FEI-FEVI 2010 EEC Report filed March 31, 2011 - FortisBC

FORTISBC ENERGY INC. AND FORTISBC ENERGY (VANCOUVER ISLAND) INC.
2010 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION ANNUAL REPORT
6.4.3 PROGRAMS IN DEVELOPMENT
6.4.3.1 Energy Conservation Assistance Program (“ECAP”)
6.4.3.1.1 ECAP Overview
Energy Conservation Assistance Program (“ECAP”)
Target Audience Low income residential retrofit customers
Applies to renters (with landlords consent) or homeowners in single family
dwellings or row housing
Duration One year to confirm business case assumptions with the intention of
extending the program indefinitely
Incentive The average incentive per participant is $1,765 worth of installed measures
in their home
Partner BC Hydro
Background
Description
Overview
The Energy Conservation Assistance Program (“ECAP”) is positioned to be
the Companies’ flagship program that achieves the deepest levels of energy
savings in low income homes.
ECAP is a targeted program that, in its current state, is offered only by BC
Hydro to low income electricity customers. The Companies intend to
participate in this program and broaden the program’s reach and impact to
include low income natural gas customers. The Companies also intend to
eventually expand the types of retrofits that are performed through this
program to include items such as furnace filters and new high efficiency
furnaces.
Due to the fact that low income customers often have priorities other than
learning about or implementing energy efficiency in their homes, this
program takes a unique approach to making it easy for customers to
participate. This involves a straightforward, single application process, which
is used by both BC Hydro and the Companies to qualify the participants,
and, once the participants qualify, they are fully serviced by the ECAP
program’s delivery agents. All the participant needs to do is receive the calls
from the delivery agents and be home at an agreed upon time to start
receiving the benefits of the program’s services.
Quality assurance of the retrofits will be performed through an independent
third party contractor and is performed on 10 percent of the homes that
receive basic measures (i.e. low flow showerheads and light bulbs) and 20
percent of the homes that receive more advanced measures (i.e. insulation,
draft proofing, and furnaces).
The program involves a visit to the participant’s home, an assessment of the
energy savings opportunities, and the installation of a host of energy
efficiency measures. Education on energy conservation behaviour is also
delivered during the initial visit to the customer’s home.
Goals • Enable approximately 2,400 low income participants annually to
receive comprehensive energy evaluations in their homes and have
SECTION 6: CONSERVATION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAMS Page 122