Sarah M from Phoenix, AZ. APS territory. I have been using DocuSign for my engagement agreements and it saves a ton of time — no printing, scanning, mailing. I want to start using it for LOAs too. But I am worried utilities will reject e-signatures. Has anyone tested this with APS, SRP, or TEP?
Do utilities accept DocuSign and other e-signatures on LOAs
Sarah, APS accepts DocuSign. I have been using it for about a year with no rejections. SRP also accepts it. TEP I have not tested. The key is using a service that provides a certificate of completion with a timestamp and audit trail. APS told me they accept any e-signature that complies with the federal ESIGN Act, which DocuSign does.
TEP accepts DocuSign too. I submitted 4 LOAs via DocuSign last quarter and all were processed without issue. The turnaround was actually faster than wet-signature submissions because there was no mail delay.
Jim and Omar, great to hear. That covers all three major Arizona utilities. Going to switch all my LOAs to DocuSign starting this week.
In the Northeast, Eversource and National Grid both accept DocuSign. PSE&G is the holdout — they still want wet signatures or notarized documents. ConEd accepts e-signatures on their own portal but not third-party e-sign services. Every utility is different. Test one LOA before you commit to sending a batch.
Good thread. My recommendation: use DocuSign or a similar ESIGN-compliant service for all LOAs. If a utility rejects it, you lose a few days and resubmit with a wet signature. If they accept it — which most do now — you save a week or more of turnaround time. The time savings across a year of auditing is substantial.