4.2. ERMUSR 01-09-2018 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: ERMU Commission Tom Sagstetter—Conservation and Key Accounts Manager MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: January 9, 2018 4.2 SUBJECT: Conservation Improvement Programs Policy ACTION REQUESTED: Approve the Revised Conservation Improvement Programs Policy BACKGROUND: In 2018 ERMU will again offer dozens of incentives to residential and commercial customers. These rebates will be provided to customers purchasing efficient electric and water equipment. Included, is ERMU Policy—T.2 Conservation Improvement Programs which has been revised to reflect the programs that are currently being offered. For 2018 ERMU has added two additional programs: electric forklift and charging equipment; and commercial food service equipment. In 2018 ERMU is required to spend a minimum of$502,230 on electric efficiency and load management programs. ERMU has a total energy saving goal of 4,294,416 kWh. The total energy savings goal is a combination of customer and electric utility infrastructure savings. The customer side energy savings goal for 2018 is 2,548,020 kWh. The balance of 1,746,396 kWh will come from utility infrastructure (distribution,transmission, and generation efficiencies). For the water utility there are no spending requirements or savings goals, but the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Department of Health strongly encourage all utilities to offer programs to conserve water for future generations. DISCUSSION: In 2018 the water conservation programs will remain the same as 2017. The Watersense® marketing worked well in 2017 and will continue to be used in 2018. The water utility budgeted $5,000 for water efficiency rebates again in 2018. On the electric side, electric forklifts and chargers were added along with commercial food service equipment for 2018. Over the coming months ERMU will be preparing to transition away from our current CIP aggregator. In 2019 ERMU will need to file the CIP information with a different aggregator or file the required information independently. As a result gains in manufacturing LED lighting costs have come down considerably. As a result of the decreasing costs, ERMU has decreased the rebates on the LED technology. ERMU has also eliminated all rebates for fluorescent and compact fluorescent lighting in 2018. The final significant change is the reduction of the maximum rebate amount per project from $50,000 in 2017 to $25,000 in 2018. All rebates will be for equipment purchased and installed in 2018. There will be no carryover for projects that were started in 2017. Page 1 of 2 52