SVCE Sets Rates and Approves Solar Program

Silicon Valley residents and businesses to get carbon-free energy and lower rates beginning April 2017.

Sunnyvale, Calif. – On January 11, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Board of Directors approved rates for SVCE’s GreenStart, GreenPrime and rooftop solar programs. The SVCE Board of Directors is committed to providing customers with carbon-free electricity at rates lower than PG&E.

The approved rates for GreenStart, SVCE’s default program, are one percent less than PG&E’s rates for residential and commercial customers. GreenStart offers carbon-free electricity from 50 percent renewable sources such as solar and wind, and 50 percent from hydroelectric power. In comparison, PG&E’s current electric service is approximately 60 percent carbon-free, including 30 percent renewable sources.

“We are proud to offer our community clean and green energy at costs lower than PG&E, and to be able to keep these rates steady through December 2018,” said Rod Sinks, SVCE Board Chair.

In addition to approving standard GreenStart rates, the board also approved rates for GreenPrime, SVCE’s premium service, offering 100 percent renewable (and carbon-free) electricity at a rate just $0.008 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) more than GreenStart. For a typical residential customer, this adds about $4 per month to their electric bill.

The Board of Directors also approved a Net Energy Metering (NEM) program for rooftop solar customers. All PG&E customers currently enrolled in the PG&E program will be automatically enrolled into the SVCE program. SVCE rewards customers who generate more electricity than they consume at a higher value than PG&E. Detailed information about SVCE’s NEM program is available at svcleanenergy.org/solar.

SVCE customer enrollment will take place in three phases in April, July and October 2017. Postcard notifications to the first set of customers enrolling in April will land in mailboxes starting January 24. These notifications indicate that a customer is eligible for enrollment, and are sent 60 and 30 days in advance of their April meter read date when their generation service will switch to SVCE.

Once a postcard notification has been received, customers are eligible to upgrade their service to GreenPrime, or opt out of SVCE generation service to remain with PG&E’s bundled, generation and delivery service. SVCE customers who are not yet eligible for enrollment in the first or second phase may upgrade to GreenPrime, anytime.