Ava SmartHome Battery – Residential Customers

SmartHome Battery can help you maximize your solar panels and battery investment with installation rebates and participation payments. The program connects your battery to Ava’s virtual power plant and taps into it during times when the grid is strained, which reduces emissions and helps keep electricity rates stable for the whole community.

A virtual power plant is an aggregation of distributed generation and storage plus flexible, controllable load. VPPs can function in aggregate very much like a conventional power plant, providing energy and capacity services. And they can give utilities greater awareness and control of the grid and power generation resources, increasing reliability and cutting costs.

Read more about virtual power plants and their benefits.

• Bill savings: During non-event days, you can use your battery to minimize your electricity bill charges.
• Financial incentives: There are two types of incentives: an installation rebate and ongoing participation payments. The amount of each incentive depends on the size of your battery and the capacity you select to share with the program. Installation rebates can be paid directly to a qualified installer to be applied to the installation invoice or directly to the customer. The ongoing participation payments are based on the amount of battery capacity you choose to share with Ava’s virtual power plant. 
• Household and community resilience: Run your home on backup power stored in your battery during power outages and support your community by reducing demand on the grid during peak hours. 

Enrollment in SmartHome Battery is open until the budget is depleted. Once you are enrolled in the program, you are guaranteed to receive the participation payments for 5 years, as long as you continue to participate in the required grid events.

Grid events occur when:

• The grid is strained
• Wholesale electricity prices are high
• Ava’s load is higher than forecasted (due to high temperatures, for example)

You maintain access to your battery except during events where we notify you. Events will last 2 hours. 

• NEM 2 with under 4 kWh committed = Daily dispatch (weekdays only) 
• Tesla = event-based, max 40 grid events per year 
• Everyone else (SBP and any customer committing more than 4 kWh) = event-based, max 40 grid events per year 

To learn more, review the customer agreement.

You can opt out anytime there is a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) or National Weather Service event. There are a limited number of other opt outs:

• Event-based participants: If a participant performs less than 80% of their nominated capacity for 5 events in a calendar year, they may be unenrolled and stop receiving performance payments.
• Daily participants: If a participant performs less than 80% of their nominated capacity on average across a month for 3 months in a calendar year, they may be unenrolled and stop receiving performance payments.

Yes.

Enrolling in the program will not change your NEM status. Your NEM 2 status is determined by the Net Energy Metering Aggregation qualifications outlined by PG&E.

SmartHome Battery is tailored to your solar tariff. NEM 2 customers who enroll less than 4 kWh in the program will be put on a daily battery use schedule instead of a set number of events per year. Daily battery use will be 2 hours per weekday for the whole year, with variance by month. SmartHome Battery’s schedule will be sent to the customer via email by October for the following year.

No. SmartHome Battery was built to ensure you have full access to your battery during non grid-event days. When you commit a certain amount to share, the reserve power (the non-committed percentage of your battery) will not be called upon for Ava’s VPP during a grid event.

Contact Lunar customer support to remove yourself from SmartHome Battery at: avasmarthomebattery@lunarenergy.com

If you elect to receive the rebate directly, you will receive the rebate from rewards@reward.tremendous.com to the registered email tied to your PG&E account.

If you elect to pass the rebate to your qualified installer, you will see it as a deduction from your installation bill. Note: income-qualified customers are required to pass the installation rebate to their installer.

Every month you will earn $3/kWh based on the shared capacity you chose during enrollment. The total will be paid out every 3 months (i.e. January, April, July, October) on the first business day of the quarter. You will receive an email from rewards@reward.tremendous.com with the total amount. You can redeem the payment via Venmo, PayPal, ACH transactions, gift cards, or a charitable donation.

Reward links will not expire. However, after 6 months, Venmo, PayPal, ACH will no longer be available as a redemption option. The prepaid virtual visa, gift cards, and charitable donation will still be available

Yes, if you are the PG&E account holder and have written permission from your landlord to install a battery and participate in the program. 

If you own or purchased through a loan, then you likely own the grid rights. If you are leasing the system, you likely don’t. To confirm, check with your installer or lease contract.

Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides incentives for qualifying distributed energy systems installed on the customer’s side of the utility meter.

If you’re a CARE or FERA customer,  you qualify even if you received SGIP.

If you are not a CARE or FERA customer and you received SGIP, you do not qualify for Ava SmartHome Battery, due to CPUC program rules.

The CPUC requires all SGIP recipients to be enrolled in qualified demand response (DR) programs. Learn more about the SGIP program and the qualified DR programs on the California Public Utilities Commission website.

Income-qualified programs include CARE and FERA. If you’re unsure if you are a CARE/FERA customer, you can check your PG&E bill.

We’re continually reaching out to battery manufacturers to include their models in our program. Reach out to the manufacturer of your battery and inform them of this program. They can contact SHB-OEMs@AvaEnergy.org to learn more and enroll.

There is no impact to the battery and its warranty.

The sign that your system has received Permission to Operate (PTO) is the official, written approval from PG&E. You or your installer will receive an official PTO letter or email directly from PG&E. Once PTO is granted, your installer will confirm the status with you and remotely or in-person activate the system to begin full operation. If you are unsure if you received PTO or not, contact your installer. They manage the application process and will be the first party to receive the official PTO notification from PG&E.

If you have questions about Ava SmartHome Battery, please contact Lunar Energy, Ava’s technical operations and enrollment partner, by emailing avasmarthomebattery@lunarenergy.com or calling their support line at (650) 240-7240 (support hours are Monday-Friday 8 AM-5 PM PT).

If you have questions about your installation rebate or participation payments, please contact Tremendous by checking the Tremendous Recipient Help Center or emailing help@tremendous.com.