| (P) funds that were committed but not spent during
the prior year, by program;
(Q) a comparison of actual and budgeted program costs,
including an explanation of any increase or decreases of more than
10% in the cost of a program;
(R) information relating to energy and demand savings
achieved and the number of customers served by each program by customer
class;
(S) the utility's most recent EECRF, the revenue collected
through the EECRF, the utility's forecasted annual energy efficiency
program expenditures in excess of the actual energy efficiency revenues
collected from base rates as described in §25.182(d)(2) of this
title, and the control number under which the most recent EECRF was
established;
(T) the amount of any over- or under-recovery of energy
efficiency program costs whether collected through base rates or the
EECRF;
(U) a list of any counties that in the prior year were
under-served by the energy efficiency program;
(V) a description of new or discontinued programs,
including pilot programs that are planned to be continued as full
programs. For programs that are to be introduced or pilot programs
that are to be continued as full programs, the description shall include
the budget and projected demand and energy savings;
(W) a link to the program manuals for the current program
year; and
(X) the calculations supporting the adjustments to
restate the demand goal from the source to the meter and to restate
the energy efficiency savings from the meter to the source.
(m) Review of programs. Commission staff may initiate
a proceeding to review a utility's energy efficiency programs. In
addition, an interested entity may request that the commission initiate
a proceeding to review a utility's energy efficiency programs.
(n) Inspection, measurement and verification. Each
standard offer, market transformation, and self-delivered program
shall include use of an industry-accepted evaluation and/or measurement
and verification protocol, such as the International Performance Measurement
and Verification Protocol or a protocol approved by the commission,
to document and verify energy and peak demand savings to ensure that
the goals of this section are achieved. A utility shall not provide
an energy efficiency service provider final compensation until the
provider establishes that the work is complete and evaluation and/or
measurement and verification in accordance with the protocol verifies
that the savings will be achieved. However, a utility may provide
an energy efficiency service provider that offers behavioral programs
incremental compensation as work is performed. If inspection of one
or more measures is a part of the protocol, a utility shall not provide
an energy efficiency service provider final compensation until the
utility has conducted its inspection on at least a sample of measures
and the inspections confirm that the work has been done. A utility
shall provide inspection reports to commission staff within 20 days
of staff's request.
(1) The energy efficiency service provider, or for
self-delivered programs, the utility, is responsible for the determination
and documentation of energy and peak demand savings using the approved
evaluation and/or measurement and verification protocol, and may utilize
the services of an independent third party for such purposes.
(2) Commission-approved deemed energy and peak demand
savings may be used in lieu of the energy efficiency service provider's
measurement and verification, where applicable. The deemed savings
approved by the commission before December 31, 2007 are continued
in effect, unless superseded by commission action.
(3) Where installed measures are employed, an energy
efficiency service provider shall verify that the measures contracted
for were installed before final payment is made to the energy efficiency
service provider, by obtaining the customer's signature certifying
that the measures were installed, or by other reasonably reliable
means approved by the utility.
(4) For projects involving over 30 installations, a
statistically significant sample of installations will be subject
to on-site inspection in accordance with the protocol for the project
to verify that measures are installed and capable of performing their
intended function. Inspection shall occur within 30 days of notification
of measure installation.
(5) Projects of less than 30 installations may be aggregated
and a statistically significant sample of the aggregate installations
will be subject to on-site inspection in accordance with the protocol
for the projects to ensure that measures are installed and capable
of performing their intended function. Inspection shall occur within
30 days of notification of measure installation.
(6) Where installed measures are employed, the sample
size for on-site inspections may be adjusted for an energy efficiency
service provider under a particular contract, based on the results
of prior inspections.
(o) Evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V).
The following defines the evaluation, measurement, and verification
(EM&V) framework. The goal of this framework is to ensure that
the programs are evaluated, measured, and verified using a consistent
process that allows for accurate estimation of energy and demand impacts.
(1) EM&V objectives include:
(A) Documenting the impacts of the utilities' individual
energy efficiency and load management portfolios, comparing their
performance with established goals, and determining cost-effectiveness;
(B) Providing feedback for the commission, commission
staff, utilities, and other stakeholders on program portfolio performance;
and
(C) Providing input into the utilities' and ERCOT's
planning activities.
(2) The principles that guide the EM&V activities
in meeting the primary EM&V objectives are:
(A) Evaluators follow ethical guidelines.
(B) Important and relevant assumptions used by program
planners and administrators are reviewed as part of the EM&V efforts.
(C) All important and relevant EM&V assumptions
and calculations are documented and the reliability of results is
indicated in evaluation reports.
(D) The majority of evaluation expenditures and efforts
are in areas of greatest importance or uncertainty.
(3) The commission shall select an entity to act as
the commission's EM&V contractor and conduct evaluation activities.
The EM&V contractor shall operate under the commission's supervision
and oversight, and the EM&V contractor shall offer independent
analysis to the commission in order to assist in making decisions
in the public interest.
(A) Under the oversight of the commission staff and
with the assistance of utilities and other parties, the EM&V contractor
will evaluate specific programs and the portfolio of programs for
each utility.
(B) The EM&V contractor shall have the authority
to request data it considers necessary to fulfill its evaluation,
measurements, and verification responsibilities from the utilities.
A utility shall make good faith efforts to provide complete, accurate,
and timely responses to all EM&V contractor requests for documents,
data, information and other materials. The commission may on its own
volition or upon recommendation by staff require that a utility provide
the EM&V contractor with specific information.
(4) Evaluation activities will be conducted by the
EM&V contractor to meet the evaluation objectives defined in this
section. Activities shall include, but are not limited to:
(A) Providing appropriate planning documents.
(B) Impact evaluations to determine and document appropriate
metrics for each utility's individual evaluated programs and portfolio
of all programs, annual portfolio evaluation reports, and additional
reports and services as defined by commission staff to meet the EM&V
objectives.
(C) Preparation of a statewide technical reference
manual (TRM), including updates to such manual as defined in this
subsection.
(5) The impact evaluation activities may include the
use of one or more evaluation approaches. Evaluation activities may
also include, or just include, verification activities on a census
or sample of projects implemented by the utilities. Evaluations may
also include the use of due-diligence on utility-provided documentation
as well as surveys of program participants, non-participants, contractors,
vendors, and other market actors.
(6) The following apply to the development of a statewide
TRM by the EM&V contractor.
Cont'd... |
