02-20-15 BPU RPT 11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A T E R C!.Yid F R r Y h�, I l k RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: FEBRUARY 20, 2615 ITEM NO: 11 SUBJECT: CREATION OF A RETAIL LED LIGHTING BUYDOWN PROGRAM ISSUE: That the Board of Public Utilities recommend that the City Council approve the creation of retail light emitting diodes (LED) lighting buydown program. RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Board of Public Utilities recommend that the City Council: 1. Approve the creation of a Retail LED lighting Buydown Program; 2. Approve funding in the amount up to $300,660 for FY 2614-15 for this Retail Point of Purchase LED lighting Buydown Program; and 3. Grant the City Manager, or his designee, the authority to make minor non-substantive changes to the Retail LED lighting buydown program. BACKGROUND: In November 2605, the Governor and State Legislature approved Senate Bill (SB) 1037, a comprehensive package that set ambitious energy conservation policies and goals. SB 1637 requires publicly owned utilities to report kilowatt hour (kWh) savings to the California Energy Commission (CEC) annually. In addition, in September 2666, the Governor and state Legislature also approved Assembly Bill (AB) 2621, which requires publicly owned electric utilities to identify, target and achieve all potentially cost-effective electric savings within a 10-year target. On July 1, 2614, new Title 24 Code Changes went in to effect establishing aggressive energy efficiency standards related to construction projects. This change in codes and standards will require RPU to further its efforts to create new, more diverse energy efficiency programs. These new programs will target existing structures in an effort to make up for lost energy savings it can no longer claim from new construction and continue to achieve energy efficiency targets. RPU currently offers a wide variety of residential and commercial energy efficiency programs in an effort to achieve the mandated goals of AB 2621. RPU has set an ambitious 16-year energy efficiency goal of 1% of annual retail energy sales and has successfully achieved these goals four years in a row. Even with this commitment, energy efficiency program savings are harder to achieve due to market saturation, reduction in "low hanging fruit" measures and rising program costs to achieve savings. To further RPU's efforts toward compliance with efficiency mandates, staff has identified and recommends the creation of a new energy efficiency program in order to achieve larger kWh savings.