Utility Analysis and Site Selection

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• Utility Analysis and Site Selection

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Are the HUD Incentives My Best Option?

• Function of many factors - evaluate
• Long-term capital equipment replacement needs
• Exceed available HUD capital funding?
• Timeline
• Level of need
• Level of resident occupancy, comfort, and
  cooperation
• Maintenance staffing and costs
• REMEMBER - maintenance savings may be real, but
  cant be used to determine cost-effectiveness of
  the project under HUD rules.
• Management staffing
• Consistent use of the facility

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Are the HUD Incentives My Best Option?

• Can an Efficiency Program Self-Fund?
• High Consumption?
• High Rates?
• Can you buy-down the project using
  Modernization Funds for non-energy/water
  components?
• Investigating these questions can save you from
  going down dead end path
• REMEMBER - You must be able to re-pay a loan from
  savings!

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Utility Analysis

• Do this before issuing RFP!
• Tracking consumption makes this easier
• Software to help
• Reports to help with HUD reporting requirements
• Graphics to visualize information
• Units of consumption, not just dollars
• By apartment, building, meter
• ESCo will want this data
• Aids in management and maintenance as well

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Utility Analysis

• Use your currently available data
• Work with your utility to fill in gaps
• Need tenant releases to get data on actual bills
  that are tenant paid
• PUT THIS IN YOUR LEASE!
• Provides means of ensuring allowances make tenant
  whole and conservation program savings arent
  borne on the back of the residents.
• Directs measures and sites for consideration

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Utility Analysis

• Resources for crunching the numbers
• Consultants
• Past audits
• In-House staff
• Tracking software
• ESCOs???
• You want this determination before issuing RFP
• Much of the work on HAs end - gathering data
• Beware of obligating yourself at this stage of
  the game - fee-for-service only?

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Benchmarking

• How do your Sites Compare to Others?
• Rough estimate
• Weather Normalize
• Heating Degree Days
• Takes out climate as factor
• Normalize for Square Footage

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Benchmarking

• Common Measures
• /square foot
• Btu/square foot/heating degree day
• Gallons/day/resident
• Btu/s.f./HDD normalizes for weather and for size
  of building
• Still need to account for rates
• 6 cents/kwh vs. 12 cents/kwh -gt two times the pot
  of savings for a given amount of consumption.

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Benchmarking

• Can help you ID best candidates within your
  portfolio
• Phased RFP
• May leave some out altogether
• Dont waste your time and the ESCos by pursuing
  sites that wont yield a cost-effective,
  self-funding conservation program

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Evolution of Selected Sites through Performance
Contracts

• Developments are identified by the PHA in the RFP
• Phased, with option to expand
• Based on utility analysis, building use and
  capital needs
• Measures are screened and proposed by ESCOs in
  the audit
• 2 phase audit report
• Proposed measures are evaluated by the PHA
• Measure design installation is performed by
  ESCO under an ESA

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Site Selection for RFP

• ID your desires and needs
• Look at the realities of
• level of consumption
• level of rates
• cost of capital
• occupancy rate
• long-range plans for the site
• other available funds
• BE FLEXIBLE - Be open to the ESCOs suggestions
  during the bidding and audit processes

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Where to Look for Savings

• In the Midwest, New England, and other heating
  climates, typical PHA Candidate Developments for
  Energy Performance Contracts have high historic
  utility consumption or cost patterns for
• Heating
• Domestic hot water production
• Common area lighting electric loads
• Domestic water use

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Where to Look for Savings

• In the cooling climates, typical PHA Candidate
  Developments for Energy Performance Contracts
  have high historic utility consumption or cost
  patterns for
• Domestic hot water production
• Common area lighting electric loads
• Domestic water use
• Cooling Savings
• Normalizing for Cooling Degree Days not allowed
  by HUD
• Issue - who pays the bill? Can HA recover
  cooling savings?
• 24 CFR 965.506(e)

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Information to Provide in an RFP

• See Sample Technical Section for RFP in
  Resource Guide
• Include, by building, meter or complex
• Utility monthly use and cost over three years
• Name of facility
• Number of dwelling units
• Occupancy levels
• Family or elderly residence
• Rough description of construction and systems

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Best Candidate Types

• Master metered for all utilities, multiple
  buildings
• Can do tenant paid, with waiver
• Adds complications to savings calculations
• Has not received modernization in over 10 years

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Basic Site Types to Include

• 1940s vintage with central space heating/domestic
  hot water plants
• All-electric high/mid-rises in climates with
  annual 5000 HDDs and 0.08 kWh
• Newer vintage townhouse style, individual heat
  and DHW can be done
• 1 year old buildings with 100 year old problems
• Base choice on results of utility analysis and
  rough estimate of cost of measure!

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Basic Site Types NOT to Include

• Scattered sites single detached houses or
  duplexes in clusters of one to one dozen
• Challenge is in getting consistent performance
  and documented savings at all houses

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Other Factors to Consider

• Scheduled heating/cooling/DHW/distribution system
  replacement
• Mechanical systems with high maintenance,
  operational costs
• Necessary window replacements
• Virtually never are cost-effective from
  energy-savings standpoint alone!
• Equipment measures and/or appliances scheduled
  for replacement in PHA's Five Year CGP Plan

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Other Factors to Consider

• Developments expected to remain under PHA
  management for at least the next decade
• Developments and measures with a rich savings
  stream supported by relatively low cost
  investments
• Bundling opportunities for maximum leverage of
  capital improvements
• Developments with central laundries
• Other criteria articulated by PHA personnel

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Audit Phase

• Monthly utility use histories and account
  numbers actual copies of bills important
• Previously implemented energy-related
  modernization plans and dates of implementation
• Previously completed energy audits and surveys
• Capital needs assessment reports

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Audit Phase

• Require ESCO to
• 1. Develop baseline for each utility, per HUD
  requirements
• 2. Perform end use disaggregation of utilties
• 3. Normalize data
• 4. Establish savings projections in relation to
  base years
• 5. Evaluate in-pocket savings vs. HUD savings

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Before Any Measures May Be Formally Screened by
the ESCO, the ESCO Must

• Evaluate the quality of the data
• Clean it
• Analyze it by End Use
• End Use Disaggregation must be performed by an
  energy engineer or conservation professional.

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Energy and/or Water Baseline Consumption

• The Baseline is the ESCOs assessment of the
  pre-retrofit utility consumption and cost.
• It must be approved by HUD.
• Based on Rolling Base, and/or
• Reviewed Utility Allowances
• It provides the basis for
• ESCO savings projections and measure screening
• Calculation and payment for actual savings
  achieved

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Water Data for A Client Housing Authority

• Four developments
• 1. Riverview family development, 180 dwelling
  units in 45 quads, walk-ups
• 2. OBrien Towers elderly development, 275
  dwelling units in one mid-rise building (six
  stories)
• 3. Pagnano Towers elderly development, 156
  dwelling units in one high-rise building (15
  stories)
• 4. Drohan Apartments elderly development, 40
  units in one low-rise building (three stories)

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Utility Data in PHAs RFP included Energy
Consumption and Costs, by Site, per Month

• In Audit Phase, ESCo retrieved data directly from
  the utilities
• Computer printouts containing monthly use and
  cost information
• Paid data entry clerks to put utility
  information in Excel files
• They were able to analyze the utility data and
  form the BASELINE

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Quincy Water Measures

• Riverview none
• OBrien New water closets, new faucet aerators,
  showerheads
• Pagnano New water closets, repair leaks, new
  faucet aerators, showerheads
• Drohan New water closets, new faucet aerators,
  showerheads

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Re-Cap of Steps for Utility Analysis

• Gather readily available utility data on
  consumption and cost on site-by-site basis
• 3 years is best, and will be needed for the ESCo
  to establish baseline for HUD
• Determine if gaps exist and impacts of these gaps
• Work to gather remaining data if appropriate
• Look at changes in occupancy, use or equipment
  during the period youre evaluating

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Re-Cap of Steps for Utility Analysis

• Understand how your PHA is processing the
  utility bills and reporting the usage to HUD
• make changes in tracking procedures if needed
• Tabulate your gathered utility data in total
  and on site-by-site basis
• Calculate portfolio-wide average
• Calculate averages for each development
• Compare the developments with the portfolio
  average and other benchmarks
• This will help you to identify the outliers
  family sites, elderly sites, high-rise vs.
  walk-ups