Community Energy Services
We help you achieve your goals to bring cleaner energy, competitive prices and value to your community.
As the nation’s sixth-largest community owned, not-for-profit electric company, we have more than 70 years of experience in all facets of California utility operations. Governed by a 7-member elected board, we understand what it means to serve the local needs of our community. We have a proven track record of providing:
- low-cost, reliable electricity
- award-winning customer service
- innovative customer programs and energy solutions
Our mission clearly aligns with Community Choice Energy (CCE) providers and we’re leveraging our expertise to extend best-in-class service to CCEs and their customers.
Our Community Energy Services (CES) team is comprised of subject matter experts who are backed by the 2000+ strong workforce of a nationally recognized leader in customer satisfaction, brand trust and environmental stewardship. Whether you’re a new or experienced CCE, we offer the customized services and flexible solutions required to achieve your goals for cleaner energy, competitive rates and programs and services tailored to your customers and your community.
For more information, call us at 1-888-749-5949 or email communityenergy@smud.org.
Services we offer
We have established a dedicated customer call center in support of our CCE clients and provide Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) that have gone through rigorous and continuous training to ensure they are knowledgeable about the intricacies of the electric utility industry, CCEs and CCE client-specific programs.
- Call Center
- Professional Customer Service Representative (CSRs)
- Extensive training on specific CCE policies, programs and customers
- Bilingual staff that speak both English and Spanish
- Translation services in over 150 languages
- Responses via phone and email
- Extended Call Center hours
- Facility and systems redundancy to ensure maximum availability
- Web Enrollment Forms
- Customer self-service option via the web to manage customer enrollment in CCE services and programs
- Easy and intuitive customer experience
- Available in both English and Spanish
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
- Customer self-service option via the IVR to manage customer enrollment in CCE services and programs
- Synchronized with CRM to provide real time information on customer program enrollment
- Available in both English and Spanish
We have a robust and configurable Data Management System (DMS) to support our Community Choice Energy partners in managing customer relationships, program enrollment and billing and payment services.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Robust and scalable cloud-based application to manage customer data
- Configurable to CCE services, programs and policies
- Integrated with web, IVR, billing engine and usage database
- Track customer interactions and marketing collateral
- Manage customer contact information and program enrollment
- Rates, Billing and Payment Engine
- Maintain rate schedules, rate classes and NEM participation (including flat, TOD, Peak Pricing, and demand rates)
- Billing engine calculates bill line item charges and adjustments to send to the IOU
- Maintain account balance, billing and payment history
- Automated bill processing and focus on data validation and quality assurance
- Usage Database
- Store historical usage data
- Store historical interval meter data
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
- Enables the exchange of data with PG&E
- Tools to recognize, transform, convert, validate and map multi-transactional EDI documents in real time or in batch
- Settlement Quality Meter Data
- Submit SQMD to the CAISO for daily settlement
- Qualified Reporting Entity
- WREGIS QRE services for renewable generation projects
We offer a package of Wholesale Energy Services to CCEs, enabling them to successfully procure power and continue their operations and monitoring. CCEs can benefit from the services of an experienced energy provider that has continually maintained rates significantly lower than those of the state’s investor-owned utilities. We have been operating as a utility for more than 70 years, have well established long-term operations and have established an excellent credit rating (AA3 and AA.) We can provide services to manage the CCE’s wholesale Power Supply and to schedule CCE load and resources.
Wholesale Energy Services Launch
- Load Forecast Models
- Wholesale Power Procurement & Risk Policies and Reporting
- Develop Model Resource Portfolios and Power Supply Budget
- Resource-Related Launch Filings
Wholesale Energy Services Operations
- Scheduling Coordinator Service
- Load and Resource Portfolio Operation Service
- Wholesale Load and Resource Settlements and Verification
- Power Portfolio Purchase Service
- Market Risk Instruments Management
- Update Portfolio Model and Report Power Supply Risk Metrics
- CAISO Market Monitoring
- Resource Portfolio Compliance Reporting
- Enterprise Risk Management
We offer advanced data analytics services such as rates modeling and financial impact analysis that help you understand how proposed policies and programs can impact your customers. We use customer and geospatial data to provide time series and forecasting insights, segmentation and clustering to identify opportunities for program optimization. We provide access to your data through an interactive dashboard, tools and reporting that provide you the insight to make more informed and strategic decisions.
Start-up Services
- CPUC Implementation Plan
- Development and revisions to implementation plan to support launches and expansions
- Pro Forma Financials and Operational Budget
- Creation of startup pro forma financials, including load forecast, revenue forecast, commodity forecast, and operational budgets
- Power Procurement Strategy
- Consulting on power procurement strategy including Resource Adequacy requirements
Rate and Financial Analysis
- Rate Change and Impact Analysis
- Evaluation of financial and customer impacts from various rate changes
- Distributional impacts of changes to NEM policies
- Potential demand response programs or changes to peak and off-peak pricing
- Rate comparison to support matching policies for utility time of use, peak pricing, and other rates or programs
- Customer Marginal Net Income Analysis
- Understand how to better target rate discounts and ensure equity across geographic, economic, and social boundaries
- Understand how to better target key account activities
- Financial Modeling
- Rate calculators to help customers understand how their bill would change
- Forecast income statement and balance sheet, with on-the-fly adjustments to PCIA, PG&E rates, CCE rate discount level, and opt-out rates
- Ad Hoc Financial Analysis
- Develop valuations of Congestion Revenue Rights Portfolios, based on historical performance
- Provide variance testing of settlement and billing meter data to ensure all power purchased has been billed
Forecasting
- Load Forecasting
- Forecast load using historical normalized weather and statistical modeling of potential future variance in weather
- NEM Forecasting
- Forecast NEM adoption with variables tuned to your specific region and customers
- Energy Efficiency, Demand Response and Electric Vehicles Adoption
- Forecast load adjustments for assumed adoption of Energy Efficiency, Demand Response and Electric Vehicles
- Revenue Forecasting
- Revenue forecasts by rate to understand impacts of the shift to Time-of-Day rates and migration off of expiring rates
Advanced Analytics
- Customer Segmentation
- By load shape to target energy efficiency and demand response programs
- By demographic and psychographic information to tailor marketing messages
- Day-ahead and Real-time Load Forecasting Models
- Geospatial Analysis
- Geospatial analysis of customer attributes, opt-out-rates, marginal net income, demographic groups and other key variables
- Meter Data Warehouse
- Development of a meter data warehouse for rapid access and mining of meter data