The Round 4 Direct Access (DA) enrollment opportunity created by the DA reopening bill (SB 695) is right around the corner and we know that you likely have questions regarding the details of this event.  We are here to help.  The following questions and answers were compiled by the Direct Energy Business Government & Regulatory Affairs Team to help you better prepare for Round 4, set to take place on January 13, 2012.

What is the Timing of the Round 4 DA Submission Process & What is Needed?
The date that the utilities will begin accepting submissions for Round 4 is 9 a.m. PST Friday, January 13, 2012. On this date, you, your consultant, and/or your intended supplier, must submit a 6-month notice of intent (NOI) to move to an electric service provider (ESP).

As in the past, the utilities will be very precise about the start time of the submission process.  Here are some details to keep in mind:

Submissions (submitting a 6-month notice)

• Any notices submitted prior to 9:00 a.m. PDT on January 13 will be rejected by the utilities.
• Once the process begins, duplicate submissions are permitted from multiple sources (i.e. your ESP, you're your consultant, you, etc.) however the first one received will be the one that is reviewed for approval or rejection by the utility.  All duplicate submissions after the first one will be rejected.
• 6-month notice forms must be printed or completed online (in the case of the "fillable forms") and then printed or saved electronically to email to the utilities on Jan. 13.  The utilities do not offer online submissions through form tools on their websites, so you must take it upon yourself to retain hard copies or electronic copies to submit via fax or email. 
• Federal Tax ID numbers are not required on 6-month notices however the notices must be filed by Federal Tax ID number, therefore you will need a separate 6-month notice for each Tax ID number you're submitting a notice for.  If your locations are split between utilities, you will need separate forms (even for the same Tax ID numbers) for each utility.
• Submissions (email or fax) need to include the 6-month notice and account number spreadsheet (if applicable).  Refer to the information below to determine when it is necessary to send in a Box 6 CISR (aka "Customer Information Service Request") with the 6-month notice.

- Southern California Edison (SCE) needs the service account numbers (10-digit number that starts with a "3") listed in an Excel spreadsheet. 

- Businesses in Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) should list their service accounts by PG&E service agreement number or service ID number—not the "account number" as seen on the invoice—and should list these in an Excel spreadsheet.

Where can I obtain the 6-month notice forms for each utility?
The 6-month notice forms for each of the utilities along with the fax and email info are as follows:

Southern California Edison 6-Month Notice
Southern California Edison 6-Month Notice (with callouts to assist with completion)
Southern California Edison CISR
Southern California Edison Account List Spreadsheet (Excel)

Fax to: 562-491-3630
Email to: DANotices@scewebservices.com

Pacific Gas & Electric 6-Month Notice
Pacific Gas & Electric CISR
Pacific Gas & Electric Account List Spreadsheet

Fax to: 209-476-7698
Email to: DANOI@pge.com

San Diego Gas & Electric 6-Month Notice
San Diego Gas & Electric CISR

Fax to: 858-654-1256
Email to ESPADMIN@semprautilities.com

How do I submit the form(s)?
The forms must be completed—either electronically or by printing and manually filling them out—and sent in one of the available submission formats: email and fax, to the numbers/emails listed in the above table.  The fax numbers and email addresses can also be found at the bottom of each utility's 6-month notice form.  If you are working through us to submit your 6-month notice, we will manage the electronic submission process for you.  More details on how we intend manage this process can be made available through your Direct Energy Business Sales Representative.

Do I need to submit a CISR (Customer Information Service Request) form in Round 4 if a third party/supplier is submitting a 6-month notice for me?
If you (the customer and applicant) sign the 6-month notice, the utilities do not require you to complete and return a CISR with it.

Other variations of this include:

• On the utilities' 6-month notice forms, it states that the customer or authorized agent must sign the form—regardless of who is submitting the form.  A third party acting as an agent for a customer may sign and submit the 6-month switching notice for a customer but only if Box 6 of the CISR form is completed and submitted with the 6-month notice.  Box 6 CISRs that were executed for Round 3 may still be used for Round 4, as long as they were not set up as "a one-time only" and as long as they are still within a valid date range.
• If you are located in the SCE utility territory and you did not submit a CISR in Round 3, you will be required to submit a CISR at least five days in advance of the January 13 Round 4 submission date if an authorized agent is signing and submitting their 6-month notice for you.
• If you are requesting historical data from SCE, you are required to submit a new CISR at least 10 business days prior to the January 13 Round 4 submission date—even if you submitted the CISR form in Round 3.

What is the timeframe for finding out if I've been accepted or not into Round 4?
Utilities are expected to complete the process of accepting 6-month switching notices within 30 business days after the submissions date (i.e. 30 days from Jan. 13, 2012).  If you submit a 6-month notice but are not accepted (i.e. do not receive space under the Round 4 cap), you will remain on the same utility tariff you were on prior to submitting a 6-month notice.

What if I am accepted but decide not to move to Direct Access?
Your (or your agent) may rescind a request for Direct Access within three business days of submitting a 6-month notice, per the current rules.  That means that you have until Wednesday, January 18 to rescind your 6-month notice.  Once you rescind, you will be required to remain with the utility for the minimum stay and will be subject to the switching rules.

If I'm accepted, what are the steps/timeline for the Round 4 enrollment process?
Once your notice has been accepted, you (or your agent who submitted on your behalf) will be informed (within 30 days of submitting the 6-month notice) by the utility of what your Direct Access start date will be.  The start date will correspond to the meter read date that is 12 months from the date of the Round 4 submission process (Jan. 13, 2013).  The only exception to this is if DA load opens up under the cap in mid-2012.  In that scenario, some load could be made available in July 2012 for customers who were accepted in Round 4.  The utility will contact you or the agent/supplier who submitted on your behalf if you are eligible for an early (July 2012) start/enrollment.  At that time you will have the opportunity to start or "wait" until the original start date (on or after Jan. 13, 2013).  In the meantime, before you enroll in DA, you will remain on your current bundled utility rate. 

Customers who are accepted can have their electric service providers (ESPs) begin submitting Direct Access Service Request(s) (aka "DASRs") 30 days prior to the 6-month notice expiration.  In other words, you can submit a DASR 30 days prior to Jan. 13, 2013 so that you are able to start on your actual DA start date, or as close to it as possible (according to your meter read date). 

If you do not submit your DASR in the 30 days prior to your 6-month notice expiration date, you have a "safe harbor" of up to 60 days after your 6-month notice end date to submit a DASR for enrollment into Direct Access.  If a DASR is not submitted within this 60-day safe harbor, then you will be placed on a "temporary bundled service rate" for six months and after that six months, you will return to the bundled utility rate for a required 3-year minimum stay (per the current switching rules).

Do I have to do anything specific if I'm a peak day pricing customer and I'm accepted into DA?
Customers who are on any form of peak day pricing (PDP) in the SCE and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) utility territories are not required to do anything specific.  In the past, PG&E has required customers to actively "unenroll" from PDP by submitting an "unenrollment notification" at least two days prior to DASR submission.  While this requirement is still in place, PG&E is looking into allowing the DASR to serve as the customer's notice to opt-out of PDP in 2012. 

What if I'm currently in the middle of a 3-year minimum utility stay but I am accepted in Round 4?   As part of the rules around Direct Access reopening, all 3-year minimum stays are waived for customers who apply and are accepted into DA during any phase.  The only time a 3-year minimum stay is not waived is when a customer submits a 6-month notice during DA reopening and receives acceptance but then decides not to switch (i.e. rescinds their acceptance).  At that point, that customer will be obligated to go back to utility service for a minimum of three years before being eligible to apply for DA again.

If my minimum stay with the utility expires after Round 4, how and when do/can I transfer to DA service?
Although this could change with future California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rule changes or legislation, under current rules, customers who have fulfilled their 3-year Bundled Portfolio Service (BPS) commitment with the utility have the option of applying for and transferring to DA service at other times throughout the year (outside of the layered DA reopening phases).  If your business elects to transfer to DA service after the end of the 3-year BPS commitment period, you will be required to:

• Provide the utility with six months' advance notice using the 6-Month Notice to Transfer to Direct Access Service form.
• You will have three business days after the utility receives your 6-month notice to rescind your request and remain on bundled service (without incurring another 3-year minimum stay).
• The utility will provide you with a written confirmation and information on how to complete the switching process within 20 business days of receiving your 6-month notice.  This confirmation will include information on the final deadline that the utility must receive a Direct Access Service.

Request (DASR) from your ESP in order for you to move to DA service.  In all cases, you are responsible for providing this information to us/your ESP and meeting the utility's deadlines.

What if I'm not accepted in Round 4 and I'm in the middle of a 3-year minimum stay—when will I have the chance to apply for DA?

A couple of important details you should keep in mind about Round 4 of DA reopening:

• This fourth round of the phased DA reopening serves as more of a true-up of load available in the other rounds---something along the lines of an overflow.  This essentially means that while the other rounds had 30+ million megawatt hours of available load opening, this round has about 10 million MWh (at the most).
• Each of the previous three rounds closed within a minute or a few minutes of opening (i.e. they were closed by 9:01 or 9:03 a.m. PST).  This means that many attempted to gain access with very little space available.
• As it stands under the current legislation (SB695), this round (Round 4) is the last scheduled phased reopening.

There is however a bill currently moving through the California legislative process (SB855), that is about halfway through the process of legislative  review and approvals.  This bill calls for a second schedule of DA reopening phases in approximately the same manner and incremental amounts as were implemented through SB 695.  The soonest this legislation could be approved and implemented would be January 2013.  If this happens, we could have another submission process beginning early that year.

The Direct Energy Business Government & Regulatory Affairs team has been working diligently to advocate on behalf of this bill and its swift movement (as it's currently written) through the legislative process.  We can always use customer support on issues such as this so that legislators are reminded of how important Direct Access is to revenue-generators in the state, rather than just hearing it from suppliers and energy choice advocacy groups.  If your business would be interested in joining our advocacy efforts at any level—from something as small as writing or emailing your specific legislator, to meeting one-on-one with a legislator to encourage their support of this bill—we can arrange for your inclusion in these efforts.

If you have additional questions on Direct Access or the Round 4 DA process, or if you would like to become active in advocacy, please contact your business development manager or Andrea Morrison, California Regional Director of Market Development & Regulatory Affairs at (916) 759-7052 or by email: andrea.morrison@directenergy.com. 

Direct Access Round 3 Enrollment Information

If you were accepted in Round 3 of the DA reopening (in July 2011), please keep in mind the following details/timelines:

How do I Enroll my Accounts That Were Accepted in Round 3
If you were accepted in Round 3, you, your agent or Direct Energy Business can submit your DASR up to 30 days prior to your DA start date but no more than 60 days after.  By submitting your DASR before your start date, we can help ensure that you are able to start service with us on your actual DA start date (according to your meter read date). 

Please keep in mind that if a DASR is not submitted within 60 days after your designated DA start date, then you will be placed on a "temporary bundled service rate" for six months and after that six months, you will return to the bundled utility rate for a required 3-year minimum stay (per the current switching rules).

Southern California Edison CISR
Pacific Gas & Electric CISR
San Diego Gas & Electric CISR