NYSERDA and National Grid launch energy savings program

Albany, NY The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and National Grid have launched the Home Energy Savings Program, a pioneering, pay-for-performance residential energy savings pilot program in Central New York. This initiative will help provide opportunities for contractors to perform work and enable energy efficiency service providers to serve National Grid’s customers with innovative, energy efficiency services and solutions, reducing their overall energy consumption and costs. Today’s announcement supports governor Cuomo’s nation-leading goals in the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), including an energy efficiency goal of 185 Trillion BTUs in end-use savings in the building and industrial sector by 2025 as well as an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Doreen Harris, acting president and CEO, NYSERDA said, “Buildings are one of the leading generators of greenhouse gas emissions in New York and by bringing the benefits of energy efficiency to the residential market, we will be taking another significant step in achieving governor Cuomo’s climate goals that will protect our communities and natural resources. We are excited to partner with National Grid to launch this groundbreaking pilot for Central New York homeowners and expect that it will serve as a successful model for spurring residential efficiency solutions in the rest of the state.”

The Home Energy Savings Program represents a joint effort between NYSERDA and National Grid, one of the largest utilities in the Northeastern U.S., to offer innovative energy solutions to customers in one- to four- family homes in Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego Counties.

“We are committed to supporting the Home Energy Savings Program to benefit our customers as part of our joint partnership with NYSERDA to find innovative solutions to lower energy use and increase cost savings,” said Melanie Littlejohn, National Grid vice president for New York. “This customer-focused program is another step in helping us bring smarter, cleaner and more resilient energy solutions to meet our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Under this pilot, NYSERDA has committed to award up to $6 million in funding, by which energy efficiency service providers will be selected through a competitive process to deliver energy savings to approximately 1,500 National Grid electricity and natural gas customers. The selected service providers will be compensated over three years for achieving energy savings measured using advanced utility meter data. This joint program will leverage the technical and market strengths of NYSERDA with National Grid’s capabilities to deliver innovative and cost-effective clean energy services to its residential electricity and gas customers. For the energy efficiency providers, the program offers marketing support to help offset administrative costs. For energy delivery companies, like National Grid, the program’s pay-for-performance approach, will potentially mitigate the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.

The new, innovative, performance-based model offered through the Home Energy Savings Program is expected to foster a “whole-house” energy approach which will support the installation of packages of measures such as insulation, air sealing, lighting, smart thermostats, high efficiency hot water heaters, and similar energy savings solutions to a larger portfolio of homes over a number of years. This more comprehensive and longer-term approach is expected to deliver additional energy and bill savings of 10 percent to 30 percent for customers. Energy efficiency pay-for-performance models have begun to emerge nationally with significant potential benefits to customers, energy efficiency service providers and utilities.

Today’s announcement builds on NYSERDA’s ongoing pay-for-performance strategy which includes Business Energy Pro, an innovative collaborative pilot administered by NYSERDA and Consolidated Edison designed to transform the way we invest in energy efficiency. The program will provide a variety of services to help businesses in Westchester County and Staten Island save energy, upgrade their buildings, and improve their bottom-line including lighting, refrigeration, heating ventilation and air conditioning upgrades and controls, and wifi thermostats.

To submit a proposal to the Home Energy Savings Program solicitation, service providers must register in National Grid’s ARIBA system by November 20, 2020 and may participate in a pre-bid meeting on January 20, 2021.  Bids are due February 22, 2021.  Complete instructions are found in the request for proposals located on NYSERDA’s website at nyserda.ny.gov/hesp .