The Cost of Climate Pollution

California PUC Uses SCC to Help Determine Value of DERs

ECalifornia Electric Power Sector March 2018

• Application

  Evaluation of Distributed Energy Resources

• Date

  March 2018

• Details

  On May 16, 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a final order requiring the use of the SCC for evaluating distributed energy resources (DERs). Specifically, utilities must conduct a societal cost test (SCT) in resource planning that is comprised of three parts, one of which is the "avoided social cost of carbon." The final order requires utilities to model the SCT using two SCC values, the 3% estimate and high-impact estimate.

• SCC Value(s)

  e.g. $123/Mt CO2e for 2020 emissions (2016 IWG SCC high-impact values, 3% discount rate). 1

• Reference

  Rulemaking 14-10-003: Order Instituting Rulemaking to Create a Consistent Regulatory Framework for the Guidance, Planning and Evaluation of Integrated Distributed Energy Resources.

• Litigation

  None

• Status

  Order effective through December 2020.

1. http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M293/K833/293833387.PDF ↩︎

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