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Concord light plant lays out detailed timeline to roll out default residential time-of-use rate
Summary
The Concord Municipal Light Plant presented a month-by-month timeline to implement a default opt-out residential time-of-use rate to begin Jan. 1, 2026, outlining board decisions, technical gating items with NISC billing, customer education and a planned consultant study of solar net metering and tier differentials.
The Concord Municipal Light Plant board reviewed a detailed timeline on a planned default, opt-out residential time-of-use (TOU) rate intended to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. Staff told the board the project will run on three parallel tracks: board policy decisions, technical system work, and customer education.
Laura presented the board-facing schedule, saying an early decision is how much detail to show on customers'bills, because moving to TOU with multiple time bands could multiply bill line items and requires substantial NISC programming. She said examples from other utilities will be shared to inform the board'bchoice on bill presentation.
The timeline calls for the board to address the residential assistance credit in January (how the credit applies under TOU), electric thermal storage (ETS) and whether to keep a separate ETS rate in February, and a discussion of second-meter fees and virtual net metering in March. Staff recommended hiring a cost-of-service consultant by late spring so numeric metering analysis can begin in July. The consultant is expected to examine solar net metering under TOU so the board can set tier differentials by August and approve a 2026 rate in December.
Jason noted roughly 35 customers had already opted out of TOU and that staff plan to run small volunteer pilots in October'bDecember to detect system issues before wide rollout, while acknowledging gating items such as billing-system setup and NISC bill-print programming may limit how early a pilot can run. Board members raised concerns the pilot could be too late to affect rate-setting and suggested running mock or proxy-rate tests earlier if possible.
Board discussion also emphasized the public-information campaign and customer education as essential to success, and members asked for a plain-language overview of how TOU works at the next meeting for newer board members. Staff said the TOU program will be iterative and rates may be adjusted after implementation to respond to revenue and behavioral changes.
The board did not take a final vote but asked staff to refine the timeline, provide bill-format examples and return with additional education plans and technical gating details at upcoming meetings.
