CA Industry Assistance Credit
for Industrial Businesses

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. 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, three-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

Description of eligible three-digit NAICS codes:

• Apparel Manufacturing
• Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing
• Chemical Manufacturing
• Crop Production
• 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
• Textile Mills
• Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

For the purposes of the California Industry Assistance Credit, a facility is described in the California Air Resources Board's Cap-and-Trade Regulation as "any physical property, plant, building, structure, source, or stationary equipment located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties in actual physical contact or separated solely by a public roadway or other public right-of-way and under common ownership or common control, that emits or may emit any greenhouse gas…" For the full definition please refer to Section 95802(a)(144) of the Cap-and-Trade Regulation.

In general, your facility is eligible for the CA Industry Assistance Credit if it derives most of its revenue from a product, activity or service that matches the first three digits in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes in Table 8-1 of the CARB Cap-and-Trade Regulations. SDG&E has provided a table of eligible NAICS codes, below.

If you are unsure which NAICS code applies to your facility, review your company’s federal income tax return, such as IRS Form 1120, or visit https://www.census.gov/naics/.

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

Your facility automatically qualifies if …

It has a qualifying North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and direct emissions of 10,000 MTCO2e per year or greater. Your company already reports to the California Air Resources Board under its Mandatory Reporting Regulation.

The CPUC already has everything it needs to calculate your facility’s CA Industry Assistance Credit. SDG&E will contact you to find out which service account to apply the credit to.

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 Resources Board under the Mandatory Reporting Regulation. 

You will need to submit a form for each qualifying facility, in which you:

• Provide basic info about the facility,
• Identify which qualifying NAICS code applies to that facility,
• Specify all 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 bi-annual 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 bi-annual Small Business Climate Credit at all service accounts associated with that facility. You will start receiving the annual CA Industry Assistance Credit instead.

See the Submit your eligibility claim section to submit your claim. 

The amount of the CA Industry Assistance Credit will vary from facility to facility. The amount of the credit is determined by using emissions-efficiency benchmarks that reward 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. Amounts even vary from 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.

The estimated bill credit represents the annual savings a facility could receive. The CA Industry Assistance amount depends on the price of GHG allowances in the prior year and can go up or down as allowance prices change. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will calculate the actual credit amount based on the rules outlined in Decision D.14-12-037.

Important notes:

• If your facility successfully submits an eligibility claim by Sept. 30, 2024 or your facility automatically qualifies, your CA Industry Assistance Credit will be applied to your April 2025 bill.
   
• If your company previously received the Small Business Climate Credit, you would stop receiving the bi-annual Small Business Climate Credit and will start receiving the annual CA Industry Assistance Credit.
   
• The California Pubic Utilities Commission (CPUC) calculates your credit amount, not SDG&E. To protect your privacy, SDG&E does not have access to all the data that the CPUC uses to determine your credit amount. SDG&E may not be able to accurately predict your credit amount or answer detailed questions about why you received a specific amount. Facilities can reach out to [email protected] for help estimating the value of future credits.

For complete rules about how the CPUC calculates the CA Industry Assistance Credit, please refer to page 67 in the CPUC Decision.

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

• If your facility successfully submits an eligibility claim by Sept. 30, 2024 or your facility automatically qualifies, your CA Industry Assistance Credit will appear in April 2025. 

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.

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

The Small Business California Climate Credit amount is the same as the Residential California Climate Credit amount and can be found at  https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/climatecredit/.  

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

The Small Business Climate Credit automatically goes to small businesses that typically use less than 20 kilowatts (kW) of maximum power in a month. It appears twice a year in April and October for all eligible utility customers, including those who get electricity from community choice aggregators and electric service providers.

You can confirm whether you receive it by looking for the line item “California Climate Credit” on your April electricity bill.

Note:  In August 2024, the CPUC recently modified the Small Business California Climate Credit eligibility criteria. Beginning April 2025, recipients with 100 or more eligible accounts will no longer be eligible to receive the Small Business California Climate Credit on any account. Learn more about the eligibility changes resulting from Resolution  E-5339. 

To learn more about the Small Business Climate Credit, visit  https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/smallbusinessclimatecredit 

Key differences between the two credits

If your business has more than one utility service account

• If ALL your facility’s service accounts receive the Small Business Climate Credit, you may be better off sticking with the Small Business Climate Credit for the reasons outlined above.
• If at least one of your facility’s service accounts does NOT receive the Small Business Climate Credit, 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 FAQ, “How much money can I expect from the CA Industry Assistance Credit?”). Then determine for yourself whether it’s in your best interest to switch.

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

• If you claim eligibility on or before Sept. 30, 2024, you will receive the CA Industry Assistance Credit in April 2024 and will not receive the Small Business Climate Credit for the duration of your participation in the CA Industry Assistance Program.