ERCOT Emergency Response Service (ERS) Program Guidelines

Program Season

Winter: December – March

Spring: April – May

Summer: June – September

Fall: October – November

Hours of Availability

Time Period 1: 5:00 AM – 9:00 AM, non-holiday weekdays

Time Period 2: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM, non-holiday weekdays

Time Period 3: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, non-holiday weekdays

Time Period 4: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM, non-holiday weekdays

Time Period 5: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM, non-holiday weekdays

Time Period 6: 5:00 AM – 9:00 AM, weekends and holidays

Time Period 7: 3:00 PM – 9:00 PM, weekends and holidays

Time Period 8: All other hours

Dispatch Notice

ERS 10: 10 minutes

ERS 30: 30 minutes

Participation Options

Curtail electrical load or transfer load to a qualified generator or storage system.

Enrollment Strategy

Enel will work with you to determine enrollment values based on the electrical load pattern at your facility, demonstrated performance, and information regarding your site’s operations.

Enrollment values are specific to each time period, and you must be available to deliver at least 95% of your commitment during all of the time periods in which you are enrolled. (If you do not have enough load or operational flexibility in certain hours, Enel can exclude those time periods.) Once the season begins, your enrollment is fixed for the remainder of that period.

ERCOT is one of the more sophisticated demand response programs that has both performance requirements AND availability requirements.

Key for success: If you know that operational changes will cause your electric load to run below your enrolled kW amount, please reach out to Enel Customer Support as soon as possible.

Audit Requirements

ERCOT requires an annual payment-setting audit to demonstrate customers’ ability to deliver their enrolled kW value. If you participate in an emergency dispatch and meet your target as explained below, your annual audit requirement will be fulfilled. Should you fail to meet the target, ERCOT will re-test your site.

Emergency Dispatch Duration

For the Spring, Summer, and Fall Program Seasons, you are limited to 12 hours of emergency dispatch per program season, unless you opt-in to be a renewal resource as designated during your Onboarding and described in your enrollment email.

For the Winter Program Season, you are limited to 24 hours of emergency dispatch per program season, unless you opt in to be a renewal resource as designated during your Onboarding and described in your enrollment email.

Performance Measurement
Performance is measured as the average difference between your actual demand (kW) and your baseline for each 15-minute interval of a dispatch. ERCOT determines your baseline eligibility based on their analysis of your load pattern. All participants may elect to participate using the “Drop-to” baseline methodology, while only certain participants may qualify for the “Drop-by” baseline methodology.

There are two baseline methodologies:

• “Drop-to” or "Maximum Base Load": Your baseline will be flat. In a dispatch, your electric load needs to remain at or below the “drop-to” or "maximum base load" target kW, regardless of where you were running at the start of the dispatch.
• “Drop-by”: Your baseline will be dynamic, based on the facility’s recent load pattern. In a dispatch, your electric load will need to drop by a specific kW amount.

Key for Success: For those with a “Drop-to” baseline, in order to receive payment for participation, you must remain at or below the “drop-to” or “Maximum Base Load” target kW by the start time and maintain that performance for 95% of the duration of the dispatch. For those with a “Drop-by” baseline, in order to receive payment for participation, you must meet 95% of your target by the start time and maintain that average 95% performance for the duration of the dispatch.

Regardless of the baseline methodology, all participants must maintain the respective 95% performance threshold during the first full 15-minute interval of the event. Otherwise, even if the participant achieved an average performance of 95% for the entire event, the participant would be considered to have failed the event because of their poor performance during the first full 15-minute interval.

Payment Calculation

Payments for each program period are based on the following: [average delivered kW] x [ERCOT clearing price] x [capacity payment rate]

Your average delivered kW is dependent on both your performance factor and availability factor, measured in percentages. Payments are paid at a $/kW-season rate, which fluctuate each program season based on ERCOT’s auction clearing prices. Your capacity payment rate is defined in your contract.

The prerequisite for earning payment is meet the 95% thresholds for performance and availability throughout the entire program season. Any under-performance or under-availability will negatively impact your payment for the given season and may result in reduced enrollment and earning potential for future seasons.