Pacific Gas and Electric partners with Enphase Energy on home battery energy storage systems for low-income customers

Approximately 100 residential customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will gain free battery systems as a result of the Residential Storage Initiative – a new collaboration between PG&E and Enphase Energy focused on home battery energy storage.

Beneficiaries will include those who have suffered frequent outages due to PG&E’s Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS), which protect California residents in high fire-risk areas by automatically shutting off power in under a tenth of a second when a fault is detected. A fault could be caused by things like branches hitting a powerline – a major cause of wildfire ignitions. While these safety settings led to a 65 percent reduction of ignitions in high-risk areas in 2022, they also placed higher burdens on some communities.

While this round of additions will include residents in El Dorado, Napa, and Nevada counties on a first-come, first-served basis, PG&E and Enphase stated that installations would likely expand to another several hundred systems next year.

“We know power outages can be hard on our customers and even more challenging for vulnerable populations. We expect this initiative in collaboration with Enphase will help build resilience, enhance reliability, and make life a little easier for our customers when the power is turned off for safety,” Aaron August, vice president of utility partnerships & innovation at PG&E, said.

Eligible customers must be enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, lack a fixed power solution like a battery or permanent generator, and have undergone the most frequent safety-related outages. So far, PG&E has contacted approximately 1,000 pre-qualified customers since October, completing around 100 site assessments and installing approximately 20 new home battery systems.

Participants in the Residential Storage Initiative will also be automatically enrolled in the PG&E Power Saver Rewards program, offering them bill credits during times of high electricity demand if they voluntarily reduce energy consumption and utilize the energy stored in their battery systems.