Efficiency PAYS® How On‐Bill can benefit Utilities and their Customers
The Efficiency PAYS® system gives utilities a way to offer customers a simple and attractive path to install money‐saving energy‐ and water‐based technologies with no up‐front cost. Participating customers pay for measures through a monthly tariffed surcharge attached to their meter, with the assurance that their savings will exceed their charge.
With PAYS, utilities can rapidly increase customer participation in resource efficiency programs with minimal cost and risk to the utility. PAYS can help utilities: Serve all types of customers (single and multi‐family, commercial, and municipal) Increase program effectiveness to meet or exceed program goals Free up existing rebate funds so they can be used for more strategic purposes
PAYS Roles and Responsibilities PAYS programs certify contractors and products to deliver PAYS projects that will produce enough customer bill savings to cover the costs of installation, financing, and program management. An independent program operator typically supports the utility with contractor oversight and project quality assurance activities to ensure proper measure installation and provide for data tracking and reporting. The utility may use internal resources, or a third‐party capital provider, to fund the up‐front costs of measures. All program costs are paid back over time by the customer. A certified contractor markets the PAYS system, identifies qualifying measures for each project, installs those measures, and is paid by the utility upon successful installation. The customer pays monthly charge as long as they remain at the premises and the product functions. The utility uses a program operator to provide oversight, bills PAYS charges, collects payments from customers with PAYS measures, and coordinates repayment to internal account or the capital provider.
Case Study: Windsor Efficiency PAYS® drives unprecedented program participation Windsor, California, has used its PAYS Pilot to achieve significant market penetration in its first year: Served over 5% of Windsor’s residential living units. Averaged 10% energy savings and 20% indoor water savings per household. Saved single family participants an average of $15 per month on their utility bills. Retrofitted over 50% of eligible multifamily units.
California PAYS Pilots The Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) and the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) are partnering with Bay Area municipal water utilities to develop and implement PAYS, including the following support: Windsor; Windsor Efficiency PAYS® ‐ Single family and multifamily residential indoor plumbing fixtures and turf replacement/drought tolerant landscaping. Commercial weather‐based irrigation controller installation. www.windsorefficiencypays.org Hayward; Green Hayward PAYS® ‐ Multifamily residential indoor plumbing fixtures. Common area energy measures that deliver savings to the property owner (lighting, hot water distribution, HVAC upgrades, etc.). Multifamily and commercial weather‐based irrigation controller installation. www.greenhaywardpays.org East Bay Municipal District – Multifamily residential indoor plumbing fixtures. Single family, multifamily and commercial weather‐based irrigation controller installation. For more information on BayREN PAYS Pilots and the Efficiency PAYS system, please contact: Lauren Casey, RCPA Climate Protection Program Manager. at 707.565.5379 or lcasey@SCTAinfo.org Chris Bradt, BKi Senior Program Consultant, at 510.463.6127 or cbradt@bki.com