San Francisco Public Utilities Commission – Colleen Kredell – 2015

Goals

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is the power utility that provides electrical service to municipal customers as well as some residential and commercial customers within the City and County of San Francisco. The SFPUC engaged Colleen Kredell and a team of three additional EDF Climate Corps fellows for the summer to research and analyze the potential of energy efficiency rebate and incentive programs for the organization. Specifically, Kredell was asked to develop a series of recommendations for a new energy efficiency rebate program for new and existing residential electricity customers.

Solutions

Kredell and the team of EDF fellows conducted extensive research on industry best practices for energy efficiency programs. By developing a model to analyze costs and benefits for residential rebate programs, among other energy efficiency programs, Kredell was able to recommend a series of rebate measures that could deliver the most value to the SFPUC, its customers and the broader community. Key recommendations included partnering with the San Francisco Housing Authority to offer targeted rebate measures as the city moves forward with a large-scale retrofit of public housing units.

Potential Impact

If participation in the residential rebate program is as modeled, a five-year investment in this program could result in cumulative energy savings totaling approximately 3.3 million kilowatt hours, saving customers over $630,000 dollars on electricity bills. Although the SFPUC provides its customers with greenhouse gas-free hydroelectric power, the program described would avoid lifetime emissions of nearly 650 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, if the San Francisco regional grid GHG factor was applied to the conserved kilowatt hour savings.