NEET Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 11:00AM – 2:30PM

Executive Committee Members

Tom Karier, co-chair (NWPPC)

Pat Reiten, co-chair (Pacific Power)

Steve Wright, co-chair (BPA)

Cal Shirley (PSE)

Sara Patton (NWEC)

Phil Jones (WUTC)

Deb Young (Northwestern Energy)

Glenn Atwood (Seattle City Light)

Anita Decker (BPA)

Claire Fulenwider (NEEA)

Bob Rowe (Northwestern Energy)

Bill Drummond (BPA)

Bill Gaines (Tacoma Public Utilities)

Roger Woodworth (Avista)

Stan Price (NEEC)

Ralph Cavanagh (NRDC)

Clay Norris (EWEB)

Carol Dillin (PGE)

Pam Barrow (NWFPA)

Rhys Roth (Climate Solutions)

Theresa Gibney (ODOE)

Phil Welker (PECI)

Jim West (Snohomish County PUD)

Lisa Coltart (BC Hydro)

Richard Beam (Providence Health and Services)

Margie Harris (ETO)

External Presenters

Scot Davidson (NEEA)

Teri Duncan (PECI)

Ryan Fedie (BPA)

Lee Hall (BPA)

Jeff Harris (BPA)

Barbara Hins Turner (Centralia College)

Karen Horkitz (NEEA)

Rob Russell (NEEA)

Alan Hardcastle (Washington State University)

Michael Wehling (PSE)

Elaine Blatt (NEEA)

Jennifer Eskil (BPA)

NEET Administration

Ken Canon

Beth McQueston (NEEA)

Public Attendance:

Yes, no sign in sheet

Welcome & Agenda Overview

Ken Canon called the meeting to order at 11:02 AM. Following self introductions, Claire Fulenwider (NEEA) welcomed the participants and thanked everyone for their participation. Bill Gaines (Tacoma Power) welcomed all to Tacoma and spoke about the role of EE in Tacoma and the long history of EE in the area. Canon noted, with appreciation, the support and contributions of Claire Fulenwider, Karen Horkitz, Elaine Blatt, Lindsey Clark and Beth McQueston (all of NEEA) to this NEET effort. Canon reported that 255 aMW of energy efficiency was reported for 2010 by the Council. The challenge is to sustain that over time and build basic infrastructure to accelerate EE into the future. Canon explained that there is a written report on most of the Actions and that the presenters would provide an oral summary of achievements and ongoing challenges.

Action 1 – RTF Evaluation: Prepare an independent evaluation of the Regional Technical Forum (RTF) to determine how it can best meet the region’s needs in data collection, analysis, evaluation and dissemination of findings.

Action 1 Progress Measure:

Has the Northwest Power and Conservation Council commissioned a Steering Committee to produce specific RTF recommendations and, if so, have those recommendations been implemented?

Presentation Summary

Bill Drummond reported that an independent analysis indicated a need for additional work. The Policy Advisory Committee (RTF PAC) was chartered 4/15/11 and has met twice. Two points not in the report: It will be successful only with continued executive commitment, including all utilities and commissions. Second, on the EM&V question, this is still up in the air and needs the involvement of the right people. In Drummond's opinion, the RFT is maxed out on its workload under its current voluntary structure and it will probably need continued refinement to its structure which is within the purview of the new RTF Policy Advisory Committee.

Questions/Comments: Ralph Cavanagh – the importance of this cannot be understated. This is an institution with credibility, now the structure will allow it to move forward. Tom Karier – this effort took something good and made it better. A vehicle was created and it contributes, but now we have a sharper focus and scope. There are things the RTF will not be able to do, it has limits and there is much quality work ahead.

Action 2 - Data Needs: Compare how NEEA data collection effort activities mesh with NEET report recommendations and determine gaps for future regional attention.

Action 2 Progress Measure

Has the Northwest Research Group (NWRG) developed business case proposals for end-use load data and sales data development for all sectors and submitted those proposals to the Regional Coordination Group?

Presentation Summary

Rob Russell reported. The good news: The region is making progress on what to measure. The NW Research Group has developed a spreadsheet of regional research which outlines gaps and overlaps in data research. There is a continual need for economy of scale on research efforts. NEEA is making progress on market characterization research in the industrial and agriculture sectors which will be accomplished in 2011 and 2012. The residential building stock assessment (RBSA) is underway and commercial building stock assessment (CBSA) is in development. It is perceived that sales data needs in the region are diminishing.

The bad news is on the lack of up to date end use load shapes. Such data is 25 years old and doesn’t exist for more modern devices. Bobbi Wilhelm worked on a load shape library, and while there was much interest, there was little support. The RTF has issued a $100,000 RFP to determine the business case for this need. NEEA is examining alternative means to acquire similar data as part of its RBSA.

Questions/Comments:

Ken Canon - what is the cost of not knowing this information? Rob Russell – don’t know the answer, non-intrusive load monitoring devices may reduce the cost but not eliminate the need for wide spread research. Bill Drummond – order of magnitude for data collection? Rob Russell - 1986 cost was $25M; it would be more than that due to increased labor costs. Bill Drummond – barriers to doing it as a regional as opposed to non-shared separate data. There has been no objection to this being a regional effort. Roger Woodworth – smart grid data, has the NWRG looked at the potential use of this data to update the load shape data? Rob Russell – this has not been investigated to date. Roger Woodworth – it could help design the plan. Ken Canon – have we measured current five houses and compared them to 1986 data to get an idea of how big the difference might be? Rob Russell – not to my knowledge. Jeff Harris - Detailed metering of 100 houses will allow the comparison. But this would be residential only and not in the commercial sectors. Pat Reiten – how was this funded in the past. Rob Russell - Bonneville funded the 1986 effort. This was a large scale regional effort.

Action 3 - Emerging Technologies: Create a plan for NEEA, BPA and other regional entities to coordinate emerging technology activities and keep the “pipeline” full to meet future energy efficiency needs.

Action 3 Progress Measure

Has the region picked at least one of the emerging technologies and undertaken a collaborative effort to move it beyond technical and market barriers to wider adoption?

Presentation Summary

Jeff Harris and Ryan Fedie reported. BPA and NEEA are collaborating well on this topic and are looking to improve leverage and collaboration. Past investments led to today’s savings, we must now fill the pipeline for the future. They are building infrastructure, are learning how to manage innovation to provide the region with value through collaboration. Other emerging technology efforts in the region, with collaboration in the nascent stage, are EPRI, Idaho Power, ETO, and SCL. There would be advantages if these efforts were part of a more structured collaborative framework. The region has the Regional Emerging Technology Advisory Committee (RETAC), but it needs to be leveraged. The heat pump water heater (HPWH) collaborative shows good promise as the region united around a common goal, including extra-regional parties. This should be replicated in other areas. Scaling up and increasing scope is difficult. We need more focus on discovery and scanning in the global market place. There are some good metrics on how to describe the pipeline, but now need to determine what is needed in the early stages to provide aMW in 10-12 years. How much is enough? Need dialogue about how much the region should spend on ET. It is currently about 2% ($8-10M of BPA and NEEA) of total EE regional budget $400 million.

Questions/Comments:

Richard Beam – is there collaboration with national labs and the fed, private research labs? Jeff Harris – NEEA has worked with the PN National Lab. Ryan Fedie - BPA is working with EPRI. Scanning to sort through what is relevant to the NW. Richard Beam – DOE lab in CO was suggested. Jeff Harris - we have worked with ENRL. Phil Jones – R&D research money is important. Reach out to EPRI and redouble efforts with that organization. Need to follow tech abroad where it is being done. There are research organizations on the national level keeping track of this stuff and we should tap into that. The future is Asia. Claire Fulenwider – some measures have moved into the market transformation mode from an emerging technology mode. Work is occurring with the Rocky Mountain Institute. Margie Harris – Fred Gordon visit to Asia, could be a Marshall Fund proposal to them. Steve Wright – as an EPRI board member he noted that there is a problem in that EPRI funding for energy efficiency research is not hitting their targets with utility funders. Ken Canon – is there a national emerging technology conference? Ryan Fedie – California has a conference. But there seems to be none nationally.

Action 4 Energy efficiency forum and coordinated strategic planning for high impact energy efficiency initiatives: Create a forum within an existing regional entity to increase collaboration and help move forward on new and expanded energy efficiency efforts.

Action 4 Progress Measure

Has an energy efficiency online forum been established? Is it being used by regionally collaborative groups such as the NW Research Group, the Marketing Coordination Council and the Regional Coordination Group? Has a regional energy efficiency conference been scheduled? Has the Regional Coordination Group selected several high impact energy efficiency initiatives for a pilot; developed an implementation plan and implemented the pilots?

Presentation Summary

Karen Horkitz, Scot Davidson and Elaine Blatt presented. Significant progress in both areas, but still have gaps. Elaine spoke about infrastructure for collaboration. BPA and NEEA have collaborated on the creation of an energy efficiency online community that is called Conduit. It has almost 1000 registered users and continues to grow. It needs to grow as a tool over time to continue to be successful. There is more and better content, better interaction. The first Energy Connections NW conference was held last year. Based on surveys of participants, the networking aspect of the conference is the most valued strength reported last year. The conference will be in Spokane next year, to make it truly regional. Scot reported on the collaborative regional approach to high impact initiatives. NEEA’s Regional Portfolio Advisory Committee (RPAC) looked at the opportunity to avoid leaving savings on the table that we could have taken advantage of. Coordination has a number of flavors. Example: Puget Sound utilities coordination. Single utility gets support of others on a particular topic like LED checklist by PSE. NEEA initiatives should be collaborative by their nature. Regionally coordinated and planned initiatives are the final way, not yet realized, but we are moving in that direction in the future. It will not be easy to achieve. A big sell and strong commitments will be necessary. Compromise and long term thinking may be required. There is a regional coordination potential study underway; results should be available in about 6 months. NEEA will advance the four initiatives listed in this with a plan to engage the region with regional goals.

Questions/Comments

Ken Canon – The 4 Cs – Communication, Coordination, Cooperation, Collaborate all mean slightly different things. Scot’s’ work will merge with Ryan and Jeff’s work in ET. There were no further questions and comments.

Action 5 – Marketing: Conduct secondary research on behavior change initiatives related to consumer energy efficiency.

Action 5 Progress Measure

Has the Marketing Coordination Council convened to complete a work plan and to identify/establish marketing channels, messages and tools?

Presentation Summary

Teri Duncan and Elaine Blatt reported. The regional marketing coordinating council (RMCC) was convened and regional marketing framework and toolkit development is underway so it has met it progress goals. Messaging framework will be completed by end of November. Toolkit creation will begin later this year; it must be both adaptable and “plug and play” for smaller utilities. Challenges include that it must be used by utilities, RMCC offers opportunities to the region and the regional collaborative approach will continue. Teri reported that initial work was conducted with seed money, but it has made progress with NEEA support.

Questions/Comments:

Ken Canon – never envisaged such a great outcome from the experience in the early days. Richard Beam – as a regional large end user, I really appreciate this regional coordinated effort. Pat Reiten – this was one of our most ambitious areas, so this progress is great. Elaine Blatt – we are in the middle of the messaging effort and they will continue to do the creative work. A messaging hierarchy will be complete by the end of November. Most creative work will be done in Dec. /Jan. with roll out by the end of February. Messaging hierarchy will follow. Elaine Blatt previewed the powerful frames: 1. be part of the solution 2. Reducing waste (especially amongst “switchers” who showed little initial interest in EE). Anita Decker – effects on economy? Elaine Blatt – the desire to save money is the primary driver for energy efficiency but if that is the only reason only 14% are interested in engaging in EE activities. Anita Decker – did you talk to PNUCC about their electric research about what people think about the utility industry. Elaine Blatt – No. Anita Decker – it would be helpful for you to look at their research. Ken Canon - Shauna McReynolds would be the person. Roger Woodworth – “energy hog” campaign didn’t resonate with the Ad Council, it failed. Its failure showed the necessity to check the perspective. Coordinate marketing with the efforts of the NW Research Group because load and behavioral will give us more insight to target messages in the future. Rhys Roth – “switchers” – do people of different political leanings influence messaging? Elaine Blatt – no political bias was done. Lisa Coltart – agree with waste strategy, we worked with IEO (think tank); have to reach the heart not just the mind. Meet them where they are. They are in the middle of a three stage campaign. Elaine Blatt – we want to get away from lecturing. Steve Wright – exciting progress, stunning progress in fifteen months, NEEA needs to outreach to utilities and this group should help.

Action 6 and 7 - Energy Efficiency Workforce Development Assessment and

Curriculum Coordination: Define energy efficiency jobs distinct from other green-economy jobs, establish skill standards and identify job classifications for use throughout the Northwest (Action 6). Create a regional clearinghouse for energy efficiency job openings. Create a coordinating body to partner with energy efficiency entities to increase regional coordination on training, education programs, and curriculum and skill standards (Action 7).

Action 6 and 7 Progress Measures

Has Centralia College compiled and posted on its website current community college and apprenticeship energy efficiency programs offered in the NW states and those being developed through DOE and NSF funding? Has Centralia College established an advisory committee to guide efforts to conduct an assessment defining and segmenting energy efficiency jobs from other green economy jobs and to establish skill standards and identify energy efficiency job classifications that will be used across the region?

Presentation Summary

Cal Shirley, Barbara Hins Turner, Alan Hardcastle and Michael Wehling presented on this topic. Hins Turner reported on the leveraged Smart Grid grant that also supported the identification of specific demand side occupations and created a centralized training and recruiting portal. Hins Turner also reported that a new website has been developed that catalogs existing training and education programs in the Northwest; skill profiles for targeted occupations and other relevant information. She also explained the establishment of two primary committees which focused on grant governance and education. A clean energy excellence inaugural conference has been held. Hardcastle reported on the work from the point of view of WSU concerns about massive baby boomer retirements and a less prepared cohort to take over. There is a reprieve in the retirements due to the declining economy, but it could worsen the situation if they all leave in concert with an upturn. There has been some national work at Lawrence Berkley labs. Not a regional focus of the Northwest. We need more fine grade information on what the workforce of the future might looks like. Options – we could take a breather and wait and see or research efforts could be focused on a small number of critical, high value energy efficiency occupations that are, or soon will be in demand. NEET could invest in more critical questions they are interested in, since the questions have changed. NEET should keep its fingers on the pulse of this issue. Colleges cannot just flip a switch and start a program which will meet market demand.

Questions/Comments

Cal reported on the lack of research nationally as well as locally. Barbara leveraged the demand side occupations as part of the Smart Grid grant. There is a dearth of qualified engineers. We struggle if there is anything we can do regionally. It will take money to even focus on areas of specific interest. Bob Rowe – workforce development is valuable to utilities as well since it is the same issue for us. Cal Shirley – other industries have this issue as well, but we are looking for the right people for the right job. Bill Gaines – there is a parallel industry wide, electric power engineering. Claire Fulenwider – where there is difficulty in filling specific positions, Conduit could be used as recruiting mechanism to reach a broader audience for job search. Margie Harris – supports use of Conduit, but also has questions about diversity of the workforce? ETO has done work on bringing women and minorities into the workforce and they can share the research. Carol Dillon – Explained the observations about OSU’s engineering programs and the lack of awareness of utilities by the students. They had to speak to young people in their language of sustainability etc. to incite their interest.

Action 8 - Cost Effectiveness Manual: Review regional cost-effectiveness policies and create a guide to increase understanding of how cost effectiveness rules and regulations are applied.

Action 8 Progress Measure

Is there a need for a regionally oriented cost effectiveness manual?

Presentation Summary and Comments

Sara Patton compared the 96 page 2008 comprehensive cost effectiveness manual written by a national organization (which uses many NW examples) to a short chapter on the same topic from a power plan guide. Do we need a medium sized document (8 pages) to explain this to regulators for $10-40K? Ken asked for utility comments, none were forthcoming. The Committee was comfortable where they are. Bob Rowe - What would it do beyond what is available? Roger Woodworth - is it to create a laypersons version? Anita Decker – if it was created would everyone use it? Richard Beam - there is a good audience for end users and their staff. Phil Jones - the average tenure of a PUC commissioner is 3.5 years. There would be a need to keep it basic for legislators. Jim West – two questions, do we want to simplify the literature or are we making a business case to financial executives?

Meeting Summary

Action 9 Smart Grid, Load Management and Voltage Optimization – Increase regional collaboration on programs that address smart grid, load management, distribution efficiency and conservation voltage regulation

Action 9 Progress Measures

Is the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project on a path to complete contracts, design and build the “system of systems” and install equipment at subprojects?

What has been learned from the Demand Response pilots that help to develop the long term demand response roadmap?

What has been the response to the Voltage Optimization education and training programs? Is the Voltage Optimization program on pace to meet its 20 aMW five year target?

Presentation Summary

Jennifer Eskil reported on the progress of the distribution system efficiency effort which also includes voltage optimization. Following the RTF’s approval of a simplified voltage optimization protocol, BPA worked with NWPPA to offer technical training to utilities throughout the region. So far, the region is not on pace to meet the Plan’s five year saving targets. Eskil gave several reasons for that result including a preference by utilities to funnel energy efficiency incentives to customers; an internal lack of communication between utility energy efficiency and transmission teams and a lack of data at the metering substation required additional data gathering by utilities.

Lee Hall gave a presentation on the significant Smart Grid and demand response efforts underway in the region. These are in the demonstration or pilot project phase as the effort is scheduled to take 5 years. These are large projects involving over $175 million dollars of investment and the involvement of over 60,000 customers. A number of measures will be tested throughout this effort, not the least of which is to prove the business case for these types of improvements. Developing communication protocols and other standards will also result. 13 utilities are involved in BPA’s evolving portfolio of demand response pilots. Hall noted that demand response continues with themes of collaboration and partnership. Need to acknowledge leadership in trying new things. There is shared learning. Flathead Electric is working on demand response (appliance controls) in 80 homes. They were able to do it for $800 per home, much lower than what many assumed would cost $4000. BPA and the utilities are also testing how to use energy storage. This is primarily small scale in residential with some industrial. The testing of energy storage devices concentrates on customers who will get the benefit of the payback. There was collaboration on data analysis. They have gone from theory, to test cases with the consumer, to business case for demand response. Overall there has been $59M of the $178M spent to date. There are challenges of getting though numerous IT issues. Outside of BPA, Idaho Power, PacifiCorp and Snohomish County PUD have programs in place for distribution system efficiencies, working on the backside before Smart Meters.

Questions/Comments: Ken Canon – need to correlate the current results on voltage optimization with the Council’s 6th plan assumptions of achieving 400 aMW over 20 years. Clay Norris – happy to hear of moving to exploring the business case, impact of the pricing case with wind energy. Lee Hall – cross functional team – looking at price structures and strategies. Fewer price drivers here since our energy prices are less, but it is not a simple equation. Of interest to utilities are the distribution systems investments as compared to the wholesale price of power. Richard Beam – we are working with PGE to be able to bring 400 hours of back up generation from the hospital onto the grid. Ken Canon – are you tracking Smart Grid efforts around the nation? Lee Hall – keeping close track on what others are doing in order to avoid the same mistakes of MD and IL. Rhys Roth – asked whether Simplot was participating in any of the Smart Grid pilots? Lee Hall– no food processors in the demo project, but there are lots of good ideas still to be considered.

Action 10 – Decoupling: Develop a voluntary decoupling pilot for a public power utility.

Action 10 Progress Measure

Have any public utilities engaged in a form of decoupling in order to spur greater energy efficiency?

Report Summary

Ralph Cavanagh brought up decoupling in the context of public power. Offer on the table to work with one Northwest public to decouple to reduce borrowing costs. No willing partner identified in the Northwest. You could benefit from the California research.

Second offer: Facebook interested in the old Hood River Project. Challenge your neighbors with FB, with utility participation. Terry Oliver consulting since he was the driver in the Hood River Project. University partner for evaluation, link to messaging campaign. Steve Wright – Facebook should challenge its commercial “neighbors” such as Google or Amazon.

Meeting Summary/Next Steps

Pat Reiten – thanks to the presenters and those that have worked on the various Actions and to Ken for facilitation. The discussion today indicates a lot of substance is coming out of this group. Pacific Power is looking for their fourth year of load reduction. It is beneficial that we are digging into data rather than a vague sense of the right thing to do. Synergies with Providence and the O power experience. Good day and good exercise.

Tom Karier – A strong sense of appreciation and optimism. Appreciation for a great process from beginning to end. Very worthwhile and the work and accomplishments and pointing out of holes is important. We are looking beyond an action plan to solving parts of these critical problems. Optimism that the region is well on its way to meeting the energy efficiency targets of the 6th Council Plan. Council targets made the region pessimistic, but our banner year in 2010 proved them wrong. EE is not like a power plant (plan and built in three years), it has to be sustained and efficiencies can come from that. The region is coming through a bad recession and is looking at energy efficiency beyond CFLs. There was $360M spent on EE in 2010 that resulted in annual electrical savings of $135 M. This represents a great rate of return.

Steve Wright – question to the group. More progress than realized. The team leads went off with a mission and accomplished most of them. It is surprising how many actions still in motion. So how do we keep them moving? Where is the connection to a leaderships group? Three functions that an executive group provides:

Guidance, based on evolving experience on the executive level

Outreach to colleagues

Control of funding

There is a need for a group to have a connection to the workgroups to keep them going. But this shouldn’t be a static group. We need to continually refresh the effort. Where does this go to maintain momentum of good work going on?

Claire Fulenwider: Steve Wright has posed an important regional question. NEEA has always carried the mantle of regional coordination at some level. NEEA could play a role at the pleasure of the region. Monitoring, triaging and convening the body.

Bill Gaines – One model to look at is the American Hydropower Association. It has a CEO council, to assemble and provide the three needs outlined by Steve.

Ralph Cavanagh – this group is self-refreshing. If we could convene annually, it works and would be an asset. Plead to be willing to convene and keep the work going.

Ken Canon – the work the group has done is remarkable, due to the work of those behind the scenes in the audience. Do not confuse with NEEA’s role, brings in diverse, good voices. NEET as an organization was a short term organization. It should go away and be reconstituted in some other form NEET needs six month notice for meetings to allow the work groups to complete as much of their assignments as possible.

Margie Harris – value of unique traits as a region and our collaborative basis. NEET should have annual meetings in conjunction with Energy Connection NW conference where most members would attend anyway. Ken’s role is vital to the continuation of this organization. This effort supports the need to continually communicate – at all levels.

Claire Fulenwider – executive guidance is something NEEA cannot provide, that is the value of this organization

Bill Gaines – agree with the three needs, there are things on the supply side some are not aware of, top level executives need this. There is a lot of money involved

Tom Karier – continual need to refresh people and process, it has gone as far as we can go. We don’t want to just continue to follow these problems, what are the new action items that are needed? How does it get filtered up to this group?

Bill Drummond – need for executive leadership is evident. Rob Russell’s presentation about data and the costs involved cannot be left to staff and their more parochial interests. It can only happen in a place like this. What form? This is a very different role than NEEA’s traditional role, or Bill’s idea of an executive forum, where we can make the commitments that are necessary.

Pat Reiten – need to discuss challenges. We identified areas and drilled into action items. Some are resolved and the fact that it leads to actionable items, any follow on would need to continue this. NEET should give credit to those entities that hosted the various action items.

Ken Canon – reminded the group that they went out and raised money to facilitate the work on some of the Actions and of NEET itself. There was heavy lifting by the people around this table and among the non-utility partners as well.

Ken Canon – turned to the discussion of potential new energy efficiency issues for an executive level group to focus upon. What are the new things we should be driving on that we aren’t?

Rhys Roth – vehicle electrification is coming although outside of the current utility mode.

Carol Dillin – we think that Rhys’ suggestion is a great opportunity and we are working on it with PSU.

Phil Jones –1. Behavior modification, O power, etc. We need to think bigger. 2. Greenhouse gas reduction. EPA wants to know how to use EE to combat greenhouse gases. This is the nexus of EE and environmental compliance.

Ken Canon – necessary move on standardizing EM&V to address this area of carbon compliance.

Sara Patton - We have made progress on EM&V; the RTF is not looking at program impact. Best practices on program impact.

Richard Beam: What future buildings look like? WSU integrated design lab. Need to translate beyond hospitals in the climate zone to all types of buildings.

Margie Harris – issues that fall out of the condition of our economy and the changes on how utilities operate in those conditions. There are threshold issues. No and low-cost measures and behavior change will be increasingly important. We need to consider the emotional aspects of consumers. ETO is working with MIT on understanding the customer base.

Glenn Attwood – dynamics of the code changing, orientation less from resources acquisition in the long term to make next code improvement

Cal Shirley – Emerging technology in the field of energy information – the home automation area is starting to grow. Even though many large players are in the field, it opens the door to simpler solutions. People are looking at distributive generation, and solar costs going down. Energy efficiency is a cousin to distributive generation. Energy storage solutions may be a downside for the utility energy.

Phil Welker – we have to change the frame, how to get deeper penetration, looking far beyond whether or not a single measure works. Need to be beyond measure engaged. Shift frame for deeper savings, what is the leverage and strength of the utility lobby. We have the need for more and deeper engagement with the customer, over the long term.

Pam Barrows – agrees with what Phil says. They have workshops but where they see results is where we have our relationship with our food processor members and we continue to build on it.

Phil Welker – the utilities have impeccable delivery, no one worries about the food in their fridge and make contingencies plans. Not an earnings opportunity for utilities. It is an expense.

Stan Price – like to think that the successes of the last few years are due to the stronger collaboration in this room. It led to a stronger use of trade ally networks and third party implementers. We have and need more reliance on specialized expertise in markets with long term relationships with customers. We have learned about collaboration, and are really doing it but we have only just scratched the surface of it.

Ken Canon – business energy tax credit is expiring. There are new issues worthy of thought and discussion. Need an executive group to keep everyone focused.

Steve Wright - what about workforce development?

Cal Shirley – we need to figure out what the key position types are? Defer to Alan – early evidence from utilities is the nexus of smart grid to information technology and data management. This will lead to a long term conversation with our education and training sector to prepare people for this area. We know we need to fill the pipeline, but we unsure if we should just let the market take care of it.

Carol Dillin – we have to understand the customer experience to understand what this means to them.

Barbara Hins Turner – we had our grant applied to the EE side. Added the demand side because we don’t know what the labor market demand will be and what skills are needed within these applications.

Roger Woodworth – commonalities – erases “efficiency” and replaces it with energy related jobs. Perhaps a two year certification or a core curriculum in energy would be most effective.

Barbara Hins Turner - Need more than one year of community college to deliver that type of worker.

Roger Woodworth – we need larger number of workers outside energy efficiency

Alan Hardcastle – you want a specialist not a generalist, with a solid foundation.

Roger Woodworth - we all agree on the generalities now.

Ryan Fedie – kids are exciting about what we are doing. But they don’t know this is what we do.

Ken Canon – Work force is a really hard issue for energy efficiency. It doesn’t have a natural sponsor within the typical energy efficiency entities. It is hard to get a community effort to move forward. There is no definition for an energy efficiency job. Even the federal government is struggling with this.

Cal Shirley – Where do we go from here? We know people are important. Roger’s point illustrates the larger problem, the delta of the people on the ground ready to do any work. At PSE half of employees are less than 4 years. We have to compete with other sectors for the best and the brightest. Will we be able to compete?

Ken Canon – Energy efficiency is attractive to young people and can lead them to want to work in the utility industry.

Roger Woodworth – efficiency that has a nexus of transportation, water, and diverse areas. Retool workforce to think differently on how they apply skills. We can change the issue of energy. We know the core skill sets.

Anita Decker – there are a number of workforce initiatives in the region beyond this program. General knowledge and how to replace the institutional knowledge developed from within the organizations. You can’t wait on the utilities.

Alan Hardcastle – we are not waiting; we are going forward on a shoestring. This is an industry at risk.

Rhys Roth – sounds like we should not wait for the market to address this. We may need regional investment in this.

Steve Wright – way forward: support for NEET-like function

To refresh its membership and issues/opportunities. There should be a survey of members to see who would be willing to continue to serve with a commitment to carry out the three functions listed above.

To review issues it is already pursuing and ask for sponsors of activities that are currently untethered, to determine what new issues need attention and to determine how that work gets accomplished.

A charter for the group that does not overlap with NEEA and that establishes a rotating chair to allow for succession planning.

To retain Ken Canon, if feasible, to continue his contribution to this effort.

Cal Shirley - Ken are you willing to stay? Ken is willing to stay; there is great value to this. But depends who he is tethered to.

Steve Wright – need succession planning, Tom Karier is in.

Ken Canon – we will work with NEEA to plan a survey and other steps

The meeting was adjourned.