Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 860 - PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION › Division 30 - RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL ENERGY CONSERVATION › Section 860-030-0050 - Commercial Energy Audit Programs

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) Each energy utility shall be responsible,
			 to the extent possible, for ensuring that the services required by these rules
			 are offered to all commercial building customers within its service territory
			 and the services are provided to the standards required herein.
(2) Each energy utility shall have available
			 on request information about energy saving operations and maintenance measures
			 for commercial buildings. The information may be tailored to special classes of
			 commercial building customers.
(3)
			 Each energy utility shall notify its commercial building customers about its
			 energy conservation and energy audit services annually.
(4) Each energy utility shall actively
			 promote the availability of energy audit services whenever it enters into any
			 phase of a contingency or curtailment plan for dealing with an energy supply
			 shortfall.
(5) Each energy utility
			 shall be responsible for having available trained commercial energy auditors,
			 specialists, or other engineering or architectural professionals either
			 employed directly, or as independent consultants, so sufficient persons with
			 appropriate education and experience are available to provide energy audits of
			 simple and complex commercial building systems and components which may exist
			 in its service area.
(6) When an
			 energy utility receives a request from a commercial building customer who uses
			 less than 4,000 kWh of electricity or 200 therms of gas per month on the
			 average annually for a commercial energy audit, a qualified energy auditor
			 shall perform an on-site audit to collect data and evaluate energy conservation
			 measures including, but not limited to: operations and maintenance measures,
			 simple automatic control systems, envelope weatherization, infiltration
			 controls, and lighting systems improvements.
(7) When an energy utility receives a request
			 from a commercial building customer who uses more than 4,000 kWh of electricity
			 per month or 200 therms of natural gas per month on the average annually for a
			 commercial energy audit, the energy utility shall use a qualified energy
			 specialist, engineer, or architect to perform the energy audit and evaluate
			 more complex energy conservation measures, such as sophisticated automatic
			 control systems, furnace and boiler efficiency improvements, heat recovery
			 devices, HVAC system modifications, lighting system improvements, and solar
			 water heaters or water heating heat pumps, unless the energy utility can
			 substantiate that analysis of the systems in use does not require that level of
			 expertise.
(8) Each energy utility
			 shall be responsible for: designing or obtaining data recording forms for an
			 energy audit, developing procedures for analyzing energy use in a commercial
			 building, and for calculating potential energy savings, and designing report
			 forms for recommendations to customers. The system so designed shall have the
			 capability of reporting simple payback periods of at least ten years.
(9) Reports to a commercial building customer
			 shall include as a minimum: a brief description of the building's energy using
			 systems and overall condition; an energy use analysis; recommended operations
			 and maintenance measures; energy conservation measures which have a simple
			 payback period of up to three years or up to ten years upon the customer's
			 request, including a description of each measure, its estimated cost, and
			 estimated net energy and dollar savings for the first year. Information about
			 the availability of state tax credits and any low-cost financing options or
			 other incentives available through the utility for the commercial building
			 customer shall also be included.
(10) The Commission may review any federal or
			 regional commercial energy audit programs to determine if they meet or exceed
			 the requirements of these rules. Any energy utility whose commercial energy
			 audit program meets the guidelines of the federal or regional programs, and
			 which has executed a contract to implement the program, shall be considered to
			 have met the requirements of this rule for training and level of audit service.
			 Use of associated federal or regional model commercial audit formats will be
			 considered satisfactory for data collection, analysis procedures, and reports
			 to commercial building customers.
(11) If a commercial building customer
			 qualifies for equal or better audit services under another subsidized program
			 of the federal, state, or local government or utility, the energy utility may
			 refer the commercial building customer to that program. Use of such services
			 shall be at the customer's option.
(12) During the course of an audit, an energy
			 utility shall not recommend fuel switching from one source of energy to
			 another. If it appears a change of energy sources might benefit the customer,
			 the customer shall be advised to seek independent consulting advice. However,
			 if in the case of a joint audit both utilities agree to recommend fuel
			 switching, such a recommendation may be made.
Stat. Auth.: ORS 183, 469, 756 & 757
Stats. Implemented: ORS
				  469.631 -
				  469.645 &
				  756.040