energy efficiency, which means using less power to perform the same tasks, on a continuous basis or whenever that task is performed. At the same time, demand response is a component of smart energy demand, which also includes energy efficiency, home and building energy management, distributed renewable resources, and electric vehicle charging.
Current demand response schemes are implemented with large and small commercial as well as residential customers, often through the use of dedicated control systems to shed loads in response to a request by a utility or market price conditions. Services (lights, machines, air conditioning) are reduced according to a preplanned load prioritization scheme during the critical time frames. An alternative to load shedding is on-site generation of electricity to supplement the power grid. Under conditions of tight electricity supply, demand response can significantly decrease the peak price and, in general, electricity price volatility.
Demand response is generally used to refer to mechanisms used to encourage consumers to reduce demand, thereby reducing the peak demand for electricity. Since electrical generation and transmission systems are generally sized to correspond to peak demand (plus margin for forecasting error and unforeseen events), lowering peak demand reduces overall plant and capital cost requirements. Depending on the configuration of generation capacity, however, demand response may also be used to increase demand (load) at times of high production and low demand. Some systems may thereby encourage energy storage to arbitrage between periods of low and high demand (or low and high prices).
There are two types of demand response - emergency demand response and economic demand response. Emergency demand response is primarily needed to avoid outages. Economic demand response is used to help utilities manage daily system peaks.

Suppliers' Offers: HOW TO COMPARE

It's your choice to switch to another energy supplier or remain with your current utility. To make an informed choice, you may want to use this checklist.

INQUIRE ABOUT THE ESCO'S
*Make sure the ESCO is eligible to sell your energy by contacting the Public Utility Commission or your utility company.

COMPARE PRICES AND SERVICES
*What did the ESCO charge last month and what was included in the price?
*Is the price fixed or variable?
*If it's fixed, is it guaranteed?
*Does it include taxes?
*Are there any discounts, bonuses or credits?
*Are other services available?

REVIEW TERMS AND CONDITIONS
*What is the length of the agreement?
*Are there penalties for breaking the agreement?
*Are there additional fees?
*Is a deposit required?

CONSIDER UTILITY-SPECIFIC CHOICE PROGRAMS
Utilities offer choice programs such as Power Switch, Energy Choice, and Power Move. You can contact your utility and sign up for the choice program where:
*You could receive guaranteed savings (typically around 7%) provided by ESCOs off of your current utility supply portion of your bill for at least two months.
*You can extend the relationship with the ESCO on mutually agreeable terms and conditions.
*You can return to the utility after two months if you choose.

CONSIDER CUSTOMER SERVICE
*What are the office hours?
*What is the compliant-handling process?
*Are there toll-free numbers?

CONSIDER ENERGY OPTIONS
*Are environmentally-friendly generation sources such as solar, wind, or hydro power available?
*Are you a member of a group that has a program in place to purchase energy together to increase buying power?

CONSIDER BILLING AND PAYMENT OPTIONS
*Will I receive separate bills from the utility and the ESCO?

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU CHOOSE A SUPPLIER?
*You will receive a confirmation letter from the ESCO with the contract and terms conditions.
*You will receive a confirmation letter from the utility with the effective date of the contract. That date is usually the day after your meter reading date.
*Your supply will continue uninterrupted.

About the California Solar Initiative (CSI)

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) is the solar rebate program for California consumers that are customers of the investor-owned utilities - Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). Together with the rebate program for New Solar Homes and rebate programs offered through the dozens of publicly owned utilities in the state - the CSI program is a key component of the Go Solar California campaign for California.

* A solar rebate program for customers in PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E territories. This program funds solar on existing homes, existing or new commercial, agricultural, government and non-profit buildings. This program funds both solar photovoltaics (PV), as well as other solar thermal generating technologies. This program is sometimes referred to as the CSI general market program.
* A solar hot water rebate program for customers in PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E territories. This program funds solar hot water (solar thermal systems) on homes and businesses. This program is called the CSI-Thermal program.
* A solar rebate program for low-income residents that own their own single-family home and meet a variety of income and housing eligibility criteria. This program is called the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) program.
* A solar rebate program for multifamily affordable housing. This program is called the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program.
* A solar grant program to fund grants for research, development, demonstration and deployment (RD&D) of solar technologies. This program is the CSI RD&D program.

The CSI offers solar customers different incentive levels based on the performance of their solar panels, including such factors as installation angle, tilt, and location rather than system capacity alone. This performance framework ensures that California is generating clean solar energy and rewarding systems that can provide maximum solar generation.

The CSI program has a total budget of $2.167 billion between 2007 and 2016 and a goal to install approximately 1,940 MW of new solar generation capacity. The CSI-Thermal portion of the program has a total budget of $250 million between 2010 and 2017, and a goal to install 200,000 new solar hot water systems. The CSI program is funded by electric ratepayers and the CSI-Thermal portion of the program is funded by gas ratepayers. The CSI program is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission and rebates are offered through the Program Administrators.

Source: Go Solar California

The Canadian Market for PV

With its numerous incentives for renewable energy-an attractive feed-in-tariff (FIT) chief among them-Ontario is quickly becoming a hotbed for solar photovoltaic development. Yet despite the recent flood of activity in the province, the Canadian market as a whole has struggled to truly take off.
At the end of last year, Canada's installed PV capacity totaled just 94.57 MW, although this amount represents a huge jump from a year earlier, when the total was only 32.72 MW. Of the 61.85 MW installed in 2009, 50 MW was in Ontario. Much of this rapid growth can be attributed to the province's passage of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009 (GEA), which included a FIT for renewable energy, including solar photovoltaics. However, there are other advantages of developing solar projects in Canada, Elizabeth McDonald, president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA), stressed at the Global Markets: Europe and North America session at the Intersolar North America Conference & Exhibition, held in July in San Francisco. For one, she said, despite popular misconception, Canada has plentiful solar resources.

"People get cold (weather) and solar resources confused, and they shouldn't- there's a great opportunity in Canada", she said, adding that the country's solar resources correspond well with its demand-which are both high in the summer months.

In fact, some parts of Canada have enough solar resources to compete with the world's top PV markets. "Many people don't realize it, but Ontario actually has more sunlight than the largest solar-producing nation in the world-Germany," Brent O'Connor, a spokesperson for renewable energy developer Atlantic Wind & Solar, tells Solar Industry.

McDonald also noted that Canada's proximity to the U.S. and its well-established transportation links make the country a strategic location for solar development. Ontario, specifically, has an advantage, because its major urban centers are within close reach of large populations in both Canada and the U.S., says Blair Patacairk, senior investment consultant at OCRI, an Ottawa region member of the Ontario Technology Corridor (OTC). The OTC is divided into five regions: Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo, London and Niagara.

"Within a two-hour flight of any one of those (cities), we'll hit about 200 million people," he tells Solar Industry, adding that this area includes not just Canada, but also the East Coast of the U.S. and the Chicago metro area. In addition, "Because we have such a great working relationship with the United States-the biggest bilateral trade agreement in the world-our economies are very connected," he explains.

Industry executives in Canada point out that the country enjoys financial stability and a resilient economy. "We have a very stable financial system," McDonald emphasized. "In fact, Canada got through the recession very easily. We felt it, but not much."

Source: Solar Industry

Germany leading the way in PV

German Installations Continued Growth
Photovoltaic system installations in Germany in the first half of this year are estimated at 3 GW, reaf-firming Germany's leadership position in the solar market, according to Germany Trade and Invest, a foreign trade and inward investment agency of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 2009, Germany accounted for approximately one of every two newly installed modules worldwide, with total installations totaling 3.8 GW for the year.
Amendments to the PV feed-in tariffs (FITs) in Germany's Renewable Energies Act (EEG) were passed in early July, and a further adjustment to the FITs took effect Oct. 1. The changes mark a further shift toward the rooftop segment by abandoning field installations on cropland and increasing the attractiveness of the self-consumption bonus for small-and medium-scale rooftop installations.
The FIT rates were reduced by 13% for rooftop installations and eliminated for cropland field installations beginning July 1. At the same time, conversion areas saw a reduction of 8%, and all other areas were decreased by 12%. Beginning Oct. 1, these rates were reduced by an additional 3%. Still, according to Germany Trade and Invest, the new tariffs remain highly attractive, with rates ranging from 0.2502/kWh to 0.3405/kWh (Euro) for installations connected before Oct. 1 and 0.2426/kWh to 0.03303/kWh (Euro) for those connected during the remainder of the year (2010).
The changes to the EEG are a reaction to the increased price competitiveness of photovoltaic systems, including the recent price drop for solar panels and components. By 2013, energy from PV sources is expected to be competitive with conventional energy sources in the electricity market for private consumers.
Source: Solar Industry

The Market Maturation Cycle

Market restructuring is not an overnight process. It takes a long time to implement, there are lots of bumps in the road and benefits may not appear for as long as a decade. Consider what has happened in the airline and telcom industries over the last thirty years. While the process has taken decades to evolve (and is still evolving) for these industries, does anyone doubt the benefits to consumers? For anyone old enough to remember the days of the vertical AT&T phone monopoly, simply consider the multitude of services available today compared to the plain black dial phones of the past.

To put the process of market evolution in perspective, let's consider the market maturation cycle. The four stages of the market maturation cycle-regulation, deregulation, commoditization, and value-added services-provide an excellent framework from which to review the evolution of the electric industry in a specific region (remembering that different sectors will be at different stages in different states and regions in the U.S.). While the generation, wholesale trading and retail sales sectors will likely mature through these stages, they may not do so simultaneously, but rather will do so a different times in different regions. The other sectors-transmission, system operations and distribution will remain in the regulation stage, though regulation will have to be restructured to recognize the changes in the competitive sectors.

REGULATION
This phase is characterized by the dominance of regulation and lack of competition across the delivery chain. Transactions are generally highly structured and usually long-term in nature. Prices are fixed, buyers and sellers are relatively few, barriers to market entry are significant, vertically-integrated utilities dominate the marketplace, and customer choices are minimal. Prices are cost-of-service-based with little or no flexibility, and decisions to invest in infrastructure or innovation are highly influenced by support (or lack thereof) of regulators.
Prior to 1992, all of the U.S. electricity industry was in the regulation phase. Utilities or closely aligned generation agencies owned all generation, transmission, and distribution and operated their systems as a unified whole. Customers had little choice but to buy electric supply from their local utility.

DEREGULATION
In the deregulation phase, rules are loosened in some sectors and barriers to entry are broken down to allow competition to come into the market. As the number of competitors increases, transactions become more flexible and customers attempt to benefit from increasing choice and competition. Regulation still controls much of the way business is transacted, but is designed to encourage a level playing field among competitors and to foster competition in sectors that have been opened. Services in the competitive sectors (which may include generation, wholesale trading and retail sales) become more diverse and may be tailored to individual customers. While system operations remains highly regulated, prices for services such as reserves and transmission rights become market-based. Transmission and distribution prices remain cost-of-service-based, but incentive ratemaking is often adopted to encourage efficiency.

COMMODITIZATION
In the commoditization phase of the market maturation cycle, competition has taken hold. Numerous market participants compete with each other and trading volumes are high. Prices are market-sensitive and volatile. Regulations act mainly to prevent market manipulation and to assure fair access to monopoly infrastructure. Transactions become simplified and transferable among buyers and sellers. Financial markets arise where risk can be managed. Transactions that used to be secured with a phone call between old friends are now handled electronically with buyer and sellers often blind to each others identity. The return on investment in infrastructure such as generation is purely based on market demand. Now shareholders of competitive companies carry the risk of bad management decisions. If a power plant is built and market conditions don't support its cost (as has happened to numerous such investments in recent years) no one pays except the shareholders (and maybe the bond holders) of the merchant generation company. Under commoditization, there is price transparency-meaning market prices are known to all participants-there are no barriers to transfer of commodity between willing buyers and sellers, no one entity has market power, and there are no regulatory protections.

VALUE-ADDED SERVICES
In this final phase of the market maturation cycle, participants attempts to add value (and increase profits) by adding services their customers will value to the sale of commodity. In many instances, market maturation has led to razor thin commodity margins, so marketers are forced to develop customer-focused services that will improve profits to the seller. Because on kWh of electricity delivered through the distribution system is the same as another, value-added services are the best way for participants to increase market share. In the retail electricity marketplace, most marketers must rely on value-added services to attain reasonable market share and profits. Low price alone is not enough to sustain a market position.

VALUE-ADDED SERVICES
Facilities management
Energy management
Demand side management
Pricing and risk management
Power quality
Reliability
Combined commodity
Billing options
Value-Based