2020 California Direct Access Lottery and Expansion

by | May 20, 2020 | Blog, Efficient Energy Management | 0 comments

Direct Access

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What should you know about the 2020 California Direct Access lottery and retail expansion?

The Direct Access (DA) Program allows a limited number of consumers living in California to purchase their electricity from a third party, or Electric Service Provider (ESP).  ESPs are competitive providers that facilitate the sale of supply related products and services. The goal of Direct Access is to limit the amount of system-wide load served by third party generation suppliers while giving customers the power to choose who supplies their electricity.

How does a customer enroll in the Direct Access Program?

Customers are granted participation through an annual lottery process, which is extremely limited with an annual load cap of 28,762 GWh.
Recent legislation has expanded the cap, allowing more customers to apply for the program. Three California Utilities; Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Pacific Gas and Electric, all have open space in their Direct Access Programs.  To participate, customers must submit their accounts during the week of June 8th, 2020 for service starting January 2022.

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  • June 8th – June 12th, 2020: Customers submit accounts to the Direct Access waitlist.
    • Mid-July 2020: Utility assigns random lottery numbers to customers on the waitlist.
    • August 2020: Accounts are selected for the program.
      • If your account is selected, you then have 15 days to accept or reject the offer.
      • If you do not accept, you will remain on utility default service and another customer will be selected from the list. If you accept, you must complete a Direct Access Service Request (DASR) form within 45 days and have 18-months to secure a third-party supplier.
    • January 2022: Service with the new third-party supplier begins.

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How does the annual lottery process work?

All customers, new and existing, are required to submit their accounts for the annual lottery auction.  Existing program customers are granted the first choice to participate in Direct Access for the upcoming year, while additional load is filled from the waitlist.

A customer can join the Direct Access auction at no risk because those selected can opt to stay on tariff.  Important to note: If your account is selected and you accept the invitation to the program but fail to secure alternate supply, your participation in future auctions will be limited.

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Contact the EEP team today for more information on how to submit your enrollment into the auction.

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