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EmPower Maryland Brainstorming Meeting- Additional Program Ideas January 13, 2012 This meeting was held to allow brainstorming between the Utilities, MEA, OPC, and PSC. The group used a document circulated by BGE, BGE Draft New Program Ideas, to guide the meeting. Additionally, each stakeholder contributed program ideas beyond those listed on the document. It is the group’s intent to hold additional meetings to further vet certain ideas raised during the meeting prior to coordinating a final working group report. Suggested Ideas These ideas were suggested by the parties present. 1. Residential Programs a. School Programs- The main issue with programs that are school related and involve student impact is that the energy savings is non-measureable. The stakeholders would like to invite the organization, Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (“MAEOE”), to present their current school program that is used statewide but not by the utilities. b. Increase Current Incentives- Increasing incentives would result in a negative impact for utilities that use the California manual to calculate program TRCs, which calculates free rider incentives as a cost to the utility, this would negatively impact the TRC. Utilities that do not follow the California manual would not have an impact on their TRCs with increased incentives. Itron has yet to address this variance between the utilities. c. New Incandescent Technology: Propose to include new lighting technologies that would serve as a niche application for instances when a CFL or LED bulb would not be deemed appropriate. d. Energy Behavior Reports: Have OPOWER present to stakeholders the results of the BGE OPOWER Pilot and allow for questions from stakeholders. e. Miscellaneous Measures: Potential to include the following measures: pool pumps, window shades, tree shades, water coolers, room air cleaners, high efficiency ceiling fans, whole house fans (not attic fans), dishwashers, and occupancy sensors. These measures could be packaged into other programs. There is also potential to include a broad spectrum of products that are considered ENERGY STAR products. By including these measures, it could result in those participants participating in other programs under the umbrella of EmPower Programs. f. Mobile Home Residential Retrofit: Mobile homes are another stock of buildings that could be considered under the New Construction and/or the Residential Retrofit programs. g. ENERGY STAR New Construction for Multi-family: Would provide incentives for the new construction of residential multi-family buildings. This would not include master-metered residences. h. Multi-family Limited Income: MEA informed stakeholders that the Governor has allocated additional funds for the new construction of affordable housing. When funded by the stated, DHCD will be running this program under the state and not under EmPower Maryland; therefore, based upon the level of funding, the utilities may not need to contribute additional funds. i. Habitat for Humanity: It was questioned whether contributions to Habitat for Humanity would allow for energy savings to be generated under that organization towards the EmPower Maryland goal. j. Home Energy Score: DOE is working on creating a home energy score program. Those who completed a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR audit and install measures can have their home rated. Then the homeowner can have the rating be disclosed at the time of a sale of a home to inform the potential buyer of the energy efficiency in the home. 2. Commercial Programs a. CHP/Fuel Switching: Each utility should be participating in the program and it should be focused on the continued commissioning and result in ongoing rebates for its participants. CHP could also be used as a driver for fuel switching. b. Cool Roofs- Proposed for Commercial buildings; however, it could also be used in the residential suite of programs. The main issue with providing this product to the residential market is that it can have a negative impact on gas savings. Therefore, it would depend on whether gas programs will be required under EmPower Maryland. c. Tinting Windows and Green Roofs d. RFP C&I Projects: It was suggested that a program similar to the current Custom Program could be established without as many restrictions for participation, which would allow participants to submit RFPs for projects that could use a grantlike approach to provide incentives. These projects could include ones with short payback periods that would not otherwise be funded under the existing programs. A separate meeting regarding this may be held. e. Energy Efficiency incentives and assistance for facilities to achieve ISO 50001: MEA is currently working with a Company and DOE to provide consultation fees and funds for training to businesses seeking this. It was suggested that MEA could pilot this program with its current funding and the utilities could continue the program once if it is deemed cost effective. 3. Demand Response a. Programmable Thermostats: Currently, only customers participating or once enrolled in the DR program can have a programmable thermostat in their home. Since utilities associated with the thermostats, it is a possibility that the utilities could offer the programmable thermostats to customers that do not wish to participate in the DR program. These customers would still be able to remotely access their thermostat and can use the interface without being cycled. This may generate additional savings from those households that are averse to participating in the program. b. DR Program participation: Marketing efforts could be shifted to increase participation in the DR programs, as well as to up sell cycling levels to customers. 4. Marketing a. Word of Mouth Marketing: It was suggested that the utilities implement word of mouth marketing that could be offered with or without incentives. For example, if customers are referred or if they have participated in a certain program it may be viewable on their Facebook page. b. Coordination with Government: With a potential sales tax holiday occurring February 18th through the 20th, it was recommended that the utilities coordinate with the state government on these events. c. Collective Marketing Campaigns: It was suggested that the utilities work on having collective marketing campaigns for when rebate levels are altered for events or holidays. d. Websites: Cross promotion of the products and rebates should continue to be done through the state websites, such as OPC, MEA, and PSC. The PSC will look into getting the utility links added to its website. Additionally, those organizations could issue press releases or use social media to market the programs. At each of the organizations (OPC, MEA, PSC) there needs to be a point of contact established for the utilities to reach out to when updates are needed for links and for press releases. e. EmPower Brand: There was concern regarding the statewide branding of EmPower Maryland due to the elimination of general awareness funds. It was suggested that the utilities determine if statewide branding of EmPower could occur or whether an argument needs to be made to reinstate the general awareness funds that were denied through the Commission Order. f. Figure Head: As stated in previous GAC meetings, there was an argument made to have a figure head, such as the Governor, to help market EmPower and its efforts. g. Generic Promotional Budget: It was suggested that the utilities should market to trade organizations that would disseminate their program information and encourage participation from the contractor community. However, the issue with this is that many of the organization request a contribution or sponsorship to provide this information. Therefore, it was suggested that a generic promotional budget be created for this purpose. 5. Other Suggestions a. “FREE”: The issue with the use of the word “free” should be placed on the list for review by the Commission again. b. Non-profits Organizations: It was pointed out that you could not have programs specific to non-profit organizations, as the PUC law prohibits discriminatory practices i.e. singling out of a sub group of a rate class. c. Incentive Level Flexibility: The utilities need a greater flexibility with incentive levels as permitted to be adjusted through Staff approval. The levels need to be set on something other than 10 percent of a set rebate amounts. The group proposed determining the increase of an incentive based upon the impact on its incremental costs to determine the flexibility. Action Items Sub meetings will be held with the group to address several of the ideas that arose from the meeting. These sub meetings will be on the following topics: Schools/Education OPOWER/Behavior Change Creative Marketing CHP DR Dates for these meetings have not been determined yet. However, these meetings will need to be held in time for inclusion into the March 1, 2012 report to the Commission.