how to help your customers read their electric bills and apply for incentives charley budd, kema
TRANSCRIPT
How to Help Your Customers Read Their Electric Bills and Apply for Incentives
Charley Budd, KEMA
What We Will Cover Today
• Raise understanding of electric bills– Describe what is relevant for selling energy efficiency
– Show what to look for on an electric bill
• Provide a brief overview of ratemaking concepts– Link cost causation to rate design
• Illustrate with examples of ComEd bills
• Note: Will not cover information on utility rate proceedings, legislative initiatives, or forecasts of future prices or costs
How Ratepayer Funding Works
• Energy Efficiency Programs charge on your monthly bill
• Based on kWh usage• How much is your
customer contributing?
What This Means to Your Customers…
• Their electric bills show they pay for the programs, and how much they pay.
• Customers “paying into” the program can get far more out of it than they pay in:
– Cash incentives (up to 50% of project cost) reduce their up-front investment in their energy efficiency projects.
– Energy savings from their projects will reduce their monthly electric bills.
• Note: ComEd “delivery” customers are eligible for Smart Ideas incentives, which also means that customers of ComEd who purchase their electricity “supply” from Retail Electric Suppliers (RES) are eligible.
Ratemaking Concepts
• Cost Causation and Rate Design– The challenge is to understand the nature of the costs of providing electric
service and translate that into rates that are fair and equitable to both the utility and its customers.
– While cost causation may be the fundamental starting point, the different and diverse perspectives of customers, utilities, public officials and other stakeholders add complexities and disagreement.
• In the end, it comes down to rates and bills, so it is helpful to have some basic understandings of rates and costs in order to understand the value of energy efficiency.
• Energy efficiency is all about saving on the electric bill!
So, let’s get started with some electricity basics…
Energy Basics
• Kilowatt (kW)– kW is a measure of demand– A unit of power equal to 1,000 watts – Similar to the speedometer of your car, which shows how fast you’re going at any
one moment
• Kilowatt-hour (kWh)– kWh is a measure of energy consumption per hour– Similar to the odometer on your car, which measures miles traveled
kW and kWh
(kW)
(kWh)
Customers Have kW and kWh Charges
The Electric Bill
Supplier charges are additional and will be applied to the 417,456 kWh
Ratemaking Process: A Simplified View
Functional Assignment
Classification Rate Design
All Costs
Generation Costs
DistributionCosts
Other
FunctionalAssignment
TransmissionCosts
Classification Rate Design
Electric System
Generating Station Step-upTransformer
Subtransmission69kV
ReceivingStation
230/69kV
Distribution12kV
Distribution Substation69/12kV
SystemOperationsIndustrial/Commercial
Building
Transmission230kV
Classification of Costs• Energy related costs vary with the consumption of
energy• Demand related costs vary with the capacity
requirements of customers• Customer related costs vary with the number of
customers served• specifically assigned (e.g. customer specific
equipment)
Electric System
Generating Station Step-upTransformer
Subtransmission69kV
ReceivingStation
230/69kV
Distribution12kV
Distribution Substation69/12kV
SystemOperationsIndustrial/Commercial
Building
Transmission230kV
All Costs
Generation Costs
DistributionCosts
Other
Demand
Energy
Demand
Customer
Customer
FunctionalAssignment
Classification Rate Design
Demand Transmission
Costs
All Costs
Generation Costs
DistributionCosts
Other
Demand
Energy
Demand
Customer
Customer
FunctionalAssignment
Classification
Energy Chargecents per kWh
Demand Charge$ per kW
Customer Charge$ per month
Rate Design
Demand Transmission
Costs
• For general program information
and application forms:
www.ComEd.com/BizIncentives• Questions about eligibility,
specifications, how to fill out
applications, finding a trade ally,
and anything else:
(888) 806-2273
Fax: 1-630-480-3436
For Answers to Your Questions . . .
?
Thank You!