Metered Energy Savings Pathways for Public Agencies

California has an ambitious goal of doubling energy efficiency by 2030^[1]. At the same time, public agencies need resources to improve their aging buildings and infrastructure and contribute to statewide efficiency goals. Existing energy efficiency programs require bringing facilities above Title 24 standards, which can deter public agencies from acting due to financial constraints and leave below-code facilities with the largest energy efficiency opportunities “stranded.”

To address this challenge, The County of Los Angeles Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCalREN) Public Agency Programs and Southern California Edison (SCE) worked together to develop over 40 energy efficiency projects through the Public Sector Performance-Based Retrofit High Opportunity Projects and Programs (HOPPs) pilot. These projects are projected to save public agencies three million kWh annually, equivalent to taking 370 homes^[2] off the grid.

SoCalREN’s Public Agency Programs, implemented by The Energy Coalition (TEC),  work side by side with public agency staff to accomplish energy efficiency projects. SoCalREN provides start-to-finish project management, including analyzing energy consumption to identify energy saving opportunities, providing technical support to develop project scope, completing HOPPs and other program paperwork, designing performance specifications, identifying financing opportunities, coordinating procurement, supporting construction and finally, closing out the project. SoCalREN’s start-to-finish support in coordination with SCE and the agency ensures maximum savings are realized by all parties.

HOPPs uses normalized metered energy consumption (NMEC) to measure facilities’ pre-retrofit and post-retrofit energy consumption (taking weather and other variations into consideration). It incentivizes kWh, kW, and therms saved regardless of eligibility through standard utility programs. This comprehensive approach reduces the complexity of multi-measure projects, allowing for deeper savings with speedier project completion. HOPPs is one of the metered savings pathways SoCalREN can help agencies assess to unlock “stranded” savings, incentives, and no-cost technical services.

Performance-based NMEC programs such as HOPPs can motivate customers to carefully monitor and manage their energy use since performance payments are contingent on enduring energy savings. Monitoring energy bills at public agencies is usually centralized, but the continual meter-based feedback provided to the building staff through these programs can enable them to manage energy at the facility-level. Behavioral measures, that were not eligible through traditional energy efficiency programs, can also be incorporated through these programs. Facility-level and agency staff are empowered to track and manage their energy reduction and climate goals, supporting Climate Action Plans, increasing the persistence of energy savings, and improving project payback.

To learn more about SoCalREN’s support identifying and pursuing energy efficiency opportunities like HOPPs, visit our website or email us. For agencies outside of SoCalREN’s service territory, contact your local utility Account Representative for more information on energy efficiency opportunities.

The SoCalREN is administered by the County of Los Angeles and funded by utility ratepayers under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). 

^[1] As stipulated in California SB350 www.energy.ca.gov/sb350

^[2] https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator