Electric Utility Industrial DSM and M&V Program

Abstract

BC Hydro is an electric utility with a service area covering over 95% of the province of British Columbia in Canada. Power Smart is BC Hydro’s demand-side-management (DSM) division. Power Smart develops, operates and manages various DSM programs for residential, commercial and industrial customers. The Power Smart Partners Program (PSP) is the premier demand-side management program for BC Hydro’s large commercial and industrial non-transmission class customers. It is a direct energy acquisition program that is based on a partnering approach with BC Hydro’s business customers. A customer that commits to being a Power Smart Partner gains access to financial support and assistance with the identification and implementation of electricity savings projects. A direct financial incentive is provided to lower customers’ funding requirements and to improve the payback and/or investment criteria for energy efficiency projects. Projects are evaluated against established criteria set forth by BC Hydro. Projects which prove to be the most cost-effective on a $/kWh basis receive funds. For transmission-voltage customers, BC Hydro has recently implemented a new tariff designed to encourage energy reduction. The new tariff is an inclining block tariff and is known as the Stepped Rate. The customer’s consumption is compared against their Customer Baseline Load (CBL). The first 90% of the customer’s consumption is billed at a Tier 1 rate. The remaining consumption is billed at a Tier 2 rate, approximately two times the Tier 1 rate. There are mechanisms in place to adjust the customer’s CBL to account for activities such as customer-funded demand-side-management projects and customer plant expansion projects. This paper will discuss BC Hydro’s M&V program in terms of the process, operations and M&V results to date for the PSP. In addition, the paper will discuss the new Stepped Rate tariff intricacies in terms of CBL setting, CBL adjustments and transmission customer Impact Study guideline requirements.