Redding Electric Utility (REU) Rate Selection Guide
Redding Electric Utility (REU) is a community-owned municipal utility serving about 44,465 customers in Redding and surrounding Shasta County, California. Billing access runs through an InvoiceCloud portal with PDF bills and roughly 24 months of history — but meters are still read manually, so there is no interval data, Green Button, EDI, API, or third-party data program of any kind.
Market Overview
City-owned municipal utility providing bundled service; no supplier choice or CCA option in REU territory. Governed by the City of Redding rather than the CPUC; IRPs filed with the California Energy Commission.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Redding Electric Utility (REU) Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
Redding Electric Utility (REU) is a city-owned municipal utility serving about 44,500 meters, with rates set by the Redding City Council rather than the CPUC. REU's commercial rate design is deliberately simple: small commercial accounts pay a flat energy rate with no demand charge, while large commercial accounts (over 25 kW for 6+ months or 75 kW in any month) pay a lower flat energy rate plus a per-kW demand charge based on the highest 15-minute interval. REU consistently prices well below neighboring PG&E territory, though City Council has adopted a series of phased rate increases — check the current rate book before budgeting.
Effective: January 1, 2025 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E2 – Small Commercial Service | commercial | Commercial services with billing demand at or below 25 kW for 7+ months of the prior 12 months and never exceeding 75 kW | $70.00/meter monthly fixed charge plus a flat energy charge of $0.1649/kWh on all kWh; no demand charge | $0.1649/kWh |
| E7/E8 – Large Commercial Service | commercial | Commercial services exceeding 25 kW billing demand in 6+ months of the prior 12 months, or exceeding 75 kW in any month | $95.00/meter monthly fixed charge, energy at $0.1086/kWh on all kWh, plus demand at $21.50/kW of the highest 15-minute interval (5-minute interval may be used for intermittent loads) | $0.1086/kWh+ $21.50/kW (15-min max) |
| Net Metering Tariff (Solar) | commercial | Customer-generators with interconnected solar on residential or commercial service | Standard service, energy, and demand charges apply with net energy true-up; net surplus compensated at REU's avoided cost of energy (updated administratively each year — see tariff) | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Commercial billing data collection
Capture PDF bills monthly from the InvoiceCloud portal as the sole structured artifact.
With no export, API, or aggregator coverage, browser-saved PDFs (24+ months retained) are the only repeatable data source.
- Use multi-account linking to manage a portfolio under one login
- Enroll in paperless billing for consistent email capture
- Request pre-portal history from customer service — copies may carry a fee
Energy analytics without interval data
Plan analytics around monthly granularity and deploy submetering where load profiles matter.
Manual monthly meter reads make demand-profile or TOU analysis impossible from utility data alone; submeters are the only path to interval visibility.
- Install submeters at facilities needing 15-minute resolution
- Use weather normalization on monthly kWh for trend analysis
- Watch for any future AMI investment announcements from the city
Third-party / consultant access
Run a fully customer-mediated workflow — PDFs from the customer or authorized records requests to the utility.
REU has no authorization portal or consent mechanism, so written customer authorization plus manual delivery is the only sanctioned route.
- Collect written authorization before requesting records from REU
- Budget for possible per-copy fees and mail turnaround
- Avoid credential sharing — have customers export their own bills
Automated data integration for energy software
Classify REU as a fully manual utility in any portfolio pipeline.
No aggregator lists REU, and the InvoiceCloud portal offers nothing machine-readable beyond PDFs — PDF parsing on customer-supplied bills is the practical ceiling.
- Build PDF bill parsing for InvoiceCloud-format statements
- Maintain customer consent records for every account
- Re-check aggregator coverage annually in case REU modernizes
Cost Optimization Strategies
REU's large commercial design concentrates savings opportunity in one place: the $21.50/kW demand charge. For a 500 kW facility that single line item runs over $10,000/month — often rivaling the energy charge — so demand management delivers the fastest payback. Because REU has no time-of-use commercial rates and no AMI interval data feeds, customers must rely on their own submetering to see and manage peaks.
Flatten the monthly 15-minute peak
For: E7/E8 large commercial customers
At $21.50/kW, every kW shaved from the single highest 15-minute interval saves $258/year. Stagger HVAC starts, sequence large motors, and interlock non-critical loads. Note REU may switch intermittent or violently fluctuating loads to 5-minute demand intervals, which penalizes spiky operation even more.
Manage the E2/E7 threshold
For: Commercial accounts with peaks near 25 kW
Crossing 25 kW demand for 6 months (or 75 kW once) moves you from E2's flat $0.1649/kWh to E7's $0.1086/kWh plus $21.50/kW demand. High-load-factor accounts often save money on E7; low-load-factor accounts near the threshold should actively keep peaks under 25 kW to stay on E2. Run the math both ways at your actual load factor.
Install submetering for demand visibility
For: All E7/E8 customers
REU reads meters manually and offers no interval data or Green Button access, so large customers cannot see what set their monthly peak from the utility bill alone. Customer-owned interval submetering or a building energy management system is the prerequisite for any demand-management program in REU territory.
Evaluate on-site solar against net metering terms
For: Commercial customers with daytime load and roof/parking area
REU's net metering compensates net surplus at its avoided cost of energy — far below the retail rate — so size systems for self-consumption rather than export. Solar reduces the $0.1086/kWh energy charge but does little for the demand charge unless paired with storage dispatched at the monthly peak.
Budget for adopted rate increases
For: All C&I customers
Redding City Council has adopted multi-year electric rate increases, with REU still positioned below PG&E. Review the proposed rate change page each budget cycle and re-verify fixed, energy, and demand components in the current rate book before signing long leases or energy contracts.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Redding Electric Utility (REU) interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
How do commercial customers get billing data from Redding Electric Utility?▾
Create a profile at https://myaccount.cityofredding.gov/ using the account number from the bill (Federal Tax ID accepted for commercial verification). The InvoiceCloud portal shows the current bill, roughly 24+ months of history, and monthly usage, with bills saveable as PDFs from the browser. Multiple accounts can be linked under one user ID. There is no CSV/JSON export or API.
Does REU provide interval or smart meter data?▾
No. REU has no AMI — solid-state watt-hour meters are read manually by field staff once per month, so no 15/30-minute, hourly, or real-time data exists at any access level. Facilities needing load profiles must install their own submetering.
Can a consultant or energy platform access REU customer data automatically?▾
REU itself offers no Share My Data program, OAuth consent flow, API, or ESPI endpoint. The utility's native paths are customer-provided PDF bills or a records request with written customer authorization to (530) 339-7200 / customerservice@cityofredding.org (copies may carry a fee). Nectar provides API access to this utility's billing data — see docs.nectarclimate.com.
Does REU support Green Button or EDI?▾
Neither. Green Button DMD/CMD is not implemented (municipal utilities are exempt from CPUC D.14-05-016, which mandates data access only for PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E), and no public EDI trading partner program exists. Commercial accounts asking about EDI will likely be directed to the portal or paper billing.
Where are REU's rates published and can customers choose a supplier?▾
Rates and fees are posted on the city utilities customer service pages, with an Understanding My Bill PDF guide. REU is a city-owned, not-for-profit utility — customers receive bundled service with no supplier choice or CCA option, and rates are set by the City of Redding rather than the CPUC.
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