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Updated commercial and industrial incentives as of April 5, 2021

May 10, 2021

Energy Trust recently updated commercial and industrial incentives and requirements for 2021. Changes went into effect on April 5, 2021 and were announced that day in a webinar for commercial and industrial trade allies and stakeholders. A recording of the webinar and copy of the presentation is available online. 

The changes impact Energy Trust’s Existing Buildings program and Production Efficiency standard and custom tracks. Business Lighting incentive changes were announced separately in late January 2021. Current incentive information is available for commercial and standard industrial customers on Energy Trust’s website. 

Background 

In 2020, Energy Trust introduced bonus incentives for commercial and industrial customers to stimulate the market, support customers and trade allies, and help Energy Trust reach savings goals as customers faced pandemic-related barriers to energy-efficiency projects. It took some time for businesses to respond. However, by fall 2020, there was a steep increase in bonus participation, resulting in an unusually high pipeline of commercial and industrial electric efficiency projects completing in early 2021. As a result, a smaller portion of the 2021 incentive budget is available for new projects than in typical years. 

Going Forward 

Energy Trust is expanding its commercial and industrial incentive budgets by shifting funds from other areas of the organization and proposing an Amended 2021 Budget and 2021-2022 Action Plan with additional revenues and energy savings. We already maintain very low administrative and program support costs, below 8% of annual revenues, as required by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. We have shifted approximately $1.2 million to commercial and industrial incentives by reducing costs in areas of marketing, outreach, evaluation and administrative projects in 2021. The combination of these additional funding strategies, plus incentive reductions and caps will allow Energy Trust to maintain incentives for commercial and industrial customers in 2021, but at a reduced level. 

With the amended 2021 budget, we expect to provide approximately $6 million more in total incentive dollars this year than we did in 2020. We also expect to achieve electric savings of 47.4 aMW, an increase of 2.4 aMW over our approved budget 2021 goal of 45.0 aMW.  

Summary of Existing Buildings and Production Efficiency Incentive Changes

Effective April 5, 2021 

Standard Industrial and Agriculture Incentives and Requirements 

  • Reduced rebates for some electric equipment types​  
  • New caps on annual incentives for electric calculated incentives and rebates. Caps differ based on electric utility. 
  • No changes to gas incentives​ 
  • Customers are eligible for Energy Trust incentives through other program tracks beyond standard industrial limits, if applicable 

Standard Industrial and Agriculture Incentives and Requirements—Calculated  

  • Pre-approval required 
  • $0.30 per annual kWh energy saved 
  • Up to 70% of eligible project cost 
  • New annual incentive caps apply:
    • For industrial projects: One project per system type, per year, per site
      • Portland General Electric: $40,000/per year, per site
      • Pacific Power: $10,000/per year, per site for projects with savings up to 100,000 kWh; $15,000/per year, per site for project with savings over 100,000 kWh 
    • For irrigation projects: No limit on number of applications (until per–site calculated incentive cap is reached) 
      • PGE: $40,000/per year, per site 
      • Pacific Power: $10,000/per year, per site for projects with savings up to 100,000 annual kilowatt-hours; $15,000/per year, per site for project with savings over 100,000 annual kilowatt-hours 

Standard Industrial and Agriculture Incentives and Requirements—Equipment Rebates 

  • Some rebates are reduced
  • New annual incentive caps apply:
    • For industrial equipment: One application per system type, per year, per site
        • PGE: $40,000/per year, per site
        • Pacific Power: $10,000/per year, per site 
        • See Energy Trust’s industrial rebate pages or grow operations page for details 
    • For irrigation equipment: No limit on number of applications (until per site incentive cap is reached) 
      • PGE: $40,000/per year, per site
      • Pacific Power: $10,000/per year, per site 
  • Updated rebate applications are available through Insider 

Existing Buildings and Multifamily (Non-Lighting) Incentives and Requirements

  • Annual site caps for customers served by PGE and Pacific Power
  • Incentive reductions and discontinued incentives for customers served by Pacific Power
  • New incentive caps for custom projects completed through Existing Buildings and Multifamily program

Existing Buildings and Multifamily Project Incentive Caps—Standard  

  • Apply to electric-only measures​ 
  • Maximum annual incentive cap for projects at customer sites served by PGE: $12,000​ 
  • Maximum annual incentive cap for projects at customer sites served by Pacific Power: $6,000​ 
  • Caps are per site, per year​ 
  • See Energy Trust’s website for details

The following incentives have changed and may vary by utility. Please visit Energy Trust’s website for the new incentive amounts. 

  • Packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHP) in lodging only 
  • Forklift battery chargers 
  • Inverter-driven welders 
  • Insulation (attic, roof, wall) 

The following incentives are no longer available for Pacific Power customers:  

  • Anti-sweat heater controls 
  • Evaporator fan motors 
  • Refrigerated doors
  • New cooler cases with doors 
  • Floating head pressure controls (FHPC) 
  • Floating suction pressure controls (FSPC) 

Existing Buildings and Multifamily Incentive Caps—Custom Projects 

  • Maximum 2021 electric incentives capped at: 
    • $12,000 for customers served by PGE
    • $6,000 for customers served by Pacific Power 
    • See the Energy Trust website for details and contact your energy advisor if you have questions 

Energy Trust remains committed to supporting our customers and trade allies in 2021. We will keep trade allies informed of any incentive changes throughout the year. If you have questions about any of this information, please contact: 

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