Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 165 - Corporation Commission › Chapter 45 - Gas Service Utilities › Subchapter 23 - Demand Programs › Section 165:45-23-3 - Definitions

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this Subchapter,
				  shall have the following meaning, unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Administrative Cost"
means the expenses
				  incurred in controlling supporting Demand Programs that are not tied to the
				  marketing and delivery of those programs. These expenses include:
(A) reviewing and selecting Demand Programs in accordance
				  with this section;
(B) providing regular and special reports to the Commission,
				  including reports of Demand Program savings;
(C) a utility's costs for an annual review of Demand Programs
				  or true-up proceeding for cost recovery mechanism;
(D) Supervisory functions performed by Demand Portfolio
				  Manager that are related to supervision of employees and related human resource
				  administration.
"Average customer bill"
means the value derived
				  from the sum of all consumer bills in a particular customer sector divided by
				  the number of consumers in that sector; i.e., the arithmetic mean. A utility
				  may use the average customer bills for the customer rate classes rather than
				  the customer sectors if it chooses to do so and clearly identifies the
				  choice.
"Barrier"
means any physical or non-physical
				  necessity, obligation, condition, constraint, or requisite that obstructs or
				  impedes natural gas user participation in Demand Programs. Barriers may include
				  but are not limited to language, physical or mental disability, access to
				  capital, educational attainment, utility meter type, economic status, property
				  status, or geography.
"Base line"
means natural gas use, trend in
				  natural gas use, and description of conditions affecting such uses and trends
				  prior to implementation of a Demand Program designed to affect particular uses
				  and trends. When evaluating energy efficiency measures implemented as a result
				  of non-fuel switching Demand Programs, the base line to be used in savings
				  calculations shall be either the performance standard base line (the minimum
				  efficiency available in the market), or a customized, project specific base
				  line. When evaluating energy efficiency measures implemented as a result of
				  fuel switching or non-prescriptive Demand Programs, the base line to be used in
				  calculations shall be the replaced equipment efficiency.
"California Standard Practice Manual"
means The
				  California Standard Practice Manual: Economic Analysis of Demand Side Programs
				  and Projects, 2001 edition, produced by the California Energy Commission and
				  the California Public Utility Commission.
"Cost effective"
and
"cost
				  effectiveness"
mean utilizing a specified amount of money, in a way that
				  delivers a benefit from available alternative uses, so long as the benefit's
				  value exceeds the money spent.
"Customized opportunity"
means an energy
				  efficiency program tailored to an individual natural gas user's needs.
"Deemed savings"
means an estimate of natural
				  gas savings for a single unit of an installed energy-efficiency or
				  renewable-energy measure that (1) has been developed from data sources and
				  analytical methods that are widely considered acceptable for the measure and
				  purpose, and (2) will be applied to measures that are deployed in significant
				  numbers in similar ways.
"Demand portfolio"
means a collection of energy
				  efficiency programs , or as defined in this subchapter, Demand Programs
				  including fuel switching programs offered or proposed by a natural gas utility;
				  for example, a residential weatherization program and a program to trade
				  tankless water heaters for tank water heaters or a general education program
				  for energy efficiency may be contributors to a demand portfolio.
"Demand portfolio administrator"
means the
				  utility employee responsible for supervising the utility's energy efficiency
				  efforts as proposed in compliance with this subchapter.
"Demand Program(s)"
means the Energy Efficiency
				  programs offered or proposed by a natural gas utility. Collectively, the Demand
				  Programs make up the company's Demand portfolio.
"Education"
means any formal program, training,
				  or activity designed to raise awareness of, and participation in company
				  specific Demand Programs or increase general knowledge concerning energy
				  savings opportunities and efficiency topics. These programs shall include
				  communication efforts designed to reach customers with energy efficiency
				  information through a variety of mediums including but not limited to
				  television, radio, print and web-based media.
"Energy efficiency"
means reducing natural gas
				  consumption on the customer's side of the meter while achieving substantially
				  the same level of end-use service.
"Evaluation, measurement, and verification" or
				  "EM&V"
means a systematic, objective study conducted periodically to
				  authenticate, assess, and report how well a Demand program is achieving its
				  objectives, including identification and quantification of inputs, outputs,
				  outcomes, and unintended effects.
"EM&V Costs"
means the costs associated with
				  performance of studies and activities intended to determine the actual savings
				  and other effects from Demand Programs.
"Free rider"
means a program participant who
				  would have implemented the program measure or practice in the absence of the
				  Demand Program. Free riders can be total, in which the participant's activity
				  would have completely replicated the program measure; partial, in which the
				  participant's activity would have partially replicated the program measure; or
				  deferred, in which the participant's activity would have completely replicated
				  the program measure, but at a time after the time the program measure was
				  implemented.
"Fuel switching"
means changing from rate
				  regulated natural gas to rate regulated electricity or from rate regulated
				  electricity to rate regulated natural gas for a particular end-use service. It
				  does not include installation of any device that relies primarily on on-site
				  renewable energy, such as, but not limited to, a solar water heater, geothermal
				  heat pump, or biomass gas-powered furnace.
"Goal"
means a target to be achieved by a
				  utility's Demand Portfolio. A goal may be expressed in thousand cubic feet,
				  dekatherms, percentage reduction or limitation, and/or another quantifiable
				  measurement approved by the Commission. When determining whether a goal is met,
				  reductions or increases attributable to weather and economic activity will not
				  be counted.
"Gross savings"
means the values reported by a
				  gas utility after the Demand Program activities have been completed, but prior
				  to the time an independent, third-party evaluation of the savings is performed.
				  As with projected savings estimates, these values may utilize results of prior
				  evaluations and/or values in technical reference manuals. However, they are
				  adjusted from projected savings estimates by correcting for any known data
				  errors and actual installation rates and may also be adjusted with revised
				  values for factors such as per-unit savings values, operating hours, and
				  savings persistence rates. Gross savings can be indicated as first year, annual
				  demand or energy savings, and/or lifetime energy or demand savings
				  values.
"Hard-to-reach customers"
means:
(A) Residential natural gas users who rent their residences
				  from persons other than kin related to the third degree of affinity or
				  consanguinity, trusts operated by and for the benefit of the users, or the
				  users' legal guardians;
(B) Commercial natural gas users who rent their business
				  property from persons other than the users' owners, parent companies,
				  subsidiaries of their parent companies, their own subsidiaries, or trusts
				  operated by and for the benefit of the same;
(C) Residential or commercial natural gas users who
				  traditionally fail to engage in Demand Programs because of one or more barriers
				  beyond those experienced by average residential or commercial customers in a
				  utility's service area.
"Incentive"
means a sum of money a utility may
				  be allowed to recover, in addition to program costs and allowed lost net
				  revenues . Incentives shall be based on the utility's verified savings from the
				  Demand Portfoliofor the previousprogram year and shall be calculated as
				  described in 165:23-45-8.
"Inducement"
means anything of value offered by
				  a utility to encourage natural gas users or trade allies to engage in a Demand
				  Program approved pursuant to this subchapter.
"Lost net revenue"
means income from the retail
				  sale of natural gas forgone by a utility directly resulting from the success of
				  its demand portfolio, less expenses the utility was not required to pay by
				  forgoing the sales. Lost net revenue shall be calculated using verified
				  savings, shall exclude customer service charge revenues (non-volumetric
				  revenues), and shall exclude revenues collected from riders with annual
				  true-ups.
"Low-income customer"
means a residential
				  natural gas user who provides proof to a utility that the user has been
				  determined by the appropriate authority to be eligible to receive services
				  through the Oklahoma Department of Commerce Weatherization Assistance Program
				  State Plan, as provided by OAC 150:80; Health Care Authority SoonerCare Choice
				  or fee-for-service programs, as provided by OAC 317:25, 35, and 40; or
				  Department of Human Services Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, State
				  Supplemental Payment, Low Income Home Energy Assistance, Food Stamp, or Refugee
				  Resettlement programs as provided by OAC 340:10, 15, 20, 50, and 60,
				  respectively, or similar program.
"Market potential study"
means an evaluation
				  that assesses customer population base lines, customer needs, target customer
				  populations, and how best to address these issues.
"Market transformation"
means the strategic
				  process of influencing customer population and trade ally's decision-making
				  that creates lasting change in customer behavior by removing barriers or
				  exploiting opportunities to accelerate adoption of cost-effective energy
				  efficiency as a matter of standard practice.
"Measure"
means the equipment, materials, or
				  actions that are installed or used within a Demand Program that results in
				  measurable or verifiable savings; for example, a measure would include caulking
				  around windows or weather stripping around doors to prevent heat loss.
"Natural gas user"
means a real property
				  freeholder or leaseholder at a specific location who consumes natural gas at
				  that location, regardless of whether the consumer receives a gas bill directly
				  from a utility.
"Net benefits"
equal the difference between
				  total benefits and total costs as calculated for cost-effectiveness. The
				  economic objective of Demand Resource portfolios is to maximize net benefits. A
				  portfolio is cost-effective if it yields positive net benefits.
"Net savings"
means the total change in load
				  that is directly attributable to a Demand Program or the Demand Portfolio. This
				  change in energy and/or demand use shall include, implicitly or explicitly,
				  consideration of appropriate factors. These factors shall include free
				  ridership, participant and non-participant spillover and induced market
				  effects.
"Net Source Energy Usage Savings"
means the
				  total change in source energy usage that is directly attributable to a Demand
				  Portfolio. This change in source energy usage will reflect the pre-treatment
				  source energy usage of a device or process less the post-treatment source
				  energy usage of a device or process and shall include, implicitly or
				  explicitly, consideration of appropriate factors. These factors shall include
				  free ridership, participant and non-participant spillover and induced market
				  effects.
"Net-to-gross"
means a factor representing net
				  program savings divided by gross program savings that is applied to gross
				  program impacts to convert them into net program impacts. The factor shall be
				  made up of a variety of factors that create differences between gross and net
				  savings, and commonly consider the effects of free riders and spillover.
"Program"
means an organized set of activities
				  or measures directed toward the common purpose of energy efficiency that a
				  utility undertakes or proposes to undertake to reduce future natural gas usage
				  or growth in natural gas usage; for example, a general offer to assist
				  homeowners in weatherizing their homes is a program.
"Program cost"
means the expenditures including
				  expenditures paid to a third-party to deliver a program, incurred by a utility
				  to achieve natural gas savings through Demand Programs. Expenditures made by
				  customers or third parties are not included. Programs costs must be reported in
				  nominal dollars in the year in which they are incurred, regardless of when the
				  savings occur. The utility's Demand Program costs are all Administrative Costs,
				  Education costs, labor, equipment, inducement, marketing, monitoring,
				  measurement and evaluation, and other program delivery expenditures incurred by
				  the utility for operation of the Demand Programs, regardless of whether the
				  costs are expensed or capitalized.
"Program implementer"
means the person who puts
				  a Demand Program into practical effect.
"Projected incentives"
means the amount of
				  estimated annual incentives calculated at the time the Demand Portfolio is
				  submitted to the Commission for initial approval, or subsequent modification,
				  of the Demand Portfolio.
"Projected savings"
means the values reported by
				  a natural gas utility prior to the implementation of the Demand Programs. These
				  are typically estimates of savings prepared for Demand Program and/or Demand
				  Portfolio design or planning purposes. These values are based on pre-program or
				  Demand Portfolio estimates of factors such as per-unit savings values,
				  operating hours, Net-to-Gross ratios, installation rates, and savings
				  persistence rates. These values can be indicated as first year, annual energy
				  savings, and/or lifetime energy values. These values can also be indicted as
				  Gross savings and/or Net savings. Projected savings are reflected in the goal
				  reduction as set in this Subchapter.
"Research and development"
means a planned
				  activity aimed at discovering new knowledge with the hope of developing new or
				  improved energy efficiency processes, products, or services and the translation
				  of these research findings into a plan or design for new or improved energy
				  efficiency processes, products, and services.
"Savings"
means a reduction in the use of
				  natural gas or rate of growth of natural gas use, as measured in dekatherms or
				  thousand cubic feet.
"Spillover"
means the reductions in energy
				  consumption caused by the presence of a Demand Program, beyond the Demand
				  Program-related gross savings of the participants and without financial or
				  technical assistance from the program. Spillover can be applied to
				  participants, consumers directly participating in a Demand Program, and/or
				  non-participants.
"Standard offer"
means a Demand Program
				  available to a group of customers or customers generally on the same terms and
				  without customization.
"Trade allies"
means contractors, builders,
				  developers, retailers, skilled laborers, service providers, and wholesale
				  distributors who support Demand Programsthrough sale or installation of goods
				  and services.
"Transportation Customer"
means any customer who
				  buys gas on the open market from any provider, and engages a regulated
				  utility's pipeline to transport the gas to the customer's facility.
"Verified savings"
means values reported by a
				  natural gas utility after review by an independent third-party evaluator. The
				  third party evaluator shall be chosen by the utility and such costs shall be
				  determined to be a Program cost. These values should reflect all adjustments
				  including corrections for any known data errors and actual installation rates,
				  and should also be adjusted by revised values for known factors such as
				  per-unit savings values, operating hours, savings persistence rates, and net to
				  gross adjustments.
Added at 26 Ok Reg 1856,
				  eff 6-25-09