(definitions in alphabetical order)
Administrator: A person, company, partnership, corporation, association, or other entity selected by the Commission and any Subcontractor that is retained by an aforesaid entity to contract for and administer energy efficiency programs funded in whole or in part from electric or gas public goods charge (PGC) funds.
Administrative Services: The services to be provided by the administrator, separate from the limited implementation or other services an administrator may perform with prior approval of the Commission.
Affiliate: Any person, corporation, utility, partnership, or other entity 5% or more of whose outstanding securities are owned, controlled, or held with power to vote, directly or indirectly either by an administrator or any of its subsidiaries, or by that administrator's controlling corporation and/or any of its subsidiaries as well as any company in which the administrator, its controlling corporation, or any of the administrator's affiliates exert substantial control over the operation of the company and/or indirectly have substantial financial interests in the company exercised through means other than ownership. For purposes of these Rules, "substantial control" includes, but is not limited to, the possession, directly and indirectly and whether acting alone or in conjunction with others, of the authority to direct or cause the direction of the management of policies of a company. A direct or indirect voting interest of five percent (5%) or more by the administrator, its subsidiaries, or its Affiliates in an entity's company creates a rebuttable presumption of control.
Analysis Agent: An entity or entities selected to perform analytic functions such as strategic planning, market assessment, and evaluation.
California Board for Energy Efficiency (CBEE): An advisory board created by the California Public Utilities Commission in 1998 for overseeing energy efficiency programs. The board was subsequently disbanded in February 2000, but authored the previous version of the Commission's energy efficiency policy rules.
California Demand-Side Management Measurement Advisory Committee (CALMAC): An informal committee made up of utility representative, the Office of Ratepayer Advocates and the California Energy Commission. The purpose of the committee is to: provide a forum for presentations, discussions, and review of Demand Side Management (DSM) program measurement studies underway or completed; to coordinate the development and implementation of measurement studies common to all or most of the utilities; and to facilitate the development of effective, state-of-the-art protocols for measuring and evaluating the impacts of DSM programs.
California Energy Commission (CEC): The state agency charged with statewide power plant siting, supply and demand forecasting, as well as multiple types of energy analysis.
California Public Utilities Commission (Commission): The state agency charged with regulating California Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs), and with overseeing ratepayer-funded public purpose energy efficiency programs.
Chain Account: A nonresidential customer with two or more accounts that have the same billing address and same customer name but with more than one service address.
Large chain: a chain whose total aggregated demand over all customer accounts is greater than 500 kW, or whose annual gas consumption is greater than 250,000 therms.
Small chain: a chain whose total aggregated demand over all customer accounts is less than or equal to 500 kW, or whose annual gas consumption is less than or equal to 250,000 therms.
Cogeneration: A process in which a facility uses its waste energy to produce heat or electricity.
Comprehensive: A program or project designed to achieve all cost-effective energy efficiency activities in individual buildings, usually including multiple energy efficiency measures.
Cost-Effectiveness: An indicator of the relative performance or economic attractiveness of any energy efficiency investment or practice when compared to the costs of energy produced and delivered in the absence of such an investment. In the energy efficiency field, the present value of the estimated benefits produced by an energy efficiency program as compared to the estimated total program's costs, from the perspective of either society as a whole or of individual customers, to determine if the proposed investment or measure is desirable from a variety of perspectives, e.g., whether the estimated benefits exceed the estimated costs. See Total Resource Cost Test - Societal Version and Participant Cost Test (below).
Cream Skimming: Cream skimming results in the pursuit of only the lowest cost or most cost-effective energy efficiency measures, leaving behind other cost-effective opportunities. Cream skimming is inappropriate when lost opportunities are created in the process.
Cross-Cutting Program: A program that involves any or all of the following: multiple customer types (residential and/or nonresidential), and/or multiple building types (retrofit, remodeling, and/or new construction).
Customer: Any person or entity that pays an electric and/or gas bill to an IOU and that is the ultimate consumer of goods and services including energy efficiency products, services, or practices.
Customer Information: Non-public information and data specific to a Utility Customer which the utility acquired or developed in the course of its provision of Utility Services.
Demand Responsiveness: See also, Load Management. Also sometimes referred to as load shifting. Activities or equipment that induce consumers to use energy at different (lower cost) times of day or to interrupt energy use for certain equipment temporarily, usually in direct response to a price signal. Examples: interruptible rates, doing laundry after 7 p.m., air conditioner cycling programs.
Demand Side or Demand Side Management (DSM): Programs that reduce the use of energy by the use of energy efficiency products, services, and practices, or that change the timing of energy use.
Distributed Generation: Small-scale electric generating technologies installed at or near an end-user's location. May also be referred to as "distributed energy resources" or "distributed resources."
Double-dipping: Taking advantage of multiple financial incentives offered by multiple programs for undertaking only one activity.
Electric Public Goods Charge (PGC): Per Assembly Bill (AB) 1890, a universal charge applied to each electric utility Customer's bill to support the provision of public goods. Public goods covered by California's electric PGC include public purpose energy efficiency programs, low-income services, renewables, and energy-related research and development. This manual applies only to energy efficiency PGC funds.
Energy Efficiency: The use of high-efficiency products, services, and practices or an energy-using appliance or piece of equipment, to reduce energy usage while maintaining a comparable level of service when installed or applied on the Customer side of the meter. Energy efficiency activities typically require permanent replacement of energy-using equipment with more efficient models. Examples: refrigerator replacement, light fixture replacement, cooling equipment upgrades.
Energy Efficiency Measure: Any product, service, or practice or an energy-using appliance or piece of equipment that will result in reduced energy usage at a comparable level of service when installed on the Customer side of the meter.
Energy Management Services: Programs intended to provide customer assistance in the form of information on the relative costs and benefits to the customer of installing measures or adopting practices which can reduce the customer's utility bills. The information is solicited by the customer and recommendations are based on the customer's recent billing history and/or customer-specific information regarding appliance and building characteristics.
Evaluation: The performance of studies and activities aimed at determining the effects of a program, including program-induced changes in energy efficiency markets, energy savings, and program cost-effectiveness.
Gas Public Goods Charge: Created by AB1002 in 2000, an unbundled rate component included on gas customer bills to fund public purpose programs including energy efficiency, low-income and research and development. This policy manual applies only to the energy efficiency portions of the gas PGC.
HVAC: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Systems. Used in discussing replacement of inefficient equipment with high-efficiency equipment.
Implementer: An entity or person selected and contracted with or qualified by a program administrator or by the Commission to receive PGC funds for providing products and services to Customers.
Incentives: Financial support (e.g., rebates, low-interest loans) to install energy efficiency measures. The incentives are solicited by the customer and based on the customer's billing history and/or customer-specific information. See also Rebates, SPC programs, and Upstream programs.
Information Programs: Programs intended to provide customers with information regarding generic (not customer-specific) conservation and energy efficiency opportunities. For these programs, the information may be unsolicited by the customer. Programs that provide incentives in the form of unsolicited coupons for discount on low cost measures are also included.
Large Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs): Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and Southern California Gas (SoCalGas).
Load Management: Sometimes referred to as load shifting. Activities or equipment that induce consumers to use energy at different (lower cost) times of day or to interrupt energy use for certain equipment temporarily. Examples: interruptible rates, doing laundry after 7 p.m., air conditioner cycling programs.
Local Program: A program that provides services to customers in only one jurisdiction of the state (e.g., one county, city, or region). Local programs may be experimental and are designed to serve the needs of a particular geographic area.
Lost Opportunities: Energy efficiency measures that offer long-lived, cost-effective savings that are fleeting in nature. A lost opportunity occurs when a customer does not install an energy efficiency measure that is cost-effective at the time, but whose installation is unlikely to be cost-effective (or is less cost-effective) later.
Market Actors: Individuals and organizations in the production, distribution, and/or delivery chain of energy efficiency products, services and practices. This may include, but is not limited to, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, vendors, dealers, contractors, developers, builders, financial institutions, and real estate brokers and agents.
Market Assessment: An analysis function which provides an assessment of how and how well a specific market or market segment is functioning with respect to the definition of well-functioning markets or with respect to other specific policy objectives. Generally includes a characterization or description of the specific market or market segments, including a description of the types and number of buyers and sellers in the market, the type and number of transactions that occur on an annual basis, and the extent to which energy efficiency is considered an important part of these transactions by market participants. This analysis may also include an assessment of whether or not a market has been sufficiently transformed to justify a reduction or elimination of specific program interventions. Market assessment can be blended with strategic planning analysis to produce recommended program designs or budgets. One particular kind of market assessment effort is a baseline study, or the characterization of a market before the commencement of a specific intervention in the market, for the purpose of guiding the intervention and/or assessing its effectiveness later.
Market Barrier: Any characteristic of the market for an energy-related product, service, or practice that helps to explain the gap between the actual level of investment in, or practice of, energy efficiency and an increased level that would appear to be cost-beneficial to the consumer.
Market Effect: A change in the structure or functioning of a market or the behavior of participants in a market that is reflective of an increase in the adoption of Energy-Efficient products, services, or practices and is causally related to Market Interventions.
Market Event: The broader circumstances under which a Customer considers adopting an energy efficiency product, service, or practice. Types of market events include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: (i) new construction, or the construction of a new building or facility; (ii) renovation, or the updating of an existing building or facility; (iii) remodeling, or a change in an existing building; (iv) replacement, or the replacement of equipment, either as a result of an emergency such as equipment failure, or as part of a broader planned event; and, (v) retrofit, or the early replacement of equipment or refitting of a building or facility while equipment is still functioning, often as a result of an intervention into energy efficiency markets.
Market Participants: The individuals and organizations participating in transactions with one another within an energy efficiency market or markets, including Customers and Market Actors.
Market Segments: Each program proposal considered by the Commission is required to identify the market segment(s) that it is designed to address. These market segments are listed below. These market segments are simply to help the Commission assess how well its portfolio of programs is addressing the variety of markets for energy efficiency products and services in the state. Additional definitions to help clarify the 14 market segments are included below the list of segments.
Residential
1. Residential Appliances
2. Residential Heating and Cooling
3. Residential Lighting
4. Residential Retrofit & Renovation
Nonresidential
5. Large Nonresidential Comprehensive Retrofit
6. Nonresidential HVAC Equipment Turnover
7. Nonresidential Motor Turnover
8. Nonresidential Process Overhaul
9. Nonresidential Renovation and Remodeling
10. Small Nonresidential Comprehensive Retrofit
New Construction
11. Local Government Initiatives/Codes & Standards Support
12. Commercial New Construction
13. Industrial and Agricultural New Construction
14. Residential New Construction
New Construction: Residential and non-residential buildings that have been newly built or have added major additions subject to Title 24, the California building standards code.
Nonresidential: Facilities used for business, commercial, agricultural, institutional, and industrial purposes. Nonresidential customers are further divided into the following subsectors, on the basis of annual electric demand or annual gas consumption:
Large nonresidential: Customers whose annual electric demand is greater than 500 kW, or whose annual or annualized gas consumption is greater than 250,000 therms, or both
Medium nonresidential: Customers whose annual electric demand is between 100 kW and 500 kW, or whose annual or annualized gas consumption is between 50,000 therms and 250,000 therms, or both
Small nonresidential: Customers whose annual electric demand is between 20 kW and 100 kW, or whose annual gas consumption is between 10,000 therms and 50,000 therms, or both
Very small nonresidential: Customers whose annual electric demand is less than 20 kW, or whose annual gas consumption is less than 10,000 therms, or both.
Nonresidential Hard-to-Reach: Those customers who do not have easy access to program information or generally do not participate in energy efficiency programs due to a language, business size, geographic, or lease (split incentive) barrier. These barriers are defined as:
· Language - Primary language spoken is other than English, and/or
· Business Size - Less than ten employees and/or classified as Very Small (as defined above), and/or
· Geographic - Businesses in areas other than the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego area, Los Angeles Basin or Sacramento, and/or
· Lease - Investments in improvements to the building benefit the business only during the lease period; landlords benefit longer.
Participant Test: A cost-effectiveness test intended to measure the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency programs from the perspective of electric and/or gas customers (individuals or organizations) participating in them.
Parties or Interested Parties: Persons and organizations with an interest in energy efficiency that comment on or participate in the Commission's efforts to develop and implement ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs.
Peak Demand Period: Noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, June, July, August, and September.
Performance Measurement: The determination of the extent to which a person, organization, or program is successfully meeting specified goals and objectives.
Portfolio: All IOU and non-IOU energy efficiency programs implemented during a program year and funded through the PGC.
Process Overhaul: Modifications to industrial or agricultural processes to improve their energy use characteristics.
Program: An activity, strategy, or course of action undertaken by an implementer or administrator using PGC funds. Each program is defined by a unique combination of program strategy, market segment, marketing approach, and energy efficiency measure(s) included.
Program Design: The method or approach for making, doing, or accomplishing an objective by means of a program.
Program Development: The process by which ideas for new or revised energy efficiency programs are converted into a design to achieve a specific objective.
Program Management: The responsibility and ability to oversee and guide the performance of a program to achieve its objective.
Project: An activity or course of action undertaken by an implementer involving one or multiple energy efficiency measures, usually at a single site.
Project Development: The process by which an implementer identifies a strategy or creates a design to provide energy efficiency products, services, and practices directly to Customers.
Rebates: Energy efficiency programs consisting of an agreement between the administrator or implementer and a number of customers to install one or more identified energy efficiency products at the customer facility for an identified and pre-specified amount of money. There are two types of rebates:
Prescriptive Rebate: A prescribed financial incentive per unit for a prescribed list of individual products.
Customized Rebate: A program where the financial incentive is determined using an analysis of the customer's existing equipment and an agreement on the specific products to be installed.
Remodeling: Modifications to the characteristics of an existing residential or nonresidential building or energy-using equipment installed within it.
Renovation: Modifications to the characteristics of an existing residential or nonresidential building itself, including, but not limited to, windows, insulation, and other modifications to the building shell.
Residential Customers: Existing single family residences, multi-family dwellings (whether master-metered or individually metered), and buildings that are essentially residential but used for commercial purposes, including, but not limited to, time shares and vacation homes.
Residential Hard-to-Reach: Those customers who do not have easy access to program information or generally do not participate in energy efficiency programs due to a language, income, housing type, geographic, or home ownership (split incentives) barrier. These barriers are defined as:
· Language - Primary language spoken is other than English, and/or
· Income - Those customers who fall into the moderate income level (income levels less than 400% of federal poverty guidelines), and/or
· Housing Type - Multi-Family and Mobile Home Tenants, and/or
· Geographic - Residents of areas other than the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego area, Los Angeles Basin or Sacramento, and/or
· Homeownership - Renters
Retrofit: Energy efficiency activities undertaken in existing residential or nonresidential buildings where existing inefficient equipment is replaced by efficient equipment.
Self-Generation: Distributed generation installed on the customer's side of the utility meter, providing electricity for that customer's on-site electric load without exporting electricity for sale.
Small and/or Multi-Jurisdictional Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs): Any or all of the following IOUs that serve customers in the state of California: Avista Utilities, Bear Valley Electric, PacifiCorp, Sierra Pacific Power, and Southwest Gas Company.
Standard Performance Contract (SPC) Programs: Programs consisting of a set of agreements between the administrator or implementer and a number of project sponsors (either Implementers or Customers) to deliver energy savings from the installation of energy efficiency measures and technologies at a facility or set of facilities. These agreements are for a pre-specified price per unit of energy savings, measured using a pre-specified set of Measurement and Verification (M&V) protocols. An SPC program is an open-ended offer with a pre-specified price and set of terms.
Statewide Program: A program available in the service territories of all four large IOUs, with identical implementation characteristics in all areas, including incentives and application procedures.
Subcontractor: A person or entity who has a secondary contract undertaking some obligations of another contract executed by another person or entity.
Total Resource Cost Test - Societal Version. A cost-effectiveness test intended to measure the overall cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency programs from a societal perspective.
Upstream Programs: Programs that provide information and/or financial assistance to entities in the delivery chain of high-efficiency products at the retail, wholesale, or manufacturing level.
Utility: Any public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission as an Electrical Corporation or Gas Corporation, as defined by California Public Utilities Code Sections 218 and 222.
Utility Services: Regulated Utility Services including gas and electric energy sales, transportation, generation, distribution or delivery, and other related services, including, but not limited to, administration of Demand Side Services, scheduling, balancing, metering, billing, gas storage, standby service, hookups and changeovers of service to other energy suppliers.
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