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The CA Industry Assistance Credit is open to all industrial utility customers in eligible industries, including those who get electricity from community choice aggregators and other electric service providers.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) determines eligibility for the CA Industry Assistance Credit at the facility level. A facility is a physical property or structure located on one or more contiguous properties, such as a campus, factory or company headquarters. If your company owns multiple facilities throughout the state, each facility may or may not be eligible depending on its type of product or service.

If your company owns multiple facilities throughout the state, each facility may or may not be eligible. It all depends on the type of product or service produced by each individual facility.

A facility is eligible for the CA Industry Assistance Credit if it derives most of its revenue from a product, activity or service that has an eligible, six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

Eligible six-digit NAICS codes fall within these industries:

• Apparel Manufacturing
• Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing
• Chemical Manufacturing
• Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing
• Food Manufacturing
• Machinery Manufacturing
• Mining (except Oil and Gas)
• Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing
• Oil and Gas Extraction
• Paper Manufacturing
• Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing
• Primary Metal Manufacturing
• Support Activities for Transportation
• Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

Your facility is eligible for the CA Industry Assistance Credit if it drives most of its revenue from a product, activity or service that has one of the following six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

If you are unsure which NAICS code applies to your facility, use the U.S. Census Bureau’s guidelines.

There are two types of eligible facilities: (1) those that must submit an eligibility claim, known by the CPUC as an Attestation, and (2) those that qualify for the CA Industry Assistance Credit by reporting to the Air Resources Board under its Mandatory Reporting Regulation. Most California businesses fall into the first category.

Your facility automatically qualifies if...

You company already reports to the Air Resources Board under its Mandatory Reporting Regulation and operates in an eligible industry.  The CPUC has everything it needs to calculate your facility’s CA Industry Assistance Credit. 

Your facility must claim eligibility if…

Its direct emissions are less than 10,000 MTCO2e – metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent gas – per year. Your facility falls into this category if it is NOT required to report to the California Air Resource Board under the Mandatory Reporting Regulation.You will need to submit a form for each qualifying facility, where you:

• Provide basic info about the facility,
• Identify which qualifying NAICS code applies to that facility,
• Specify all of the utility service accounts that belong to that facility,
• Designate one utility service account to receive the bill credit,
• Confirm your understanding that your facility may be subject to an audit, and
• Declare under penalty of perjury that what you’re saying is true.

Deadlines to claim eligibility

If you are a small business, you may NOT want to claim CA Industry Assistance eligibility

Your business may already automatically receive the Small Business Climate Credit, a monthly credit, for some of its utility service accounts. If you choose to claim eligibility for the CA Industry Assistance Credit, you will stop receiving the monthly Small Business Climate Credit at all service accounts associated with that facility. You will start receiving the annual CA Industry Assistance Credit instead.

Which credit is right for me? See California Climate Credit Comparison below in the FAQs. 

Submit your eligibility claim

Click the link below if you have eligible facilities within SDG&E’s service territory.  You will need to have all account numbers associated with each facility handy for entry into the form. Remember that you will need to complete the form for each qualifying facility by September 30, 2017 to claim all credits available.

Claim eligibility

Each investor-owned utility hosts its own version of the CA Industry Assistance Credit eligibility form. Visit PG&E, Liberty Utilities and PacifiCorp if you have facilities in their respective service territories. 

The amount of the CA Industry Assistance credit will vary from facility to facility. The amount of the credit is determined through the use of emissions efficiency benchmarks, which rewards businesses that have taken early action to reduce GHG emissions. This approach will also ensure that, in the future, these industries have a strong incentive to produce products in California in the most greenhouse gas-efficient way possible.

Amounts may also vary from utility to utility, based on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in each energy provider’s supply, and year-to-year based on greenhouse gas prices. For these reasons, we can’t accurately predict what your company’s actual bill credit amount may be.

Here are some guidelines to give you a general idea of what you might be able to expect for usage at the facility that is not receiving the small business climate credit.

The estimated bill credit represents the annual savings a facility could receive. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will calculate the actual credit amount based on the rules outlined in Decision D.14-12-037. 

Please note: 

• If your facility successfully submits an eligibility claim by September 30, 2017 or your facility automatically qualifies, your first CA Industry Assistance Credit will be applied to your April 2018 bill, and every April through 2020.

• If your company previously received the Small Business California Climate Credit, you will stop receiving the monthly California Climate Credit as of the December billing cycle that precedes the year when you will start receiving the annual CA Industry Assistance Credit. For example, if your first CA Industry Assistance Credit will appear in April 2018,* your last monthly California Climate Credit will appear in December 2017.*

• The CPUC calculates your credit amount, not your utility. To protect your privacy, your utility provider does not have access to all of the data that the CPUC uses to determine your credit amount. Your utility may not be able to accurately predict your credit amount or answer detailed questions about why you received a specific amount.

​For complete rules about how the CPUC calculates the CA Industry Assistance Credit, look for Decision D.14-12-037 on the CPUC website.

* Billing periods vary by utility and may not always coincide with a calendar month. If you don’t see “CA Industry Assistance” as a line item on the bill that arrives in April, it will appear on the bill you receive in May.

The credit will appear as a line item on your bill, labeled “CA Industry Assistance.”

• If your facility successfully submits an eligibility claim by September 30, 2017 or your facility automatically qualifies, your CA Industry Assistance Credit will appear in April 2018, April 2019, and April 2020. 

After the credit appears on your bill, you may request a check if the credit amount is greater than your account balance. SDG&E customers may do so by calling the number that appears on your bill.

If your facility has direct emissions of 25,000 MTCO2e or greater

If your facility qualifies for CA Industry Assistance Credit by operating as a Cap-and-Trade entity with direct emissions of 25,000 MTCO2e per year or greater, you have the option to receive the CA Industry Assistance Credit as a check instead of a bill credit. We will email or a representative will contact you with instructions on how to request a check.

* Billing periods vary by utility and may not always coincide with a calendar month. If you don't see the CA Industry Assistance Credit in the bill that arrives in April, it will appear in the bill you receive in May.

Your company may already receive a different bill credit, known as the California Climate Credit for small businesses. It may be a better choice for you than the CA Industry Assistance Credit.

If you successfully claim eligibility for the CA Industry Assistance Credit, you will stop receiving the California Climate Credit and start receiving the CA Industry Assistance Credit instead.

The California Climate Credit for small businesses goes to:

• Small businesses that typically use less than 20 kilowatts (kW) of maximum power in a month.
• It appears as as monthly bill credit for all eligible utility customers, including those who get electricity from community choice aggregators and electric service providers. 

You can confirm whether or not you receive it by looking for the line item “California Climate Credit” on your electricity bill.

To learn more about the California Climate Credit, visit EnergyUpgradeCA.

Key differences between the two credits

If your business has one utility service account

The California Public Utilities Commission concluded that the monetary difference between the small business California Climate Credit and the CA Industry Assistance Credit would be minimal for businesses that have only one utility service account and that already receive the California Climate Credit. Your business may be better sticking with the California Climate Credit. 

If your business has more than one utility service account

It’s a little harder to provide general guidance on which bill credit may be better for businesses with multiple accounts, because the results will vary from company to company and facility to facility.

• If ALL of your facility’s service accounts receive the California Climate Credit for Small Businesses, you may be better off sticking with the California Climate Credit for the reasons outlined above.
• If at least one of your facility’s service accounts does NOT receive the California Climate Credit for Small Businesses, it all depends on your electricity usage. You will need to estimate how much you might receive from the CA Industry Assistance Credit (see the How much money can I expect from the CA Industry Assistance Credit? FAQ and determine for yourself whether it’s in your best interest to switch.

What to expect if you switch to the CA Industry Assistance Credit

Your monthly California Climate Credit will end.

• If you claim eligibility on or before September 30, 2017: you will stop receiving the monthly California Climate Credit as of the December 2017 billing cycle that precedes the year when you will start receiving the annual CA Industry Assistance Credit. For example, if your first CA Industry Assistance Credit will appear in April 2018,* your last monthly California Climate Credit will appear in December 2017.*

* Billing periods vary by utility and may not always coincide with a calendar month. If you don't see the CA Industry Assistance Credit in the bill that arrives in April, it will appear in the bill you receive in May.