SMUD s SolarShares Experience -- A Community Model Solar Energy in Inland Southern California Conference February 6, 2014 Powering forward. Together.
My 10 Minutes A Working Agenda Back to the future problems we were working to solve with SolarShares in 2008. Solar Shares today who bought, customer experience and lessons learned. SolarShares, The Next Generation How to deal with strong competition, time dependent pricing and the need for more supply.
Back to The Future A Look at 2008 How to serve the underserved Renters Sites not good for solar Low income Leverage economies of scale at a time when solar was less competitive
SolarShares Today Lessons Learned Customers like SolarShares Sold out in six months 500% more than traditional rooftop systems Good customer retention 93% to 102% subscription levels for six years Great customer satisfaction The press liked SolarShares we enjoyed excellent local and trade press Despite momentum, SolarShares would not work to as a rapid deployment model for SB-1 Not connected at premises so did not qualify Regulations changed with AB1947 in 2010
Solar Shares Today What do we Know About Our Customers? SMUD developed proprietary segmentation model to evaluate targets based on: A 4K attitudinal survey Premise data including home vintage, size, HVAC, appliances and energy use Program participation index 40% of customers have greater than $75K 90% live in single-family, owner-occupied homes (this is not a renters program) Tend to be male and married Tend to live longer in their homes and use more energy than average SMUD customer 2/10/2014 5
Customer Experience - Sample Bill 6
SolarShares The Next Generation Be competitive, but work for the Utility too Price the product close to leased rooftop offerings Prepare for time dependent pricing Address cross subsidy issues present in net metering We need something to sell Plan calls for an additional 6 MW this year Could go as high as 25 MW We are lowering prices and making them easier to understand Testing commercial offering
SolarShares Pricing Model Subscribers Providers May add 2.2 to 2.6 cents to base rate after incentives and Marginal Cost of Energy Wholesale price plus Fixed charges, including fixed cost component of REC purchase usage charge Wholesale value of solar Wholesale(PPA) price SMUD
Why SMUD Likes This Model It works for SolarShares customers Simple Hedge against future fuel prices increases Transparent value proposition Participation costs decline as cheaper systems are added It uses our core competencies Aggregating customers Executing long-term power contracts Making it easy to go solar with on bill payment options It benefit participants and nonparticipants alike The utility is able to reduce the cost of adding PV within the distribution grid by having a subset of ratepayers help defray the higher cost of PV Community institutions (such as schools) can serve as system hosts and receive revenue from space leasing Utility can site systems to optimize value to grid Utility can finance and own systems in order to lower subscription price
Rules for Commercial Customers For Energy From Solar Generator/PPA 20-year fixed price contact at the current SolarShare price Bill credit will be valued at generation portion of the retail electricity usage charge REC purchase will apply and will vary through the length of the SolarShares contract Facilities, demand and customer charges will apply Future rate changes will affect these charges Enrollment will be limited to 5 MW For Energy From SMUD All SIFC charges (energy, demand, facilities, customer charges, etc.) will apply Future rate changes will affect these charges
Rules for Residential Customers For Energy From Solar Generator/PPA Customer signs a 1-year agreement Solar Share price will remain fixed or drop for the length of the contract depending on PPA prices REC purchase will apply and will vary through the length of the Solar Shares contract The customer will receive a bill credit equal to their retail electricity usage charge calculated via VNM process Subscription will be limited to 100% of the customer s annual consumption For Energy From SMUD All SIFC charges will apply Future rate changes will affect these charges
THANK YOU! Jim Burke (916)732-5411 Jim.Burke@SMUD.org E-mail me if you want to be updated about out progress.