DOW JONES NEWSWIRES California regulators gave the state's three large utilities owned by PG&E Corp. (PCG), Edison International (EIX) and Sempra Energy (SRE) approval to spend a combined $454 million on electricity demand response, or conservation, over three years. The utilities depend on demand response, in which groups of customers agree ahead of time to cut their energy use during times of peak demand, to keep the grid stable during hot summer months when electricity demand often spikes to its highest levels. State officials also favor such conservation measures for environmental reasons, particularly when they allow grid operators to avoid having to order additional power plants to be switched on to provide more electricity. The California Public Utilities Commission approved a demand-response budget of $192 million for PG&E's utility for 2012 through 2014, and budgets of $196 million for Southern California Edison and $66 million for San Diego Gas & Electric for the same time period. PG&E has contracts with EnerNOC Inc. (ENOC), Comverge Inc. (COMV), Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) and Energy Curtailment Specialists Inc. to provide demand response services, according to the CPUC. Consumers can conserve electricity by using appliances and charging their mobile phones and other electronic devices in the morning or after 7 p.m. and cutting their air conditioning use, said CPUC Commissioner Catherine Sandoval. -By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com
