The California Public Utility Commission (“CPUC”) has partially opening up the state’s electric service to competition. The program is known as Direct Access (“DA”) and will allow Non-Residential customers to have a choice of purchasing Electricity from an independent Electric Service Provider rather than from their Local Utility Company.  There will be set limits as to how many customers will be allowed to switch each year.  Therefore, if you have any interest in switching to DA service, you have a very limited time period to notify your Utility Company of your interest. This is only a Notice of Intent and not an obligation.

Initial Sign-up Process: An Open Enrollment Window will be established for all interested customers who wish to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to transfer to DA service. The first year's load has already been filled.  The Utility companies will take these Notices for the next phase based on a first-come, first-served basis starting from 9:00 AM PST on July 16, 2010 until the second years load is filled.  NOI’s will only be rejected if the annual limit has been met, at which point they will be wait-listed for the following years enrollment periods.  It is highly likely that there will be a large initial rush of Notice-of-Intents submitted on July 16^th.  If you would like the opportunity to choose your provider, you need to fill out the Notice of Intent ASAP.

What Forms to Complete: We will need a “Notice of Intent” and your Historical Electric Load Profile (Electricity Usage). If you do not have your Historical Load Profile, please fill out the Authorization to Release Data form (LOA).  We will be collecting these forms on behalf of our customers and submitting them to the various local utilities immediately upon the opening of the Open Enrollment Window.

What Happens Next: If capacity space is available, you will be notified within 20 days of the CPUC’s receipt of your NOI, and you will have 60 days from the date of notification to commit to take DA service for the specific customer account(s). If you fail to commit during the 60 day period, the capacity space reserved for you will be allocated to the next customer in line. If we are unable to enter into an agreement, your accounts will simply stay with your current utility.