The Energy Performance Program 2021
Enhancements have been made to the program to provide stability for participants and to ensure sustained energy savings over their contract terms. Changes include new payments for achieving summer peak demand savings in addition to annual energy savings. The contract term is extended to three years, and upfront incentive payments are included to support initial capital investments. Technical requirements have also been streamlined to improve the customer experience and to reduce administrative burden.
Incentive Information:
Energy Incentive:
Peak Demand Incentive:
Program Information
The contract term is three years.
Applications approved by December 31, 2024, are eligible for three pay-for-performance periods, i.e., up to December 31, 2027.
The participant must be a commercial, institutional, or industrial customer and the facility must be connected to the IESO-controlled grid or a distribution system.
Only the Save on Energy - Energy Manager Program can be used in conjunction with the Energy Performance Program. Any incented projects under the Retrofit or Process and Systems Upgrade programs should be completed and in service prior to the commencement of the baseline period.
An individual building consuming fewer than 1,500,000 kWh is not eligible for the Energy Performance Program. If you have multiple buildings, you may aggregate up to five buildings into one facility, as long as their combined annual consumption is at least 1,500,000 kWh and no individual building exceeds the annual consumption threshold of 1,500,000 kWh.
A standard application normally takes 15 to 20 business days to review. This does not include any information requests or discussions with the consultant or prospective participant that may be necessary due to any deficiencies in the application and/or supporting documentation.
Yes, you can. Once your application to participate in the Energy Performance Program is approved and you have received an IESO-executed agreement, any facility applications that are subsequently approved are added as an additional schedule to the original agreement.
Note that for all new facilities you must submit a new Facility Application Form along with a new baseline energy model for that facility for technical review.
Energy Performance Program participants receive a performance incentive based on electricity savings per year determined by comparing metered consumption to the adjusted baseline energy model. Participants will receive $0.04/kWh of savings with the incentive capped at 20 percent of the facility baseline energy use.
Program participants will also receive a performance incentive based on summer peak demand reduction, determined by comparing metered demand to the adjusted baseline energy model. Participants will receive $50/kW of savings with the incentive capped at 20 percent of the facility baseline summer peak demand.
The program requires that you have 12 months of interval data. If you do not have at least 12 months of interval data, you are ineligible to participate in the Energy Performance Program.
The participant is committed to the program for a two-year term.
If you implement gas-savings measures that result in electricity savings, the electricity-savings portion will count toward your Energy Performance Program performance incentive.
No, with the introduction of the upfront payment, the $1,500 modelling incentive is no longer included in the program.
Once a participant’s application and baseline energy model are approved, the participant will receive a one-time advance of part of the anticipated performance incentive for each facility, calculated as follows:
Baseline Energy Consumption * 2.5% * $0.04/kWh
Participants are eligible to receive $50/kW of summer peak demand reduction, calculated as the difference between the summer peak demand predicted for a facility by the baseline energy model and the actual summer peak demand recorded by the facility’s revenue-grade electricity meter for the same performance period, in accordance with the program M&V Procedures.
The Retrofit program provides incentives on a per-measure basis to support specific energy-efficiency capital projects and initiatives. The EPP provides incentives on a facility level and measure-agnostic basis (i.e., savings are assessed based on overall reduction to facility energy use resulting from equipment upgrades, O&M improvements and/or behavioural initiatives).
The EPP provides a three-year term with annual payments of $0.04/kWh for total energy savings achieved through each of the three performance periods. The EPP also provides a peak demand savings adder of an additional $50/kW achieved through each of the three performance periods (provided that an hourly baseline model is submitted). In addition to offering incentives for facility improvements that are not currently available under the Retrofit program (e.g., O&M and behavioural changes), the three-year cumulative value of the energy and peak demand incentives paid under the EPP can often exceed the Retrofit incentives available for the same equipment upgrades.
A comprehensive comparison of the EPP and Retrofit program can be found here.
Wherein both the IESO and the participant enter into the program with the expectation of saving a minimum of five percent of the facility consumption, the IESO understands that changed circumstances can impact a participant’s ability to meet this minimum requirement. The IESO is therefore offering participants the flexibility to forgo the 2.5 percent upfront pre-project incentive payment and receive payment only for actual savings achieved through the pay-for-performance period reporting.
The IESO recommends waiting for your application to be approved before implementing any energy or demand saving measures and activities. This ensures that your baseline energy model meets the program requirements prior to the initiation of projects. You can start your projects once your application is submitted, but choosing to do so before receiving approval means you take on the risk of not receiving incentives for initiated measures and activities should your application not be approved.
You can elect to receive the upfront pre-project incentive after your facility has been approved to participate in the EPP. You must submit an invoice for the approved pre-project incentive amount to info@energyperformanceprogram.ca for review. Once approved please allow 8-12 weeks to receive your incentive payment.
You will receive an incentive corresponding to the approved savings achieved during each pay-for-performance period after you have submitted and received approval for the savings report for your pay-for-performance period. Please submit your savings report and any applicable supporting documents to info@energyperformanceprogram.ca for review. Once approved, please allow 8-12 weeks to receive your incentive payment.
Monitoring and Metering
You may aggregate several smaller buildings that individually do not meet the minimum annual consumption threshold of 1,500,000 kWh, to a maximum of five buildings, into one single baseline model. The aggregated sites would constitute one facility for the purposes of the program. The buildings should be close enough to each other to be able to use the same weather data source. Your facility's hourly energy consumption would be the sum of the hourly energy consumption of each of your aggregated buildings.
Hourly interval data sourced from a Measurement Canada-certified meter is required to create your 365-day model. If you have data in intervals more frequent than hourly (e.g., 15-minute intervals), this must be aggregated into hourly data. An hourly-to-daily meter data aggregation tool is available on the EPP website.
All baseline model calculations must be transparent and replicable by the technical reviewer. Third-party modelling software can be used to drive the models. A complete package, including coefficients and resulting model outputs, must be submitted to the technical reviewer with the application.
Historically, most applicants submitted their baseline energy models using Microsoft Excel's "Data Analysis" pack. The IESO has received baseline models created using RETScreen and they are acceptable. Regardless of the software/tool used, you must meet the program requirements outlined in Schedule "E" M&V Procedures, which forms part of the EPP Agreement v3.0.
For the Energy Performance Program, IPMVP Option C (whole building analysis approach) is used to calculate electricity savings.
The IPMVP uses this equation:
Avoided Energy Consumption = (Baseline Period Energy ± Routine Adjustment to Reporting Period Conditions ± Non-Routine Adjustments to the Reporting Period Conditions) - Reporting Period Energy
You can use data from either Environment Canada or NASA's weather stations. Participants with multiple facilities participating in the program can use either weather data source, but the IESO does not recommended using both interchangeably across the participating facilities.
This "one-off" year situation would require a non-routine baseline adjustment and should be included in the energy modelling report submitted with the facility application. The IESO recommends that you strive for a typical year in the baseline energy modelling. Please discuss your "one-off" year situation with the technical reviewer during the application process.
No, facility electricity consumption includes line loss.
Technical Information
The requirement for submitting two Baseline Model Assessment Reports (28-Day Rolling Variance and CUSUM Report) have been removed.
Non-routine adjustments to baseline models are done on a case-by-case basis depending on the type of facility.
You should always inform the IESO and the technical reviewer of any significant changes to your facility, who will then work with you to determine whether the non-routine adjustment approach can be considered during the reported period. Any Non-Routine Events (NREs) & Non-Routine Adjustments (NRAs) should be performed in accordance to the IPMVP Application Guide on Non-Routine Events & Adjustments October 2020 EVO 10400 – 1:2020.
Please refer to Schedule “E” M&V Procedures for the Energy Performance Program found on the program website.
The baseline energy use for the facility is normalized based on weather and can also be adjusted for regularly occurring occupancy changes. When savings are reported under the conditions of the reporting period, they are compared against this normalized baseline adjusted to reporting period conditions.
The IPMVP uses this equation:
Avoided Energy Consumption = (Baseline Period Energy ± Routine Adjustment to Reporting Period Conditions ± Non-Routine Adjustments to the Reporting Period Conditions) - Reporting Period Energy
Weather variance would be considered a Routine Adjustment, while occasional changes in occupancy are normally considered a Non-Routine Adjustment depending on the type of facility. You should discuss any variances with the technical reviewer during the application process.
Typically, facilities have baseline models constructed using the CDD as the independent variable. The IESO recommends using the simplest model with good results that meet or exceed all statistical coefficient thresholds. In some situations, a multi-variable and/or non-linear regression approach may be required to achieve good results. Both approaches will be considered acceptable for the Energy Performance Program.
No, you do not need to create a new baseline model after Year 1. The equation you create in the application stage is your baseline model for the entirety of your facility’s participation in the program.
It may be possible to apply a non-routine adjustment to your facility baseline to account for load growth. Speak to the technical reviewer about your specific situation to ensure this non-routine adjustment is properly documented with supporting data.
As good engineering practice, an R² value of 0.75 or higher indicates good correlation. However, a high R² in itself is not sufficient to determine whether a model is "good." Other requirements — CVRMSE, NDBE, & Tstat — should also be considered. Discuss with the technical reviewer when your model R² value is less than 0.75.
Yes, you can adjust the balance point, but it has to be realistic and make practical sense for your building, and you will need to provide sufficient explanation for the balance point chosen. The IESO recommends that you discuss this with the technical reviewer during the initial establishment of the baseline model.
Facilities that have developed a pre-COVID-19 baseline in accordance with the EPP COVID-19 Guidance Document, and were consuming at least 1,500,000 kWh within this baseline period, remain eligible.
We recognize that many organizations are reducing fossil fuels in an effort to meet GHG reductions goals. In order to not penalize participants for the resulting increase in electricity consumption, the IESO is allowing participants to make a non-routine adjustment to their approved baseline energy model in these cases in accordance with the EPP M&V Procedures.
Savings associated with the installation of solar panels are not eligible to receive incentives under EPP, as solar panels (or other electricity-generation equipment) are not considered an energy-efficient measure; however, use of this equipment would not make the facility ineligible to participate. Please refer to the program requirements and participant agreement (no need to fill in the date on page 1 as this will be reflected in the executed agreement) for more information.
Savings associated with the installation of battery storage equipment are not eligible to receive incentives under the EPP, as energy storage equipment is not considered an energy-efficiency measure; however, use of this equipment would not make the facility ineligible to participate. Please refer to the program requirements and participant agreement (no need to fill in the date on page 1 as this will be reflected in the executed agreement) for more information.