SOLAR ACCESS TERMS & CONDITIONS
APPLICABILITY
On June 21, 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission approved (“D.”)18-06-027 Alternate Decision adopting Alternatives to Promote Solar Distributed Generation in Disadvantaged Communities. This decision adopted three new programs to promote the installation of renewable generation for residential customers in disadvantaged communities (DACs), as directed by the California Legislature in Assembly Bill (AB) 327 (Perea), Stats. 2013, ch 611. Pursuant to D.18-06-027, Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) may develop and implement their own Disadvantaged Community Green Tariff (DAC-GT) and Community Solar Green Tariff (CS-GT) programs.
Solar Access is San José Clean Energy (SJCE)’s DAC-GT program. Solar Access offers income-qualified SJCE residential customers living in DACs a 20% discount on their electricity bills. Customers receive 100% solar electricity. The program is available to SJCE residential customers who meet two criteria: (a) live in DACs and (b) are enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program (CARE) or the Family Electric Rates Assistance program (FERA). DACs are defined as the top 25% scoring areas from CalEnviroScreen.
SJCE will verify customer eligibility based on service account address and CARE/FERA enrollment status. If a customer qualifies for but is not currently enrolled in the CARE or FERA programs, they will be encouraged to enroll in the CARE/FERA programs through PG&E’s existing enrollment process. Once a customer’s CARE/FERA eligibility has been established, SJCE will enroll the customer into the program.
Customers can remain in the program in perpetuity, as long as they meet the eligibility requirements defined above. Customers who become ineligible for CARE or FERA will be un-enrolled from the program. A customer can transfer electric service to a new location and remain enrolled in Solar Access as long as the customer continues to live in a DAC and continues to meet all other eligibility requirements.
Rooftop solar customers (customers on a Net Energy Metering or NEM rate) are not eligible for Solar Access.
ENROLLMENT
Customers interested in enrolling in the program should apply online, by mail (business reply card), or by phone. Eligible customers will be added on a first come, first served basis until the program’s capacity (1.736 megawatts (MW)) is reached. If capacity is not reached by June 1, 2022, then SJCE will begin randomly selecting eligible customers for enrollment.
As enrolled customers move, unenroll, or otherwise become ineligible, spots in the program will open. Therefore, SJCE will continue to accept applications after June 1, 2022. Customers who apply after June 1, 2022, will be placed on a waitlist and enrolled into the program on a first come, first served basis as spots become available. Customers on the waitlist will be enrolled into the program before randomly selected customers.
Customers will receive an email or letter indicating their enrollment status (i.e., enrolled, placed on the waitlist, or not eligible). Indication of a customer’s enrollment on their bill will take 1-2 billing cycles, depending on how close to the meter read date a customer applied for the program.
Customers will also be notified by email or letter if they become ineligible for the program and will receive a two-month grace period to re-demonstrate their eligibility. SJCE will save a customer’s spot in the program during this two-month grace period, but they will not receive the 20% discount.
BILLING
How you are billed and pay your bill will not change. You will continue to receive a single monthly bill from PG&E that includes all electricity related charges. PG&E forwards payments for electric generation to SJCE. PG&E will continue to charge for transmission, distribution, public goods programs and other non-generation charges at the same rates it charges customers who do not receive SJCE service.
Customers enrolled in the program will see a 20% discount on electric generation and transmission and delivery charges as line item on the SJCE page of their bill.
RATES
SJCE electric generation rates are managed with the intention of providing clean electricity at competitive rates. Any changes to rates will be adopted at duly noticed public meetings of the San José City Council. PG&E charges customers a monthly Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) and acts as a collection agent for the Franchise Fee Surcharge, which pays for PG&E’s right to use public streets to run electric service to your home or business. Please contact PG&E for more information about these charges. SJCE has already accounted for these additional charges in calculating competitive rates. View SJCE rates online at SanJoseCleanEnergy.org or call 833-432-2454 for more information. These rates and cost comparisons may change over time.
UNENROLLMENT
You may request to unenroll from the program at any time by calling 833-432-2454. Please have your PG&E account information on hand to process your request. There is no fee to unenroll.
OPT OUT
You may request to opt out of SJCE electric generation service by calling 833-432-2454. If you opt out of SJCE service, you will be removed from the Solar Access program and will cease receiving the 20% discount. Please have your PG&E account information on hand to process your opt out request. There is no fee to opt out. Please be advised that if you do opt out and return to PG&E, you will not have the option to return to SJCE for a full year and will be subject to PG&E’s terms and conditions of service. Additionally, PG&E requires that SJCE customers use one of the following options for returning to PG&E generation service: Option 1) Return to PG&E generation service at the end of your current billing cycle on PG&E’s transition rate for a six-month period and standard rates thereafter; or Option 2) Return to PG&E generation service, after six months’ notice, on PG&E standard rates. For more information on PG&E’s terms and conditions visit www.pge.com/cca. Accounts will be transferred on the day the electric meter is read and cannot be transferred during the middle of a billing cycle. Opt out requests received at least 5 days prior to a customer’s meter read date will be processed for that meter read date; all other opt out requests will be processed on the subsequent meter read date. Customers who opt out or otherwise stop receiving service from SJCE will be charged for all SJCE electricity used before ending SJCE electric service. There is no fee to restart SJCE service for customers who wish to return to SJCE service after waiting the full year after opt out.
FAILURE TO PAY
SJCE customers that fail to bring their accounts current within 90 days after receiving a delinquent notice may be deemed to have opted out of electricity service provided by SJCE and may be returned to PG&E service. SJCE customers returning to PG&E for electricity service are responsible for payment of all outstanding balances due to SJCE.
CUSTOMER PRIVACY POLICY
Please read San José Clean Energy’s Customer Confidentiality Policy or call us at 833-432-2454.