What is a RIN?
The Rate Identification Number (RIN) provided on your bill involves the California Energy Commission (CEC) Load Management Standards regulations. Your RIN identifies your time-dependent electric rate that is to be uploaded by LADWP into the CEC’s Market Informed Demand Automation Server, also known as MIDAS. MIDAS is a relational database of time-dependent rates hosted by the CEC. The CEC is supposed to maintain public access to the MIDAS database through an Application Programming Interface (API) that, provided a RIN, returns information sufficient to enable automated response to marginal grid signals, such as price, emergency events, and greenhouse gas emissions, to help accomplish the goals of the Load Management Standards. More information on MIDAS can be found on California Energy Commission's website. The rates on the CEC MIDAS website are located here: California Energy Commission and contain the total of the time-dependent rate charges only. The service charge and any other non-time-dependent rate charges are not shown on the CEC website. For more information on LADWP electric rates and for the other billing components, please see Residential Electric Rates or Commercial Electric Rates.
What are Load Management Standards?
The CEC Load Management Standards require California’s large electric utilities and community choice aggregators (CCAs) to provide residential and commercial customers access to time-dependent electricity rates and programs designed to better align electricity demand with the availability of renewable energy resources. This alignment will help customers tailor their electricity use to save money, minimize greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production, improve the resilience of the electrical grid, and reduce the chance of planned and unplanned outages. See CEC document TN# 251054, “Compliance Assistance for Load Management Standards Compliance Plan Submittals”, submitted 7/14/2023, for additional information.
Large electric utilities and CCAs are required to provide customers their time-dependent rates in the publicly available MIDAS database. These standards are intended to encourage customers to shift their electric use from high-demand hours to lower-demand hours. During peak hours, power plants are in high use. By adjusting when you use electricity, you can help reduce the strain on the electric grid during those peak hours.
Load management helps align electric use with clean energy generation and grid capacity. As Los Angeles moves toward a 100% clean energy grid, load flexibility becomes crucial as energy needs can be better matched to renewable resources availability. In addition, load management reduces greenhouse gas emissions and increases power reliability.
When you shift your load to off-peak hours on a TOU rate, you can reduce your electricity bill. You will be able to use programmable devices, such as smart thermostats or appliances, that automatically schedule appliance operation based on electricity costs or potentially other signals.
Remember, load management benefits both customers and the grid. It's a win-win for a cleaner, more efficient energy system.