LOW INCOME SOLUTIONS IN A HIGH DER FUTURE! A POTENTIAL elab INITIATIVE! RMI. Creating a clean, prosperous, and secure energy future.tm!

Transcription

1 LOW INCOME SOLUTIONS IN A HIGH DER FUTURE! A POTENTIAL elab INITIATIVE! RMI. Creatig a clea, prosperous, ad secure eergy future.tm!

2 OVERVIEW! Thesis:! Low icome ad fixed icome (LI/FI) customers are critical segmets that are at risk i a trasitio towards a more distributed ad reewable electricity system.! To eable a successful trasitio to this future, the cocers of these customers must be addressed.! Guidig Questios! What are the characteristics ad cocers of LI/FI customers?! I what ways are these cocers at odds with a highly reewable ad distributed electricity system?! What solutios already exist that could be the focus of scalig or replicatio?! What are the umet eeds ad how ca they be addressed?! What role ca elab play?! 2!

3 LOW AND FIXED INCOME CUSTOMER SEGMENTS! Low-icome Electricity Cosumptio Varies Widely -5% 15,500 26% -17% 13,500-27% 16% 9,500-21% 7,500! 3 il ity 2 ity Ea st er il Ea st er il ity 1 y1 Ea st er ilit M id w es te r ilit ity ilit W es te r il 1 millio social security disability awards i 2013! y3 5,500 W es te r -22% 11,500 y2 50% of seiors live at or below 250% of poverty level! icome populatios have varyig cosumptio patters ad, i some cases, eve exhibit greater eergy use tha their higher-icome couterparts (see Figure 3). 1 WHITE PAPER W es te r Fixed Icome (FI)! Live o icome that does ot icrease aually (such as pesios)! 40 millio idividuals 65 or older live i the US! Both groups! Geographically diverse ad live ino. 09 both sigle- ad multi-family homes! Sped as high as 20% of icome o Lesso #2: Low Icome Does Not eergy! Always Imply Low Cosumptio Have diverse eergy use profiles ad assume that low-icome households are typically smaller tha other households ad, may have difficulty shiftig usage! therefore, use less eergy. However, Opower data from seve programs idicates low- Aual Electricity Cosumptio (kwh) Low Icome (LI)! Ofte fall below % of poverty 4 level as defied by US Cesus (ex. $36,000 for a family of four)! 10 millio low icome families i the US! For some utilities, low LI commuities have a history of beig icome households cosume politically ad ecoomically more eergy tha their higher-icome couterparts. margialized! Low-icome No-low-icome 1. Esurig New York Solar Programs reach low-icome residets. Jospe C. et. al ! 3. Natioal Coucil o Agig Social Security Admiistratio Ulockig Eergy Efficiecy for Low-Icome ility Customers. Opower ! 3!

4 CONSUMER ADVOCATE CONCERNS! Fiacial! Rate Affordability: LI/FI cosumers must ot be overly burdeed by bills due to rates & rate structures! Techological Affordability: must ot be preveted from participatio or excluded from beefits by high cost capital equipmet! Cosumer protectios: protectios like arrears repaymet schedules ad others should ot be dissolved or weakeed! Split Icetives: especially i multi-family housig, buildig owers ad occupats iterests do ot alig ad so occupats should be protected! Eergy efficiecy: weatherizatio ad similar eergy efficiecy programs that mitigate bill impacts should cotiue to be promoted! Social! Equal represetatio: LI/FI cocers must be fairly accouted for ad cross subsidies that harm LI/ FI customers must be avoided! Customer experiece: rate structures ad techologies must be accessible ad uderstadable! Health ad Safety: cotiue to provide access to basic eeds; cotiue to improve air quality ad other beefits! Lack of trust!! LI/FI cosumer advocates have resisted aligig with evirometal ad other DER supportig groups!! Adapted from Fidig Commo Groud amog Public Iterest Advocates. Migde-Ostrader, J. et al ! 4!

5 FINANCIAL NEEDS SOLUTION MAPPING! LI Cocers! Rate Affordability! Techological Affordability! Cosumer Protectios (arrears collectios & discoect policies)!! Split Icetives! Potetial Coflicts with DER Techologies ad Approaches! Curret! Solutios!! Rate/Bill Icreases! Rate Subsidies! Eergy Storage! Rebate Programs! Distributed Reewables! Fiacig Programs! Smart Grid! No-pay discoect policies! Distributed Reewables! Icetive distributio! Eergy Efficiecy! Eergy Efficiecy! Umet Needs! Weatherizatio, EE! 5!

6 SOCIAL AND TRUST NEEDS SOLUTION MAPPING! LI Cocers! Potetial Coflicts with DER Techologies ad Approaches! Equal Represetatio! Distributed Reewables! Sophisticated Rates! Curret Solutios! Fair rate structure! Job creatio/traiig! Eergy Storage! Customer Experiece! Umet Needs! Access to beefits! Distributed Reewables! Demad Respose! Customer Educatio! Sophisticated Rates! Customer Egagemet! Automatio, IT solutios! Smart Grid! Health ad Safety! Trust! Load Curtailmet, DR! Lack of Trust! Strog Regulatio! Trust buildig, collaboratio! 6!

7 IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ELAB TO MAKE DISTINCTIVE CONTRIBUTIONS! Curret Solutios! Umet Needs! Rate Subsidies! Icetive distributio! Rebate Programs! Fair rate structure! Fiacig Programs! Access to beefits! No-pay discoect policies! Automatio, IT solutios! Weatherizatio, EE! Trust buildig, collaboratio! Job creatio/traiig! Customer Egagemet! Customer Educatio! Strog Regulatio! Which solutios is elab most capable of scalig or improvig?! How ca elab address these umet eeds?! 7!

8 APPENDIX! 8!

9 EXAMPLE CASES! Case! Descriptio! Sceario! DER Techologies ad Approaches! Reformig the Eergy Visio (Co Ediso)! No-traditioal customer side ad utility-side demad reductio i Brookly/ Quees to defer ew substatio! Eergy efficiecy! Demad maagemet! Distributed geeratio! Micro grids! Salt River Project! Time-based pricig sice 1980 alog with smart meterig! Rural ad urba! Mixed Icome! Time of Use pricig! Prepaymet! Smart meterig! Low-Icome Programs of the Califoria Solar Iitiative! Higher up-frot icetives for both sigle-family ad multi-family low icome customers to meet Califoria s 2017 goal of 2000 MW solar capacity! Statewide! Sigle-family! Multi-family! Solar PV! Urba! Low Icome! High uemploymet uique load profile! 9!

10 EXAMPLES OF CONCERNS IDENTIFIED BY CONSUMER ADVOCACY GROUPS! Case! Cocers of Cosumer Advocacy Groups! Reformig the Eergy Visio (Co Ediso)! Salt River Project! Geeral cocers with Smart Meters ad TOU rates (related to SRP)! Geeral Solar Cocers (related to Califoria Solar Iitiative)! Cosumer Advocacy Groups Ivolved! Affordability decouplig ad other meas may come at a additioal cost ot offset by potetial savigs! Misrepresetatio beefits i retur for higher costs may ot be delivered to all customers! AARP! Cosumer protectios loss of icetive to egotiate reasoable paymet agreemets prior to discoectio! Health ad safety cotiual threat of service disruptio! Misrepresetatio prepaymet targeted at low-icome households! NCLC! Rate structures time of use rates must ot be madatory, opti ot opt-out! Cosumer protectios levels must ot be reduced, especially relatig to remote discoectio, traditioal billig, ad dispute rights! Privacy ad cyber-security! AARP! NCLC! NASUCAU! Cosumers Uited! Public Citize! Capital Ivestmet lack creditworthiess to obtai low-cost, log-term fiacig! Ladlord/Teat Issues reters uable to beefit directly from tax beefits! GRID Alterative! 1. AARP Commet - Cases 14-M AARP ! 2. BEA Commet Docket No. NOI NCLC ! 3. The Need for Essetial Cosumer Protectios: Smart Meterig... AARP, et. al ! 4. Esurig New York Solar Programs Reach Low-Icome Residets. Jospe, J, et. al ! 10!

11 SOLUTIONS TO CASES! Case Solutios Reformig the Eergy Visio (Co Ediso)! Still i RFI process Salt River Project Customer educatio Customer egagemet ad iteractio Program opt-out Utargeted, equitable prepaymet plas Low-Icome Programs of $160 millio i icetives the Califoria Solar Iitiative! Gree-jobs traiig program 11!

12 EXAMPLES OF FINANCIAL BENEFITS! Fiacial! Rate desig solutios ca have positive fiacial impacts o LI/FI households, such as reduced eergy cosumptio ad lower bills from sophisticated rates! Figure 1. Summary of Low Icome Customer Resposiveess to Dyamic Prices Relative to Customer Respose Figure 4. Residetial ad Low Icome Bill Impacts Based o CPP Rate Desig #1 Low Icome Customer Resposiveess Relative to Customer Respose Distributio of Dyamic Pricig Bill Impacts Residetial ad Low Icome Customers o CPP Rate (Desig #1) 120% customer respose 100% 100% 85% Chage i Mothly Bill Peak Reductio 84% 80% 66% 60% 66% 50% 40% 22% 20% 0% Califoria SPP: PG&E PG&E CL&P's PWEP Califoria SPP: Pepco DC CARE vs. SmartRate SmartRate Program (PTP Low Icome vs. (price oly): 2009: CARE vs. 2008: CARE vs. high): Low Icome vs. Hardship vs. Residetial 15% 100% BGE 2008: Kow Low Icome vs. Kow Customer CL&P's PWEP Program: Kow Low Icome vs. Kow Customer Note: For the PepcoDC pilot, the average residetial respose excludes low icome customers that qualify for the RAD program. Residetial Sample Low Icome Sample 10% 5% 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% -5% -10% -15% Residetial "Losers" Residetial "Wiers" Low Icome "Wiers" Low Icome "Losers" Percetile Next, we simulated the impact of a Peak Time Rebate (PTR) which featured a rebate of $1.10 per kwh durig the critical peak periods for low icome customers. All customers cotiued o the existig rate of 13 cets per kwh. The Impact of Dyamic Pricig o Low Icome Customers. The Ediso Foudatio ! 12!

13 NON-INDUSTRY EXAMPLES! Telecom! Rapidly expadig ad techology depedet sector! Cosumer advocacy groups are heavily ivolved i esurig low icome groups ca cotiue to participate as techologies chage (mobile phoes, broadbad) ad rates rise! Federal programs, such as Lifelie discouts for prepaid mobile, ladlie, ad broadbad services are heavily iflueced by CAGs! NCLC ad others support Lifelie moderizatio efforts that allow customers to choose betwee wirelie phoe, wireless pla or broadbad service! Trasportatio! Califoria effort to esure oe millio zero-emissios vehicles by 2023 with the Charge Ahead Califoria Iitiative! Recet legislatio has bee passed i a effort to expad rebates for lowicome customers! 13!