Billed (Unpaid); $1,169,058.69 Billed & Paid; $52,180,177.49 Billed & Paid (with Pledge); $7,320,045.32 Billed & Paid (with"Plus1" Pledge); $799,851.98 Billed (Unpaid)Billed & PaidBilled & Paid (with Pledge)Billed & Paid (with"Plus1" Pledge)Customer Assistance Customers FY2014 - Billed vs Paid
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LOW INCOME CONSUMER ADVISORY TASK FORCE AUGUST 21, 2015 9:00AM – 12:00 PM TOWN LAKE CENTER – ROOM 100 721 BARTON SPRINGS ROAD AUSTIN, TEXAS 78704 For more information: http://www.austintexas.gov/content/low-income-consumer-advisory-task- force AGENDA CALL TO ORDER 1. CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS The first 5 speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approve minutes from August 7, and August 14, 2015 meeting 3. OLD BUSINESS a. Discussion and possible action on on-bill repayment and financing arrangements b. Discussion and possible action on amendments to the multifamily energy efficiency program c. Discussion and possible action on low income energy efficiency program design including but not limited to cost effectiveness of energy efficiency measures, one-stop weatherization, program goals, and heating and cooling equipment repair and replacement d. Discussion and possible action on ECAD (Energy Conservation Audit Disclosure) including but not limited to enforcement and expanding scope of disclosure requirements to small rental properties e. Discussion and possible action on energy efficiency rate true-up proceeding. f. Discussion and possible action on final report 4. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion and possible action on the low income weatherization budget. b. Discussion and possible action on definition of multi-family properties serving low and low moderate income customers c. Discussion and possible action on Austin Energy’s overall energy (kWh) and demand (KW) goals and kWh and KW goals for programs for low income and low moderate income customers. d. Discussion and possible action on Building Codes e. Discussion and possible action on audit of the billing system. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If requiring Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days (48 hours) before the meeting date. Please call Liz Jambor at Austin Energy Department, 513-322-6353, for additional information; TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711. For more information on the Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force, please contact Liz Jambor at 512-322-6353 f. Discussion and possible action on the need for a task force after October 1, 2015. 5. BRIEFINGS & REPORTS a. Austin Energy staff update on the weatherization program job status b. Status of data …
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Page 1 of 2 LOW INCOME CONSUMER ADVISORY TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 14, 2015 The Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force convened in a Special-Called meeting at Town Lake Center, 721 Barton Springs Road, Room 100, in Austin, Texas. Chairperson, Carol Biedrzycki called the meeting to order at 11:02 a.m. Task Force Members in Attendance: Carol Biedrzycki (Chair), Tim Arndt (Vice Chair), Lanetta Cooper, Richard Halpin, Dan Pruett, Cyrus Reed, and Michael Wong. Karen Hadden was not present at the call to order, but arrived later. Chris Strand was absent. Staff in Attendance: Austin Energy (AE) staff included Debbie Kimberly, Liz Jambor, Denise Kuehn, Ronnie Mendoza, and Toye Goodson. Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department staff included Cara Welch. 1. CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS: GENERAL No citizens signed up to speak. 2. OLD BUSINESS a. Discussion of low income weatherization program, including but not limited to heating and cooling equipment repair and replacement. Members reviewed and made changes to the draft backup document created by Ms. Biedrzycki, “Low-Income Weatherization Program Goals” (Back-up Item 2, August 14, 2015 meeting). At 11:30 a.m., the meeting was recessed. At 11:40 a.m., the meeting was reconvened. Members continued discussion regarding weatherization program goals. An amended version of the document will be distributed at the next meeting. Members reviewed and discussed additional backup documents submitted by members and staff including: “Green Building Pre-Submittal Worksheet” (Back-up Item 2, August 14, 2015 meeting) from Mr. Wong; “A Proposed Weatherization Program” (Back-up Item 2, August 14, 2015 meeting) from Mr. Reed; “8/12/2015 Draft Recommendation – Repair and Replacement of Furnaces and Air Conditioners in Low Income Weatherization Program” (Back-up Item 2, August 14, 2015 meeting) from Ms. Biedrzycki; and “AE Weatherization Program Job Status as of August 11, 2015” (Back-up Item 2, August 14, 2015 meeting) from staff. Each member was encouraged to comment on topics and issues related to the goals of the program as well as issues raised during the review of these documents. 3. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS a. Discussion regarding future agenda items including a schedule of topics. Ms. Biedrzycki distributed a draft agenda for the August 21 meeting and requested input from members regarding the agenda items. Page 2 of 2 Members also discussed including a recommendation in the final report suggesting the work of the task force continue past the October 1, 2015 date included in the Council resolution. ADJOURNMENT The Chair adjourned the …
Page 1 of 3 LOW INCOME CONSUMER ADVISORY TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 7, 2015 The Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force convened in a regular meeting at Town Lake Center, 721 Barton Springs Road, Room 100, in Austin, Texas. Chairperson, Carol Biedrzycki called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Task Force Members in Attendance: Carol Biedrzycki (Chair), Tim Arndt (Vice Chair), Lanetta Cooper, Richard Halpin, Cyrus Reed, and Michael Wong. Karen Hadden was not present at the call to order, but arrived later. Chris Strand and Dan Pruett were absent. Staff in Attendance: Austin Energy (AE) staff included Debbie Kimberly, Liz Jambor, Stacy Lewis, Kurt Stogdill, John Umphress, Michael Husted, and Hayden Migl. Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department (NHCD) staff included Letitia Brown. Debbie Kimberly introduced Hayden Migl as the new staff liaison to the Task Force. Chair Carol Biedrzycki stated that the City Council appointed Michael Wong to the Task Force at its August 6 meeting. Members and staff in attendance introduced themselves. 1. CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS: GENERAL Scott Johnson spoke regarding the accessibility and user-friendly nature of the CPS Energy website. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approve minutes from July 17, 2015 meeting- A motion was made by Member Lanetta Cooper to approve the July 17, 2015 meeting minutes and seconded by Vice Chair Tim Arndt. Amendments were proposed. Under Old Business Item 3c, end of 1st paragraph: Add “The revised motion was not approved.” Under New Business, Item 4d, second sentence: Edit to read, “Employees of approximately…” Member Cooper and Vice Chair Arndt accepted the amendments and all members approved on a 7-0 vote. 3. OLD BUSINESS The Chair discussed the order items would be taken up in the meeting, and members distributed late back-up for various items. a. Discussion and possible action on on-bill repayment and financing arrangements - Member Karen Hadden introduced the document “Proposal for On Bill Repayment with Rebates” (Back-up Item 3a, August 7, 2015 meeting). Member Cyrus Reed motioned approval of the recommendation, and Member Richard Halpin seconded. Discussion included concerns of this program for the rental market, consequences if someone cannot pay their bill, target audience and designating it only for solar. The item was tabled until the next meeting. Page 2 of 3 b. Discussion and possible action on amendments to the multifamily energy efficiency program - This item was not discussed. c. Discussion and possible action on …
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On-Bill Repayment Recommendation Recommendation: Austin Energy would allow for repayment for energy efficiency retrofits on a customer’s monthly utility bill. Rebates would also be provided for qualifying measures. Description: The utility assists customers in attaining cost-effective energy upgrades at customer sites – like better building efficiency, more efficient appliances, HVAC systems and rooftop solar through on-bill repayment. The customer pays nothing upfront for the upgrades they choose because the utility pays the installer. Using a tariff, the utility puts a fixed charge on the customer’s monthly bill that is less than the estimated savings generated by the upgrade – so the customer enjoys immediate and sustained cash flow. Until the investment is recovered, the tariff for the improvement charge automatically transfers to future customers at that site. Transparency would be assured by requiring building owners to inform future buyers or renters of the property of the on-bill repayment in place. On-bill Repayment (OBR) clears the biggest barriers to financing because it does not depend on a consumer loan, long-term lease, or a lien on the value of the property. Renters and lower-income households have faced barriers to accessing investment capital for cost-effective energy upgrades, and similar financing challenges have stumped credit-strained companies and local governments. Compared to typical debt-based programs, experience shows that On-bill Repayment has a bigger impact for these reasons: 1. First, the addressable market is double the size because nearly all customers are eligible. 2. When customers are offered upgrades with the OBR value proposition, they accept more than half of the time, which is 5 times the typical rate. 3. When customers do accept, the projects they undertake are much larger because the terms are more attractive. Precedents: States with utilities conducting some type of OBR program include AR, CA, CT, HI, KS, KY, NJ, NY, and SC. In Texas, Guadalupe Valley Electric Coop uses OBR to collect air conditioning service charges on the monthly bill. The Pedernales Electric Coop is developing an OBR program to finance PVs. Austin Energy’s “Nightwatchman” program that leases lighting equipment as part of a security lighting electric rate goes back to 1979. This rate and program are similar to a number of utilities around the country. Estimated Cost: Depending on how the financing is structured, the cost effectiveness should be less than or equal to AE’s current financing program for home efficiency. Initial capital must be provided; $500,000 is suggested …
The Clean Power Plan incentivizes low-income efficiency plans - page 864 onward. A key piece of this section is at the end of this email. http://www.epa.gov/airquality/cpp/cpp-final-rule.pdf ——————————— Dr. Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based in Takoma Park, Maryland. Below is an excerpt from his comments on the Clean Power Plan. (They’re numbered differently here than they are on the website) http://ieer.org/news/clean-power-plan-step-direction/ 1. New natural gas plants are not part of the best system of emission reductions: This is perhaps the best and most solid indication that the Obama administration takes long-term reductions seriously. New natural gas combined cycle plants, even though they have lower CO2emissions per megawatt-hour (using EPA leak rates and global warming potential for methane), will not be part of the BSER even though they meet the cost test and emission rate test. The reason: they will be emitting CO2 for decades (p. 346, italics added): However, our determination not to include new construction and operation of new NGCC capacity in the BSER in this final rule rests primarily on the achievable magnitude of emission reductions rather than costs. Unlike emission reductions achieved through the use of any of the building blocks, emission reductions achieved through the use of new NGCC capacity require the construction of additional CO2-emitting generating capacity, a consequence that is inconsistent with the long-term need to continue reducing CO2emissions beyond the reductions that will be achieved through this rule. New generating assets are planned and built for long lifetimes –- frequently 40 years or more –-that are likely longer than the expected remaining lifetimes of the steam EGUs whose CO2 emissions would initially be displaced be the generation from the new NGCC units. The new capacity is likely to continue to emit CO2 throughout these longer lifetimes…. 2. Increased capacity factor of existing natural gas plants is BSER: The EPA is still allowing increased capacity factor of existing natural gas combined cycle power plants to displace coal. This is the result of its estimate of methane leak rates and global warming potential. So long as new central station natural gas plants are not encouraged, the rate of use of existing plants is a problem that can be sorted out in the coming years. It would have been very difficult to argue only on the grounds of the BSER rules and existing methane leaks estimates that increasing capacity …
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Recommendation Number _____ Recommendation for Contractor Rebates in conjunction with affordable housing projects August 21, 2015 Recommendation: In addition to a stand-alone low income weatherization energy efficiency program approach, a residential low income weatherization rebate program should be implemented in conjunction with the affordable housing programs administered by the City’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development department to obtain efficiencies of scope. Because of the leveraging of the weatherization program into the affordable housing programs, AE will be able to capture the additional demand and energy savings arising from the affordable housing programs. The provision of energy efficient appliances through bulk purchasing would be part of this program. The department would serve as a case manager to ensure AE is brought into the process. Targeted Underserved Group: Low income Homeowners with Incomes between 0 and 250%% of the Federal Poverty Guideline. Time Schedule: Begin plan to implement in 2016 and implement by 2017. Brief Description: Provide rebates to contractors on AE’s list of eligible energy efficiency contractors for performing weatherization services and installing energy efficiency appliances purchased in bulk by AE as part of a customer’s participation in an affordable housing program. Community Need: According to the January 2015 Updated Energy Burden Tables for Austin Energy, 28% of all residential customers have family incomes between 0 and 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline.1 Low income consumers do not have the disposable income to obtain weatherization services nor to purchase energy efficient appliance that would provide demand and energy savings to Austin Energy as well as bill savings to the low-income households. During the task force process, comments were presented by nonprofit service providers that the current program is cumbersome for the service providers and the clients obtaining home repairs though the providers work with the home repair coalition.i Program Description: When a home is evaluated for participation in an affordable housing program, as part of that process, AE would be contacted to evaluate for the applicant’s participation in AE’s weatherization program. If eligible, the residence will also receive an energy audit to identify energy efficiency improvements that can be made through the weatherization program. Instead of referring a client to the weatherization program after the completion of an affordable housing program project, the weatherization services and appliance installations provided by the Austin Energy rebate program would be incorporated into the home repair process. This allows for more contractor efficiency and should …
1 Proposed Recommendation Number _____ Recommendation for Vulnerable Populations August 21, 2015 Recommendation: A residential low income energy efficiency program should be created to provide window heating and/or cooling units including installation to low income families served by Austin Energy with at least one member: aged 62 or older, disabled, or a child who is six years of age or younger. This program would be implemented through the use of contractor rebates and the provision of energy efficient window cooling and/or heating units purchased by AE achieving discounts through the use of commitments to purchase a minimum number of appliances from one to three retailers in the Austin area. Targeted Underserved Group: Homeowners and tenants whose household income qualifies for the emergency home repair program provided by the City of Austin Neighborhood Housing & Community Development and who meet the qualifications stated above. Time Schedule: Implement in 2016. Brief Description: Provide emergency heating and/or cooling relief to vulnerable populations through the provision of energy efficiency cooling and/or heating window units. Program Description: This program would be provided in conjunction with the City of Austin’s emergency Home Repair Program which is part of the City of Austin’s Neighborhood Housing & Community Development Client Service’s Programs. Contractors certified by Austin Energy would perform the work. Austin Energy would certify that the window unit(s) is (are) needed before the window unit is installed. Once that determination is made, Austin Energy would provide the window unit(s). After installation, Austin Energy would review the household to ensure the window unit was installed and installed properly. A rebate check issued to the contractor to cover the cost of installation would be provided after the final Austin Energy review. As part of implementing this program, AE should consider providing the air conditioner units through a loan program taking into consideration storage and refurbishing issues involved in a loan program and the experience of other jurisdictions in the loaning of air conditioner units. Budget: There are two funding components to this proposed program: 2 1. One-time funding to establish a contingency reserve to provide payment to the manufacturer-retailer if the guaranteed minimum level of cooling and/or heating appliances are not purchased; and 2. Funding for rebates.
Recommendation No. ___ Recommend AE leverage with Austin Housing Authority Recommendation: AE should leverage its EE programs with Austin Housing Authority rehab and building programs. The council may need to enter into a memorandum of understanding to establish the relationship with Austin Housing Authority. Reasoning One of the problems AE faces with providing EE to low income tenants involving multi-family units is determining income eligibility. For the most part, AE utilizes third sources for eligibility determinations in its residential low income program. This recommendation would allow AE to utilize third party determination for income eligibility for tenants. Public housing’s tenants are all low income. Consequently, AE will be assured that it is using EE funds to low income tenants through the provision of EE services to public housing multi-family housing stock .
RECOMMENDATION NO.___ Recommend Austin Housing Finance Corporation to condition financing on applicant request for EE services Recommendation: Austin Housing Finance Corporation should condition financing approval to applicants involved with affordable housing with a condition that applicant seek energy efficiency services from AE, including solar for new construction financing. Higher rebates should be offered to these applicants. Reasoning: Austin Housing Finance Corporation provides low cost financing to builders and developers who construct affordable housing. For many applicants, the housing corporation requires them to apply for tax credits, which further ensures low and low-moderate income households will have access to the housing being constructed. Adding a requirement that the applicant seek energy efficiency services from AE, particularly solar will provide greater housing affordability to the tenants. AE funding of energy efficiency programs to these applicants will greater assure that EE funding to going to low and low-moderate income AE customers.