Powering Through the Dog Days of Summer

As the heat index continues to climb throughout its service area, Southern California Edison is taking steps to ensure reliable service for customers during the summer months and beyond. This readiness planning becomes increasingly important during the hottest days of summer as the demand for electricity rises, creating additional stress on the grid, especially during the periods of highest energy use from 4-9 p.m.

SCE's demand response programs create opportunities for customers to earn bill credits and other financial incentives through voluntary energy use reduction. The Emergency Load Reduction Program for commercial customers and the Power Saver Rewards Program for residential customers let customers earn bill credits for energy reduction during periods of high-energy demand, helping to ensure that grid supplies can keep pace.

Now through a new partnership, customers who own a Tesla Powerwall system can join the program and earn these energy credits. During a specified event, these customers will have the opportunity to dispatch excess energy generated from their solar array and stored in their battery system (known as a virtual power plant) back onto the grid. They will earn $2 per kilowatt-hour for helping to reduce stress on the grid during these critical periods.

The program allows customers to maintain flexibility, setting their battery's participation level ahead of time. Customers can allow a specific percentage of their battery's capacity to be used during an event.

"We're excited to launch this innovative program that will benefit customers throughout our service area," said Katie Sloan, SCE's vice president of Customer Programs and Services. "By tapping into an abundant energy resource, we are partnering not only with Tesla and other participating partners but also with our customers to ensure we continue to optimize clean energy while enhancing reliability for all customers."

Bolstering the grid's energy supplies during peak demand periods takes a multifaceted approach. This includes the evolution of infrastructure to facilitate the transition to an increasingly greener grid.

We're excited to launch this innovative program that will benefit customers throughout our service area. By tapping into an abundant energy resource, we are partnering not only with Tesla and other participating partners but also with our customers."

Katie Sloan, SCE Vice President

To help usher in this shift, SCE has nearly 1,400 megawatts of emissions-free energy storage currently online, with an additional 2,800 megawatts planned by 2026. These batteries allow for the reliable storage of clean energy from wind and solar generation, which can later be dispatched onto the grid when customers need and use it most.

Tesla has already begun outreach to eligible customers through its mobile application. SCE expects to enroll 3,000 customers in the program, which is anticipated to facilitate an overall energy reduction of 10 to 15 megawatts, or enough to power about 11,250 homes.

For more information on earning financial incentives through voluntary energy reduction, read this article on all of SCE's demand response programs.
To learn more about SCE's efforts to ensure a clean energy future, visit edison.com/clean-energy.