OAR 330-066-0015: Commercial Energy Conservation Services Programs

(1) Each utility shall be responsible for ensuring that a commercial energy conservation services program which meets or exceeds the requirements of these rules is offered to all commercial building customers within its service territory. (2) Each utility shall have available on request information about energy saving operations and maintenance measures for commercial buildings. The information may be tailored to special classes of commercial customers. (3) Each utility shall establish a procedure to notify by mail each commercial building customer at least once a year of the availability of information and materials about energy conservation and of energy audit services. Notification shall include information on the location of the nearest office for obtaining these services, procedures for obtaining such service, and fees, if any. (4) Each utility shall actively promote the availability of energy audit services whenever it enters into any phase of a contingency or curtailment plan for dealing with an energy supply shortfall. (5) Each utility shall be responsible for having qualified commercial energy auditors, specialists or engineers or architects available to provide energy audits for commercial building systems and components which exist in its service area. (6) When a utility receives a request for a commercial energy audit, a commercial energy auditor shall perform an on-site audit to collect data and evaluate energy conservation measures including at least: operations and maintenance measures, simple automatic control systems, envelope weatherization, infiltration controls and lighting systems improvements. (7) If the commercial building customer uses an average of more than 4,000 kWh of electricity per month, the utility shall provide an energy audit to evaluate more complex energy conservation measures such as sophisticated automatic control systems, furnace and boiler efficiency improvement, heat recovery devices, HVAC system modifications, infiltration controls, lighting system improvements and solar water heaters or water heating heat pumps unless it can substantiate that analysis of the systems in use does not require that level of expertise. The utility shall use a commercial energy specialist or engineer or architect to provide the energy audit described in this section. (8) Each utility shall be responsible for: having appropriate data recording forms for an energy audit, developing procedures for analyzing energy use in commercial buildings and for calculating potential energy savings, and designing energy audit report forms for recommendations to commercial building customers. (9)(a) Energy audit reports to a commercial building customer shall include, as a minimum: a brief description of the building’s energy using systems and overall condition, an energy use analysis, and recommended operations and maintenance measures; (b) Commercial energy audits described in section (6) of this rule shall include at least all energy conservation measures for improving existing energy consuming systems which have a simple payback period of three years or less. Commercial energy audits described in section (7) of this rule shall include at least all energy conservation measures for improving existing energy consuming systems which have a simple payback period of ten years or less; (c) Each energy conservation measure shall be described. Each energy conservation measure description, except for operation and maintenance measures, shall also include estimated costs, and estimated net energy and dollar savings for the first year; (d) Information about the availability of state and federal tax credits and low-cost financing options for the customer shall also be included. (10) Each utility shall include in its program description conservation services provided by other federal, state or local government or utility programs that it wishes the Director to review according to OAR 330-066-0020.