The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff will be holding a Workshop on Energy Efficiency Baselines on April 28, 2015, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the CPUC Auditorium (505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94102). Agenda, call in information, and request for comments are forthcoming.
In D.14-10-046, the Public Utilities Commission directed staff to work with the Energy Commission to increase awareness of how energy efficiency baselines are applied in relation to the volume of deferred retrofits and the ability of program administrators to target and accelerate such upgrades cost-effectively, which were identified in the utilities’ 2015 funding requests. Topics at the April 28 workshop will cover:
(1) The policy framework that establishes energy efficiency baselines;
(2) Input from energy efficiency stakeholders;
(3) The treatment of to-code and above codes savings for procurement planning;
(4) The scope of CPUC/CEC/Navigant’s Existing Baseline Analysis; and
(5) The status of IOU pilots into alternative baselines.
The CPUC must accurately measure savings from energy efficiency in order to forecast energy savings to inform energy procurement planning, with the goal of avoiding construction of new non-renewable power plants. The CPUC has determined that in most cases, the appropriate baseline is set as the current code or standard applicable to that equipment, as equipment will naturally be upgraded to the code or standard level when it is replaced. The CPUC currently allows exceptions to this policy, such as when the IOU program is shown to influence the “early retirement” of functioning, yet inefficient equipment. However, some stakeholders argue that the existing condition should be the norm, not the exception.
The CPUC, Energy Commission, and Navigant are preparing an Energy Efficiency Baseline Analysis is to examine the appropriateness of using the code or existing conditions baseline as the default baseline to estimate energy efficiency program savings for different types of measures, and the implications for future Title 20 and 24 updates, the demand forecast, and ratepayers.
For questions, please contact Dina Mackin at 415-703-2125 or Dina.Mackin@cpuc.ca.gov.