| Northern Territory
(213) 312-1702
Account Manager
Central Territory
(949) 333-6658
Account Manager
Southern Territory
(949) 333-6663
Account Manager
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Marketing Tip: Elevator Speech
The work you do is impactful and really
cool - but may seem complex or even confusing to people who don't understand the importance of a blower door test! It is important to have a quick elevator speech handy to explain how your work helps improve homes and life for homeowners.
Your elevator speech should be brief, unique, and persuasive and spark interest about your company and the work you do. You never know when social settings or networking events will introduce you to the next person ready to learn more about improving their home.
Marketing
Materials
Currently, your account manager has limited quantities of the following items for your use. In addition, most items are available for download on the Marketing Resources page.
- SCE/SoCalGas Home Energy Digest
- SCE/SoCalGas Program Trifold Brochure
- SCE/SoCalGas Program Infographic Rack Card
- SCE/SoCalGas Program Lawn Sign
- SoCalGas Program Trifold Brochure
- SoCalGas Program Trifold Brochure (English, Spanish, Traditional Chinese)
- SoCalGas Program Lawn Sign
- SoCalGas Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Trifold Brochure
- SoCalGas Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Lawn Sign
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Free LED Lighting Products
Up to $300 in select LED lighting products are available for SCE/SoCalGas Home Upgrade jobs of 150 points or more through the SCE Lighting Innovation Program.
Just enter
American Lighting
or
WaltersLighting
in the promo code area, and be sure to have your customer sign the
Program Agreement
.
Upload the Program Agreement with your pre-retrofit project reservation in the WebApp. Please remind your customers that they will need to complete a quick, two-minute survey about the lighting program once their project is complete. Contact your account manager with any questions
.
Distributor Discounts
Visit the
Distributor Discounts Page
for more information on the numerous discounts available from our distributor partners. Please note: you must be logged in to the contractor website to view this page.
Items discounted include testing equipment (including blower doors!), lighting products, and measurement equipment.
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| Have a tricky question you can't answer or a problem that keeps coming up on your projects? Ask our QC Team! Email us with any questions you would like to see addressed in future newsletters. |
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Greetings to all our Participating Contractors from Southern California Edison (SCE) and SoCalGas®! We enjoyed seeing so many of you at the training workshop last month. Please send your account manager any comments or feedback you have about the event. Our goal is to make all program workshops and events useful and enjoyable for Participating Contractors.
Make sure to mark your calendars for our fifth annual Contractor Appreciation Night coming up on December 17 in Anaheim!
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Program Participation Updates and Reminders
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Fuel Switching
Projects that include fuel switching, regardless of any other items included in the scope of work, do not qualify for any incentives under the Energy Upgrade California® Home Upgrade Program through SCE or SoCalGas per the guidelines set forth by the California Public Utility Commission. Please contact your account manager if you have any questions about this policy.
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Home Upgrade Customer Touch Points
During the technical training workshop, we received questions from Participating Contractors regarding customer touch points from the program. Below is a summary of the communications your customers may see or receive from the program.
Before the Sale
During Construction and QC
- Welcome to the Program Postcards (Joint and Gas Only)
- Vision Status Emails: While contractors receive emails at many stages during a project, customers will only receive emails at crucial times. Based on contractor feedback, we have recently updated language in several emails that customers receive.
After the Project is Complete
- Incentive check and thank-you letter (letter - Gas Only)
- Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Completion Certificate and window clings (Gas Only)
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SoCalGas Program Participation Updates and Reminders
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Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® is here!
SoCalGas is pleased to announce partnership with the Department of Energy's Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program, effective October 1, 2015, for Advanced Home Upgrade projects in SoCalGas-Municipal Electric Utility areas only. We are working to implement Home Performance with ENERGY STAR branding on all materials for the SoCalGas Advanced Home Upgrade program. Currently, trifold brochures and lawn signs are available. Download print-ready files from the contractor website, or contact your account manager about the availability of complimentary materials from the program.
If you didn't sign your Home Performance with ENERGY STAR participation addendum at the technical workshop on September 29, please contact your account manager to obtain this form to complete and return to the program team. This addendum to the CPA you signed when joining the program gives you the ability to use the ENERGY STAR brand on your own marketing materials. The ENERGY STAR brand currently enjoys nearly 90% brand awareness in the USA - your customers recognize the label and associate it with energy efficiency and quality.
After you have signed the addendum, download logos, branding use guidelines and other materials in the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR section on the
SoCalGas program resources page
.
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SoCalGas Program Top Performers: Customer Satisfaction
An important part of each project is finding out whether the customer is satisfied with the work and would recommend their contractor to a friend or relative. We are pleased to share the top five performers in customer satisfaction based on projects submitted since January 2015. Congratulations and great job to the following Participating Contractors!
- Home Performance Matters
- Building Doctors
- Mediterranean Heating and Air Conditioning
- Progressive Windows and Insulation
- Zero Energy Contracting
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Home Performance Sales Training
October 21, 2015
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Learn critical sales skills and tools that will help you sell HVAC and home performance improvements to homeowners.
Topics will include:
- Communicating building science to consumers
- Foundations of successful sales
- Messaging and calls-to-action
- A consultative sales approach for energy efficiency
- Consumer decision-making
- Handling objections
Earn up to 2.75 BPI CEUs
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Certified Aquatic Equipment Installer (CAEI)
October 28, 2015
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m
.
Want Utility Rebates?
Become Utility Certified and Participate in the Variable Speed Pump Rebate Program!
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Project Processing Training
November 5, 2015
8:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m.
Please join us for an in-person workshop on Home Upgrade and Advanced Home Upgrade project processing and enjoy breakfast and lunch on us!
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ACI California Regional Home Performance Conference,
Sacramento CA
November 9-10, 2015
Meet with Home Performance professionals around the region and attend informative sessions to help you grow your business!
SCE and SoCalGas have limited scholarships available to help Participating Contractors attend the ACI conference. The first FIVE (5) Participating Contractors in good standing to
email the team
and let us know you are interested will be considered for these scholarships!
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Green Homes Sell Faster and For More: What Every Real Estate Professional Needs to Know
November 18, 2015
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Attend this SoCalGas funded complimentary training for u
p-to-the-minute information from Real Estate and Home Energy professionals on how the home energy industry is impacting the real estate industry-and how to turn this opportunity into results.
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The Red Work Zone (RWZ) policy is designed to help protect homeowners and workers by ensuring potential sources of ignition are located far enough from the gas meter and its components to prevent accidental combustion should a gas leak occur. The illustration below shows possible sources of ignition and defines the RWZ relative to the gas meter, gas regulator and associated piping:
The RWZ policy can be violated by existing conditions or conditions created due to the Scope of Work (SOW). If an existing RWZ condition is present, the contractor will need to fill out a Notice of Field Identified Recommendations (NFIR). This will not delay processing of the project. RWZ violations caused by the contractor due to the SOW (this applies to replacement, repair and relocation of equipment), must be remediated before the project can be processed.
Possible sources of ignition include but are not limited to:
- Gas appliances
- Electrical outlets
- Condensing units
- Electrical panels
- Junction boxes
- Disconnects
- Conduit
- Motors
- Telephone line connections
- Cable line connections
- Millivolt systems
Local Ordinance vs. Program Requirements:
A contractor's work could be in compliance with the California Mechanical Code (CMC) and local jurisdiction building department regulations, yet be out of compliance with Home Upgrade Program requirement. The CMC requires a 36-inch clearance from the gas pressure regulator and a possible ignition source. It does not state the distance is to be measured horizontally nor does it address the rest of the meter. Home Upgrade projects must be in compliance with program requirements prior to project processing.
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All About CF3Rs
CF3R Form Submission
Currently, CF3R forms are required when installing certain components of an HVAC system and vary by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). The Program
no longer requires a CF3R form, but the CF3R form can be used to help by-pass the QC Duct Test and/or take credit for energy savings in Advanced Home Upgrade where applicable.
CF3R Forms applicable to the Program:
Depending on a project's SOW, one or more CF3R forms may be required by the building department. The ones most commonly seen in the Home Upgrade and Advanced Home Upgrade program include the following:
- CF3R-MCH-20 Duct Leakage
- CF3R-MCH-22 Fan Efficacy
- CF3R-MCH-23 System Airflow Rate
- F3R-MCH-25 Refrigerant Charge Verification
CF3R Forms submitted for additional modeled savings in Advanced Home Upgrade:
If you are modeling your project in EnergyPro v5, you may take credit in the alternatives tab for the following three measures as long as you submit the proper CF3R for the measure you are claiming. These forms only need to be submitted if you intend to take the energy-savings credit for the measure.
- CF3R-MCH-22 Fan Efficacy
- CF3R-MCH-23 System Airflow Rate
- CF3R-MCH-25 Refrigerant Charge Verification
Contractor's CF3R Duct Leakage submittal will bypass QC Duct Testing when:
- The CF3R records less than 10% total leakage or Leakage to Outside (LTO). This is applicable to Home Upgrade Projects
- The CF3R records less than 6% total leakage or LTO. This is applicable to Advanced Home Upgrade projects.
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Building Permits
Whenever a contractor performs work on a customer's home it is the responsibility of the contractor to obtain all applicable permits based on the SOW. Permits must be supplied to the Program whenever the contractor installs a new furnace, new condensing unit, new package systems and or heat pumps (heat pumps must be replaced only if the existing system was a heat pump as fuel switching is prohibited by the Program). The Program will accept the following documents to satisfy that the permit requirement has been met:
- Building Permit
- Building Permit Receipt
- Screen Shot of electronic Building permit
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The PACM Work Order - Program Recommendation
The presence of Possible Asbestos Containing Materials (PACM) is an ongoing issue in the Program. Reduce the risk of slowing down the processing time of your project by using the
PACM Work Order. The PACM Work Order helps assemble information required on the asbestos abatement certificate, and it includes a detailed description of PACM material that is to be remediated. With this document in hand, the contractor is able to communicate this information to the licensed abatement company. Doing so should reduce continued PACM issues that prevent QC testing at the post retrofit inspection.
Please read and review the PACM Policy carefully to ensure the safety of you, your staff and your customers. Contact your account manager with any questions about PACM/asbestos.
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Top Appeal/Pending Contractor Action Issues
RHA and ICF are constantly reviewing data to see where there are areas we can help the contractor navigate the program more effectively. A recent review of program data indicated the top issues that caused a project to go to Appeal, they are, in order:
- Gas leaks
- Missing documentation
- Missing CO monitor(s)
- Mechanical Ventilation required and not installed
- $500 or more drop in incentive
- Heat Producing Device (HPD) in contact with insulation
- Communication between combustion air and return air
- CAS/CAZ issues
The Program is trying to streamline the process and make it easier for Participating Contractors and homeowners. It is important that homeowners and contractors have a good experience. To reduce the burden, the Program reviewed some of the top QC issues and made the following revisions:
- Participating Contractors are no longer required to submit CF3Rs.
- TCV's are no longer required, but highly recommended, especially during this critical time when it is important to reduce water usage.
- Pre-existing HPDs do not require correction when attic insulation is not part of the SOW and no immediate hazard is present.
Please remember to always test for gas leaks and have leaks repaired when they are identified. Gas leaks present a health and safety issue and should always be taken seriously.
Another important health and safety item is CO monitors. Installation of CO monitors is required! One CO monitor must be installed on each conditioned floor of the home.
Mechanical Ventilation is another critical aspect that relates to health and safety and should always be installed properly when the Building Airflow Standard drops below 70% per ASHRAE 62-89.
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