San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW)
PARTNERS MEETING SUMMARY NOTES September 19, 2013 | 9:30-11:30 a.m. Attendees: Mario Krstic, City of Farmersville Dale, City of Farmersville Lew Nelson, City of Tulare Betsy Garcia, City of Visalia Kim Loeb, City of Visalia Rhonda Mann, County of Kings
Location: Time: Next Meeting: Location:
Gail Henry, County of Tulare Maureen Boese, SJVCEO Sarah Farell, SJVCEO Michael DeSousa, SCE Mark Okino, SCE Bob Decker, SCG
Dave Christensen, PG&E Cam Maloy, PG&E Alicia Bohigian, GRID Alternatives Tom Esqueda, GRID Alternatives
Tulare County RMA, Main Conference Room 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Thursday, October 17, 2013 Tulare County RMA, Main Conference Room
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Welcome & Introductions Gail Henry welcomed the group and introductions were made.
Business Items Maureen announced that SJVCEO Director, Courtney Kalashian, welcomed her baby boy to the world and is currently on maternity leave. Please feel free to send emails/requests/pending work to Maureen and she will funnel them through to Courtney. The utility program managers spoke to the CPUC proposed decision on EE financing pilot programs. Michael DeSousa briefly explained how it would allow for financing through third parties with the ability for repayment on your utility bill. Interest rates would be determined by the financial institutions. Michael volunteered to collect any questions regarding the financing pilot and get them answered for the group. Bob Decker added that these pilots have limited funding and scope so they will likely not be offered across the entire territory. The two residential pilots should start up right away once a decision has been made and the nonresidential pilots will likely start sometime next year once all the details have been worked through. GRID Alternatives Tom Esqueda and Alicia Bohigian from GRID Alternatives presented to the group. GRID Alternatives is a nonprofit that provides outreach, energy efficiency audits, solar installation, client education, and much more to low-income homeowners. Maureen will email a copy of the PowerPoint presentation to all partners. Public Affairs Update 2013 Meeting Schedule: October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Cam Maloy updated the group on the proposed rate change that will help Valley customers. Included in the proposal is a discount of up to 35 percent in high unemployment areas, but until the final decision is made we won’t know exact figures. Municipal Energy Savings Project Updates Sarah Farell explained the email that she recently sent out to all partners in order to help identify the highest gas and electric accounts for each jurisdiction. The SJVCEO is working to update Portfolio Manager with accurate facility/space type details in order to get a better picture of energy performance. Once the highest users are identified, audits can be scheduled as necessary to see if there are potential projects to help curb energy usage. Bob announced that he would like to meet all partners over the next several months in order to talk about gas projects and available opportunities within each jurisdiction. Maureen will provide Bob and all partners with an updated partnership contact list. Dave reported that PG&E is moving along with Direct Install. Cam is working with the City of Dinuba to do LED street light replacements with an inventory happening in November and installation to begin early 2014. The City of Lemoore completed all of their city owned street lights (about 1,400 in total) through a PG&E program and the last phase through Chevron Energy Solutions. In addition, the City of Lemoore is installing a 3MW solar array. Michael gave an overview of some of the current projects and ELP tier levels for jurisdictions. As far as reporting for the partnership goes, everything that is in now will count for 2013 and anything after the fact will likely go towards 2014 (this is in relation to partnership goals and tracking purposes). Mark Okino announced that the City of Visalia lighting project was approved. Lew Nelson added that the City of Tulare has a potential gas project but other items are currently taking priority. Kim Loeb and Betsy Garcia described a large, multi-facility project that the City of Visalia will be undertaking. Mark added that the 3rd party desk at SCE is currently backed up by about 2 weeks. ME&O Update Upcoming events in partner cities include the Visalia Employee Benefits Fair, Tulare County Health Fair, Kings County/Stratford Energy Challenge, Tulare County/Waukena Energy Challenge. The SJVCEO and several employees from SCE’S Energy Education Center, as well as Energy Champion Gail Henry, will staff the Tulare County Health Fair. Dave explained how Stratford and Waukena were chosen by PG&E and the counties as the small communities in which there would be an event. The idea is to offer something to everybody and they will be going into businesses and schools with direct install services, as well as going into homes and offering low-cost and no-cost solutions. The VIEW partnership’s Kill-A-Watt Facility Challenge and Visalia’s Battle of the Buildings both will launch in October in coordination with Energy Awareness Month. The partnership’s facility challenge will run an entire year through October 2014 and outreach efforts will kickoff soon. 2013 Meeting Schedule: October 17, November 21, December 19
San Joaquin Valley Energy Leader Partnership (VIEW) Betsy gave an overview of how Visalia will take a ‘Biggest Loser’ approach to their competition and will have winners each week as well as an overall winner who has the largest percentage in kWh consumption. Visalia hopes the competition will start a dialogue about energy efficiency and encourage a shift in corporate culture. The SJVCEO is starting the process to submit applications for those jurisdiction facilities that qualify for Energy STAR certification. In the same email that Sarah Farell sent to all partners regarding highest gas and electric users, she included data verification reports for those facilities that may qualify for the Energy STAR. Partners have been instructed to verify all of the basic facility/space type details (i.e. year built, square footage, hours of operation, etc.) so that the SJVCEO can re-confirm through Portfolio Manager that these facilities indeed have a qualifying score (75 or above on 1-100 scale). Once this has been done, the SJVCEO will continue the process for the application. All costs for this process will be covered through the partnership. Other Business Linda Urata from the Kern COG has invited everyone to the Kern Energy Watch EAP Summit which will take place on October 30th in Bakersfield. Partners can visit the website for more information: http://www.directionsto2050.com/summit. Michael added that SCE is trying to get one of the four platinum level partners to come and talk about their EAP efforts. SCG will have some technology displays as well. Please hold November 21st for the VIEW the Success! luncheon. It will be held in downtown Visalia, but the exact location is still to be determined. The facilitator for the October 17th partnership meeting was chosen to be Mario Krstic. Adjourn Meeting
ACTION ITEMS:
Maureen will email the GRID Alternatives presentation to all partners. Maureen will email an updated partnership contact list to all partners.
2013 Meeting Schedule: October 17, November 21, December 19