May 2020
Program Updates
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Thank you for prioritizing the importance of your team and your customers’ health and safety during the Safer at Home period. As announced on May 12, 2020, following State and local guidance, the SoCalREN Multifamily Program will resume in-field activities as of May 18, 2020. As a reminder, Participating Contractors are required to follow the Program’s COVID-19 Safety Guidelines for Multifamily Projects to continue to protect staff, tenants, and property management.
The SoCalREN Program remains available to assist you by phone or email regarding customer scopes of work, Program guidelines, status updates, training, assessment reports, and much more.
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Please visit the
SoCalREN COVID-19 Impacts and Updates page
for the latest information on field activities, links to State and local government resources, and other information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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We are pleased to announce our new Trade Ally Portal that will allow you to securely send project documents and check the status of your projects. Your Account Manager will contact you to provide training on using the Trade Ally Portal.
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New Website Feature: Program Resources
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To streamline access to Program documentation, marketing materials, and other resources, the SoCalREN Multifamily Program has developed a password-protected Program Resources section on the SoCalREN website. Participating Contractors will receive login credentials via email.
Key areas of this section will include:
- Program Resources: Access Program processing and marketing documents, training information, and links to online tools.
- Request Marketing Materials: Limited printed marketing materials will be available to Participating Contractors. Account Managers will review all requests prior to fulfillment.
- Contractor Newsletter Archive: Access archived newsletters from the Program and keep up with Program updates from recent newsletters.
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Technical Tips: Making Capital Decisions from the Program’s Assessment Report
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The SoCalREN Multifamily Program provides customers with the tools necessary to make capital investment decisions for energy retrofit projects at their properties. SoCalREN performs a comprehensive energy assessment at the customer’s multifamily property and provides an Assessment Report (AR). The AR includes the following key information for each of the eligible Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs):
- Annual energy savings (kWh and therms per year)
- Initial Cost including both Material and Labor Cost ($)
- Annual cost savings ($) based on typical utility rates
- Simple payback period (years)
- Effective Useful Life of the measure (years)
Multifamily property managers are often making investment decisions within the limits of available capital budget and must sometimes choose between energy retrofit measures and other capital improvement measures.
Simple payback period is a quick and easy metric to decide which EEMs should be included in your scope of work. This is defined as the period in years required to recover the initial value of an investment. The AR includes measure-level payback period before accounting for incentives. Property managers can pick measures from the AR starting with a lower payback period until the limit of total capital budget available. The total savings corresponding to the selected measures will determine the eligible incentives and management can use these incentives to install additional EEMs or reduce the payback period of the selected measures.
Net Present Value (NPV) is a relatively complex but more accurate of a metric for capital investment decisions. Unlike simple payback, NPV considers the time value of the money and the duration of energy savings. NPV is the difference of present value of the cost savings over the life of the measure and the initial investment as shown in the equation below. Cost savings over the life of the measure include energy cost savings and maintenance costs incurred (negative) or saved (positive). The discount factor, “r,” is the cost of borrowing money. If “r” is not readily available, projects can use the California Pubic Utility Commission’s (CPUC) default value of 7.65% for the Southern California Edison (SCE) territory. NPVs greater than zero indicate a profitable investment and the higher the NPV, the better the investment.
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Example: A 75-unit apartment complex received an AR from SoCalREN. The property has a budget of $80,000 and a payback period criterion of seven years for capital investments. The property selected five measures which require an initial investment of $60,000 resulting in 6% energy savings. However, to be eligible for Program incentives, the project would need a minimum of 10% savings. After reviewing the AR with a SoCalREN Account Manager, the property decided to replace their domestic water heaters, which results in an additional 4% savings and requires an initial investment of $60,000. With a total of 10% energy savings, the project is now eligible for $40,000 program incentives, helping to keep the net project cost after incentives within $80,000.
Simple Payback calculations:
- Initial Project Cost = $120,000
- Cost savings = $13,000/year
- Payback Period = Net Project Cost/Cost Savings
= ($120,000 - $40,000) / $13,000 = 6 years and 2 months
Net Present Value calculations:
- Initial Investment = Net Project Cost = $80,000
- Cost savings = $13,000/year
- Life of cost savings = 10 years
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For additional information, or if you have any questions regarding your project’s financial numbers, please reach out to your designated Account Manager.
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SoCalREN Energy Efficiency Learning Center
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As a reminder, the
SoCalREN Energy Efficiency Learning Center (EELC)
is now available for you and your staff to take e-learning courses at your convenience from the comfort and safety of your home or office. The EELC offers a growing catalog of courses in a variety of categories, including HVAC, Sales and Marketing, and Commercial Energy Efficiency. In addition, Building Performance Institute (BPI), Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), and North American Technician Excellence (NATE) Continuing Education Unit (CEU)-accredited courses are currently housed in the EELC. Currently, there are more than 80 active courses available.
The SoCalREN EELC is available to you at no cost as a Participating Contractor. To access these courses, please
email the SoCalREN team
, and we will create a login for you and any staff members interested in taking advantage of this SoCalREN program benefit.
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