Current through Vol. 41, No. 13, March 15, 2024
(a) All natural gas utilities under rate
regulation of the Commission having more than 25,000 meters in the state of
Oklahoma shall propose, at least once every three years, and be responsible for
the administration and implementation of a Demand Portfolio of Demand Programs
within their service territories. Such proposals shall be made by filing an
application with the Commission on or before May 1 of the year the programs
will be effective. The application shall describe the Demand Portfolio and
contain the following information:
(1) A
description of the intent of the Demand Portfolio as a whole;
(2) A description of the intent of each
Demand Program;
(3) A description
and quantification of the target market of each Demand Program, differentiated
by customer sectors;
(4) A base
line describing the state of the market that each program is intended to
address, taking into account applicable building energy codes and appliance and
equipment energy standards;
(5) A
description of the barriers to investment in energy efficiency in the absence
of each Demand Program and the ways each Demand Program will reduce or
eliminate these barriers;
(6) A
description of research and public input that contributed to the development of
the content of each Demand Program;
(7) A report of the cost-effectiveness of
each Demand Program and the Demand Portfolio, including program and
measure-level supporting data which shall include, but not be limited to,
cost-effectiveness screening assumptions of gross and net energy savings,
participation and/or measure unit numbers, inducement levels, measure cost, and
other non-inducement program costs;
(8) A detailed description of the derivation
of the energy, generation, and transmission and distribution avoided costs,
retail cost projections, reserve margins, discount rates, and average and peak
line loss assumptions used in the cost-effectiveness calculations;
(9) A description of how each Demand Program
is expected to change over its course to reflect expected changes in market
penetration, technology, and other market information, as well as lessons
learned;
(10) A plan for
evaluation, measurement, and verification of performance and results of the
Demand Portfolio and each program, including a plan for the use of deemed
savings, if applicable, or the use of statistical sampling, if applicable, or
the use of metering, where appropriate; provided that costs associated with the
EM&V plan shall not exceed five percent (5%) of the total three-year Demand
Portfolio budget;
(11) A plan for
evaluation of the market effects of each Demand Program or applicable group of
programs;
(12) A plan for
evaluation of administration and implementation of each Demand Program or
applicable group of programs;
(13)
A plan for ending a Demand Program, if applicable;
(14) A process for amending a Demand
Program;
(15) An annual budget for
each Demand Program, providing detail for program costs, and differentiating
evaluation, measurement, and verification costs from other program
costs;
(16) A report on how the
Demand Portfolio is expected to affect rates, sales, average bills and total
revenue requirement for each customer sector;
(17) A report on how the Demand Portfolio
will meet savings goals that may be in place at the time of filing and or that
are otherwise proposed in the filing;
(18) An estimate of the expected savings in
natural gas usage, with location information about the source of savings, if
savings are not expected to be evenly distributed throughout the utility
system;
(19) A detailed explanation
of the utility's request for recovery of prudently incurred program costs,
recoupment of lost net revenue, and any additional incentives the utility
proposes it requires to make the programs workable;
(20) Identification of the Demand Portfolio
administrator, including name, job title, business postal address, business
electronic mail address, and business telephone number; and
(b) Demand Portfolios shall:
(1) Contain Demand Programs for all customer
sectors;
(2) Strike a balance among
procuring natural gas savings, educating the public, and transforming markets
for energy efficiency;
(3) Include
standard offers to customers and trade allies to encourage simple ways to
participate, where appropriate;
(4)
Contain customized opportunities for energy efficiency among larger
customers;
(5) Not include programs
or measures that promote fuel switching, with the exception of :
(A) programs or measures that promote
renewable technologies such as biomass-derived methane, geothermal, solar and
other renewable resources; or
(B)
in the event after notice and hearing, such programs or measures are shown to
promote the goals of the Commission pursuant to this Subchapter and/or
otherwise to be in the public interest;
(6) Have an implementation schedule of no
more than three years;
(7) Address
opportunities presented by new construction and renovation;
(8) Promote comprehensive energy efficiency
in buildings; and
(9) Address
programs for low-income customers and hard-to-reach customers to assure
proportionate Demand Programs are deployed in these customer groups despite
higher barriers to energy efficiency investments. Programs targeted to
low-income or hard-to-reach customers may have lower threshold
cost-effectiveness results than other programs.
(c) Demand portfolios may:
(1) Include research and development and
pilot programs that would lead to effective Demand Programs or other energy end
use efficiency for Oklahoma so long as the total budget for such programs does
not exceed five percent of the total budget for Demand Programs and the
Commission finds the cost-effectiveness for the Demand Portfolio remains
sufficient;
(2) Encourage utility
cooperation in state, regional and national programs that have the potential to
save natural gas in Oklahoma;
(3)
Encourage utility cooperation in state, regional and national programs to take
advantage of economies of scale, provide consistent mass media messages, or
otherwise improve program administration or customer acceptance ; and
(4) Encourage utility cooperation in state,
regional and national efforts to accelerate the development and improve the
enforcement of building energy codes and product efficiency
standards.
(d) Natural
gas utilities having fewer than 25,000 meters in this state are exempt from
filing application requirements in subsections (a) through (c); however, each
qualifying natural gas utility shall submit to the director of the Public
Utility Division for review, evidence of why it is not economically feasible to
file the application requirements in subsections (a) through (c), and shall
submit the following as evidence to further the goals of this Subchapter:
(1) A description of the Demand Programs that
are economically feasible to implement; and
(2) The target market of each Demand
Program.
(e)
Transportation customers shall not be subject to Demand Programsand related
Program costs implemented pursuant to this Subchapter.