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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 08/09/2018Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Fort Collins Utilities Energy Board Minutes Thursday, August 9, 2018 Energy Board Chairperson Nick Michell, 970-215-9235 City Council Liaison Ross Cunniff, 970-420-7398 Energy Board Vice Chairperson Amanda Shores, 408-391-0062 Staff Liaison Tim McCollough, 970-305-1069 Roll Call Board Present: Chairperson Nick Michell, Vice Chairperson Amanda Shores, Alan Braslau, Stacey Baumgarn, Bill Becker, Jeremy Giovando, Greg Behm, Krishna Karnamadakala Late Arrivals: none Board Absent: John Fassler Others Present Staff: Marisa Olivas, Christie Fredrickson, Lisa Rosintoski, John Phelan, Brian Tholl, Kirk Longstein, Councilmember Ross Cunniff, Kevin Gertig Platte River Power Authority: Adam Perry, Paul Davis Members of the Public: none Meeting Convened Chairperson Michell called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Public Comment None Approval of July 12, 2018 Board Meeting Minutes In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the July 12, 2018 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. Board members thanked Ms. Olivas for the great work she did for the Board while filling in for Ms. Fredrickson. Announcements and Agenda Changes None Periodic Board Review Nick Michell, Chairperson Ross Cunniff, Councilmember (attachments available upon request) Councilmember Cunniff explained he is here to listen to the Board’s feedback about what has been going well, what challenges they’ve faced, and what resources the Board feels are lacking. Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Chairperson Michell said he appreciated the review process and thought it might be useful to do the exercise more often than every four years. He said the most prominent feedback from the Board was that the agendas are overscheduled, and they are not leaving enough time to discuss the presentations. Mr. Michell took some responsibility and said he and Vice Chairperson Shores need to be better about setting the agenda time limits with Mr. McCollough to allow more discussion. The Board also feels that it’s hard to know how they are connected to City Council, and it’s difficult to communicate directly with them. Board member Baumgarn added he does not want Council to perceive no news as good news, and it would be helpful to better outline Council’s expectation of communication from the Board. Board member Braslau commented that the board had requested expanded duties, and they never heard anything back from Council. Councilmember Cunniff said the request came in between council cycles, and their work plan is set on two-year cycles, so that has played into their long response time. Other comments included that the board is no longer the Electric Board, but the Energy Board, and sometimes the Board feels they are left out of discussing pertinent topics. Councilmember Cunniff agreed and said Council’s intent is very clear, the Board should be focused on energy, but traditionally staff support has always been provided by the electric utility. Board member Behm commented that informational presentations (non-actionable), such as Finance’s quarterly financial update, are interesting to the Board but not necessarily items the Board needs to contribute anything toward. He said the Board should work to prioritize presentations so they hear topics to advance the purpose of the Energy Board. Chairperson Michell asked what Council would like to see presented to the Board between now and the end of next year. Councilmember said he would like to see the Board prioritize the topics as best they can and focus their time in areas where they can make the most impact. He recognizes all the topics are important, but it would be wise to focus on the items with the greatest return on investment. Staff Reports Bloomberg/On Bill Financing 2.0 Update John Phelan, Senior Manager, Mechanical Engineer (attachments available upon request) Mr. Phelan recapped the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge for the Board; it is a competition hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and they believe cities can be the greatest fulcrum of change. Bloomberg wants to embolden local governments by providing an opportunity to generate innovation. Mayor Troxell selected the topic of Climate Economy, and Staff in turn is making connections between indoor air quality and health, energy efficiency in rental properties, and addressing the split incentive between tenants and owners. On Bill Financing (OBF), though related to the Bloomberg project, is available to all residential customers. Staff is developing and testing low-fidelity prototypes; they had three different groups to prototype and test, each with specific sets of assumptions: Property Owners & Mangers, Renters & Residents, and Capital Providers. The City has several public-private partnerships across the portfolio. Colorado State University has staff working on the project, and Bloomberg provided two coaches, as well as a $100,000 grant. Internal partnerships are led by Sean Carpenter (Climate Economy Advisor), John Phelan, and staff from the Finance Department. The Colorado Energy Office is providing financial support with a $200,000 grant and a written confirmation of an $800,000 low-interest loan. The loan is to help them craft an OBF in a box toolkit, and they’ve promised an additional $1 million (each) to four communities who decide to pick Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 up the program tools. Finally, a local bank has sent a written letter of intent promising an additionally $5- 7 million in capital. The Bloomberg final application is due August 20. The working title of OBF is EPIC Loans (Energy Performance Improvement Certificate). Houses that complete the Efficiency Works Homes program will be issued a formal certificate that has a set of data that be integrated into the Multiple Listing Service. The first EPIC loans were quietly initiated the week of August 6th and approximately three quarters of the loans are property owners of rental properties. Chairperson Michell asked how integrated the EPIC loans are, is there a number on their bill to pay or are there other hoops to jump through? Mr. Phelan said they are still working to integrate completely into the Efficiency Works Home process, which will allow them to look at financing path options. The major difference with the new OBF program is that it’s no longer the City’s money. Chairperson Michell asked if there is another loan application process once a financing option is selected. Mr. Phelan said there is a loan application process, but it’s much simpler than a full documentation loan. The two main qualifications are credit score and 12 months of good payment history. Board member Braslau said in the past some owners have taken one utility under their name, such as stormwater, and have the renters take the utilities so they can qualify for these loans. Mr. Phelan said yes, the owner needs to have one service in their name and then the on-bill portion of the financing can be applied to the owner’s bill. Chairperson Michell asked what the advantage to the property owner is, and Mr. Phelan said Staff is using the prototyping option to test their assumptions, he noted that many property owners are recognizing their properties are out of date and the ease of access to the program is appealing. Efficiency Program Update Adam Perry, Customer Services Supervisor (Platte River Power Authority) Brian Tholl, Energy Services Supervisor (attachments available upon request) Efficiency Works (EW) is a collaboration of common efficiency programs between the utilities of Estes Park Light & Power, Fort Collins Utilities, Longmont Power & Communications, Loveland Water and Power and Platte River Power Authority. The Energy Policy contains percentage goals for community energy savings that steadily increase from year to year; 2% of community electric use in 2018/19 and 2.5% in 2020. Mr. Tholl and Mr. Perry said their challenge is to identify and go after efficiency savings opportunities in the market, but technology advancements are causing these opportunities to dwindle in the marketplace. Common EW Programs, such as assessments, rebates, in-store discounts, and building tune ups, account for 57% of savings of the Fort Collins Efficiency Portfolio. In the Lighting & Appliance Rebate program, the EW program pays dollars to the retailer directly. The shift from a downstream program, which requires the customer to fill out and submit an application, to a midstream program has saved staff administrative time and cost; however, it decreases overall visibility to the end user since the customer no longer receives a check in the mail. Mr. Perry reviewed the planned growth for Energy Efficiency over the next five years. Board member Braslau observed the EW program seemed to be more cost effective than the annual contribution of rooftop solar. Mr. Phelan commented as the Energy Policy and Climate Action Plan are updated, there Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 will be more integrated rationale and information about using distributed resources (such as solar) and EW programs. Mr. Perry recapped the Shift Model, a plan to convert the sales of the bestselling (inefficient) washing machine and replace it with an efficient model, usually at little or no cost difference, and then claim the energy savings. The pilot, conducted at Sears Appliance, proved that the more efficient model could outsell inefficient model, and the program is now expanding to Appliance Factory Outlet stores and Lowes stores in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Longmont. Board member Baumgarn asked if the rebate appears as a discount in the store, and Mr. Perry confirmed it does. Vice Chairperson Shores also asked if the customer sees the EW logo in the store, and how the sales staff responded to the program and training. Mr. Perry said the training was very good and Sears agreed not to penalize the salesperson’s commission, which kept the sales teams motivated to promote the program. Board member Braslau asked if the program will expand to include dryers. Mr. Perry said they are working on a dryer program but currently does not align with the efficient washing machine in their program. The Instant Rebate program has options for in-store or online redemption, and it integrates with the Shift Model. The program is set up in national retailer point of sale systems such as Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, and coming soon to Best Buy. Board member Braslau asked about smaller, local retailers and Mr. Perry said incorporating at a local level is on their radar, but it’s not feasible today. Mr. Tholl added some smaller retailers pulled out of the lighting program because the sales volume was not as not high as retailers expected or wanted, and the reporting required to participate in the program was cumbersome for some retailers because their point of sale systems are not as strong so it required a lot of administrative work. Mr. Perry said the program currently includes smart thermostats, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioning units, and hoping to add water products soon. Board member Becker asked if it is homeowners participating or builders, and Mr. Perry said this program targets homeowners, but builders and contractors fall into a different channel under the Efficiency Works Business program. Mr. Tholl explained Fort Collins Utilities new partnership with Xcel Energy, which has allowed the Utility to work with some of the same vendors as Xcel and offer combined incentives from both utilities for multifamily properties. The program begins with an assessment and identifying opportunities to save energy, and then offering incentives through one advisor. It also includes direct installs for in-unit or common area equipment, such as showerheads or LED lamps. Building Energy Scoring Kirk Longstein, Project Manager, Utilities Customer Connections John Phelan, Senior Manager, Mechanical Engineer (attachments available upon request) Mr. Longstein and Mr. Phelan are practicing their Building Energy Scoring (BES) presentation before they take it to City Council on August 28. The BES initiative provides a systematic approach to unlock the energy efficiency potential of the city’s building stock, and over time it will give the community the ability to select the lowest operating cost option before renting our buying a building. Staff will be asking Council if they support a BES Ordinance, and if so, does Council suggest additional outreach before bringing the requirements back to Council. Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Mr. Longstein said there are three components to BES: Benchmarking, Transparency, and Reporting. Ordinances containing these components are popping up nationwide for public, commercial, and multifamily buildings; currently there are 26 cities with ordinances and as well as a few states. The City of Fort Collins is connected to many of these communities through the City Energy Project Grant, and staff is leveraging these peer relationships to learn from other cities’ approaches, what is working, and what is not working. Benchmarking is similar to a miles per gallon for a vehicle or balancing a checkbook; using a free online tool by Energy Star Portfolio it’s possible to generate a score from 1-100 for a building’s energy use. Building operators should enter monthly utility data into the tool to generate the building score and help monitor the building’s performance. Building operators can use the portfolio to review the building’s annual performance and compare it to previous years, as well as similar buildings locally and nationally. This helps building operators prioritize investments. Transparency involves publishing this information for public view, known as an energy score, such as a map or list format. Examples from peer cities using BES have shown several benefits of BES, including energy and emissions reductions, lower operating costs, identifying opportunities for investment, market transparency for consumers, and market recognition of building performance. BES supports consumer advocacy and recognize value of efficiency. Similar to other communities, some Fort Collins residents have expressed concerns regarding the additional regulations. Keeping this at the front of the planning, staff’s outreach targeted a diverse cross section of building owners, operators and real estate professionals, while a broader outreach campaign included a community survey, social media posts, and an FAQ on the Utilities website. Based on the public involvement process, staff recommends adopting an ordinance in the fourth quarter of 2018 for building owners to benchmark and report energy efficiency for public viewing. Staff believes a phased approach will be most effective among building sizes and sectors. The ordinance will require a three-step process for compliance, and staff is proposing a few non-compliance options, such as a reoccurring fine or utility surcharge. Board member Behm suggested to hold back on slide outlining questions for Council, as it may be distracting. He also said they should introduce and define the BES acronym, or don’t use it on the slides before it’s been defined. Board members Braslau commented it may be worth mentioning to Council that the City already has GIS tools, so something like Philadelphia’s scoring map is possible for Fort Collins with BES data. Board member Karnamadakala said its not clear to him how the BES data is different than the Opower reports he receives in the mail. Mr. Longstein said the target audience is decision makers, and the portfolio is a whole-building approach, so in the case of a multifamily building it wraps the whole building into one report, as opposed to an individual tenant. It creates a standardized approach for a better apples-to-apples comparison and a more accurate representation. Board Member Reports Board member Braslau mentioned the Roundhouse Renewable Energy Project has an open house on Wednesday August 15 at the Northside Aztlan Community Center. He also mentioned a BFO enhancement offer related to the Climate Action Plan, Climate Action Energy Policy Update, which has the option to scale up community resilience, and he urged the Board to weigh in with their recommendation on offers. Vice Chairperson Michell said Mr. McCollough may be able to review the BFO drilling platform with the Board at their August 24 Work Session. Depending when the City Manager’s Recommended Budget is released, Ms. Rosintoski suggested to the Board should send a memo or attend City Council meeting and speak during public comment. Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Energy Board Minutes August 9, 2018 Future Agenda Review Board members expressed the September agenda is too full, it doesn’t allow for adequate discussion time on very important topics, and the agenda needs to be discussed with Mr. McCollough when he returns. Adjournment The Energy Board meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m. Approved by the Energy Board on September 13, 2018 ________________________________ ______________ Board Secretary, Christie Fredrickson Date 9/13/2018