Title
RESOLUTION ADOPTING AMENDED GUIDELINES FOR THE COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL ENERGY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.
Body
CITY PROPOSAL:
WHEREAS, in 2007, the city council approved Resolution No. 07-0083 approving guidelines for the Commercial/Industrial Energy Conservation Program (the “Program”), establishing a program to encourage energy conservation by the city’s commercial and industrial natural gas customers and setting forth the parameters for making grants to customers who make energy-saving improvements to their facilities; and
WHEREAS, it is necessary and appropriate to amend the guidelines to adjust the grant eligibility requirements to emphasize actual energy to be saved as a result of making the improvements and to clarify certain operating issues.
RESOLVED, that the guidelines approved pursuant to Resolution No. 07-0083 are hereby rescinded and the amended Commercial/Industrial Energy Conservation Program guidelines, dated August 17, 2020, attached hereto as Exhibit A, are hereby adopted and approved.
Statement of Purpose
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the guidelines for the city’s Commercial/Industrial Energy Conservation Program to change the way the program subsidy is calculated to focus more on actual energy savings and also to address some modifications to program mechanics to conform more closely to actual operations.
The Program, originally established in 2007 to encourage commercial and industrial natural gas customers to make energy-saving improvements to their natural gas systems, originally provided grants for improvements such as boiler improvements, insulation and energy management systems in an amount equal to 15 percent of the cost of the improvements up to $30,000. The subject facilities would be energy-audited under city auspices to identify potential energy-saving improvements and the owner could choose to make those improvements deemed desirable.
Over time, the staff administratively limited the grant amounts to 10 percent of the cost up to $25,000 to allow the Program to have a broader impact with available resources.
In an effort to tie the grants more closely to actual anticipated savings, this amendment changes the formula for determining the amount of the grant to the lesser of 10% of the cost of the improvements up to $25,000 or to $2 per dekatherm of anticipated energy savings over the first year of operation (a dekatherm is approximately equal to the energy content of 1,000 cubic feet (28 m3) natural case). Thus the grant will more closely follow actual energy savings produced by the Program.
The amendment also eliminates the option of owners to hire their own auditors, an option that has not been used recently if ever, and eliminates provisions referencing department approval of the plans for the installation of the improvements which in practice was not done.