Notes from Breakout Sessions 

Assess 

Customers: 

  • Cons: nomadic customers, renters, elderly, location access 
  • Pros: paid for, environmental & health impact, MF vs. SF costs 
  • Long run cheaper: 1 month bills, cost effective program 

Contractors: 

  • Cons: education, training time 
  • Pros: additional sales, jobs, marketing for environmental services, attract suppliers, guaranteed pay, training for the future, offer new services 

Barriers: 

  • Landlords to participate 
  • Customer participation filling out multiple forms (slows participation) 
  • Mode of filling out forms 
  • Consistent communication via phone 
  • Workshops available 
  • Costs for house & safety & remeditation costs 
  • Buildings to code 
  • Entering home & trust 
  • “Free lunch” 
  • Contractors not having trust in communication 
  • Word-of-mouth – long term liability 

Define 

Metrics: 

  • Collect AMI data to track & analyze savings 
  • Each stage of application & where the customer dropped off 
  • Saturation of distributors selling eligible models 

Data collection: 

  • CRM 
  • TRM tools 
  • Surveys 
  • Utilities giving data – customers have to fill out forms 

Barriers to data collection: 

  • Workshops 
  • Collecting both gas & electric data to do analysis 
  • Responsiveness to surveys 
  • Trust in data from places like Google 
  • Legal barriers to sharing data 
  • Time & resources to reach out & pay for
    • Hiring diverse people to go into communities

Solve 

Program Design: 

  • Midstream point-of-sale model
  • Bring contractor training & hire contractors from the community
  • Education on CHPP & HPWH technology
  • Bring in CBOs & partners that have introductions
  • Incorporate faith-based organizations
  • Leverage partnerships to provide other supportive services
  • Focus groups on application design
  • Assigning single points of contact to follow up with (account managers)
  • Incentivizing distributors
  • Inclusion beyond rate structure

Strategies: 

  • Maximize participant benefits 
  • Branded recognition for contractors that are participating 
  • Include stakeholders 
    • Translate program materials & forms into other languages

Breakout Group 2

Assess 

Customers: 

  • Cons: customers could end up using more electricity/energy if they did not have centralized A/C prior to technology installation. 
  • Pros: better air quality 

Contractors: 

  • Cons: Difficult retrofits (ductwork, electrical backup), training 
  • Pros:  

Barriers: 

  • Contractors knowing what piece of equipment to install 
  • Customers that meet income requirements may not be on the eligible rate code 
  • Renters are unfamiliar with EE programs & how to confirm eligibility 
    • Improving landlord’s property – how to avoid cost shifting 
  • People tend to ignore generic mailers 
    • “Same old” marketing strategies won’t impact new markets 
  • How to prioritize communities – which communities would we target first? 

Custom vs. prescriptive savings program – affects customer journey & savings accuracy 

Define 

Metrics: 

  • Energy savings (pre/post meter read, determine AMI capabilities) 
  • Customer sentiment (surveys – need to be in multiple languages to ensure accurate representation within survey responses) 

Data collection: 

  • Population of income qualified (maybe use Census data?) & determine how many eligible customers were reached 

Barriers to data collection: 

  • Accuracy vs. cost 
  • Managing applications 

Solve 

Program Design:  

  • Prescriptive program – for ease & to facilitate data tracking 
  • Pair the program with weatherization as a requirement 
  • More detailed customer definitions 
    • Target highest users first to capture largest savings 

Strategies: 

  • Open solicitation/training for TAMs/contractors 
  • Go to neighborhood meetings in person as guest speaker 
  • Testimony from customers 
  • Social services to program 
  • Direct engagement 
  • CBOs 
  • Know the rate of intake so customers don’t have to wait for eligibility verification 
  • Customer education on “why you should care” 
    • Custom ROI calculator & air quality 
    • Non energy benefits 
    • “Free” – but have legitimacy for trust 
  • Inspections – use photos 
  • Incentivize contractors, not customers (assuming quick pay back) 
  • Mechanism for ensuring that the system will be fixed if installed improperly 

Breakout Group 3

Assess 

Customers: 

  • Pros: 
    • Can drive market change due to equipment being free 
    • Creating opportunities for minority owned & operated businesses 
  • Cons: 
    • Placement of HPWHs 
    • Uncertainty if this tech will be the right product for low income customers 
    • Outreach will be more challenging 

Contractors: 

  • Pros:  
    • Take out choice might be beneficial for the trade allies 
    • Bilingual technicians can be helpful for customers 
  • Cons: 
    • No insulation check (windows, insulation, roof) 

Barriers: 

  • Elderly customers may not want to participate 
  • For customers in multi-family buildings – how can the program motivate the property manager? 
  • Want to ensure that trade allies don’t rush to participate – will need to develop a process 
  • Installation barriers 

Define 

Metrics: 

  • Need to track declines vs. ineligible customers 
  • Available population vs. participation 
  • kWhs saved 
  • Operational cost projections pre and post-project 
  • Installations by trade allies 
  • Marketing effectiveness – customer satisfaction 

Data collection: 

  • Through the contractors at time of installation 
  • Customer service 
  • Focus groups 
  • Need to QA/QC a % of participation 

Barriers to data collection: 

  • Trade ally resistance to paperwork – use technology 
  • There will be different language needs – use CBOs 

Solve 

Marketing: 

  • Target oil/propane customers 
  • Segmented marketing 
  • Use diverse methods 
  • Events, religious organizations, senior centers 

Education: 

  • Use community partners & train them 
  • Develop quantitative messaging 

Gather data from eligible customers 

Use variety of marketing methods 

Incorporate parameters to help them self-select 

Incorporate contractor training 

Incorporate property owner value proposition – $ of attrition 

Help property managers communicate the benefits to their employees and tenants