Californian Regulators Approve Hourly Power Source Disclosure
California’s amended Power Source Disclosure Regulations (Docket No. 21-OIR-01), unanimously approved on February 12,2025 by the California Energy Commission, mark a significant step toward greater transparency in electricity reporting. These updates, driven by Senate Bill 1158, require retail electricity suppliers to track and report their power sources and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on an hourly basis by 2028. EnergyTag supports these changes, emphasizing that granular accounting is essential for accelerating grid decarbonization, improving clean energy investment, and enabling accurate emissions reporting.
Rulemaking Adopting Amended Power Source Disclosure Regulations (Docket No. 21-OIR-01)
The California Energy Commission unanimously approved the proposed rules updating the Power Source Disclosure (PSD) program from requiring annual disclosure to hourly disclosure. These amendments, outlined in CCR, title 20, sections 1391 through 1394.2, reorganize the regulations implementing the PSD program, which collects electricity procurement and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions information from retail electricity suppliers on an annual basis. Pursuant to Senate Bill 1158 (Becker, Chapter 367, Statutes of 2022), the amendments propose rules for retail suppliers to report their sources of electricity and associated GHG emissions by matching procurement and load on an hourly basis starting in 2028, along with other program updates.
EnergyTag has worked on this initiative for several years and is happy to see it reach a successful outcome. Alex Piper delivered a testimony to the CEC at the public hearing, here is his statement:
EnergyTag Statement Delivered During Oral Testimony1(Note: This statement was delivered orally, and while the core message remains unchanged, some wording may differ slightly from the spoken testimony.)
My name is Alex Piper and I am the Head of US Policy and Markets for EnergyTag. EnergyTag is a global nonprofit focused on driving cost-effective grid decarbonization by improving and expanding the use of granular electricity accounting through the development of voluntary standards, policy advocacy, and market engagement.
My comment is in support of adopting the Amended Power Source Disclosure Regulations.
Granular accounting and hourly matching will play a fundamental role in fully decarbonizing our electricity sector. Understanding exactly when and where clean electricity is providing power, and just as importantly, where it is not, will enable energy users to make credible claims about their electricity-based emissions and will support investments in the clean firm and storage technologies needed to decarbonize the hours of the day currently being supported by fossil generators. These proposed regulations support this path forward.
We hope tools like the EnergyTag granular certificate scheme standard will further support standardizing practices for issuing, tracking, and retiring hourly certificates to further incentivize voluntary electricity procurements and impact. For example, our novel work on storage can ensure it is optimally integrated into renewable energy markets, which is not the case today. The final rules for this program are an important first step, and we are hopeful the program will continue to evolve in a way that supports market demand for hourly matched clean electricity and standardization for how claims can be made using granular certificates.
More accuracy, not less, is critical to efficiently achieving climate targets and driving new investment in clean energy technologies – fundamentally, that is what this program update represents. EnergyTag supports the final rule and applauds California’s continued leadership on climate and clean energy.
- 1(Note: This statement was delivered orally, and while the core message remains unchanged, some wording may differ slightly from the spoken testimony.)