• How can I participate in the C&I Standard Offer Program?
• What is a project?
• Does the customer hosting a project have to purchase their energy from AEP Public Service Company of Oklahoma?
• How is each project's incentive calculated?
• When are incentive payments made?
• Regarding the security deposit, how will PSO handle a change in estimated savings, either up or down, between the Initial Application and the Final Application?
• How is " peak demand reduction" defined for this program?
• When can projects be combined or aggregated into a single application?
• How are actual energy savings determined?
• Who is responsible for measurement and verification (M&V) activities?
• How will the baseline energy consumption be determined?
  

How can I participate in the C&I Standard Offer Program?

Eligible entities can start the participation process by submitting an Initial Application and a Final Application to AEP PSO to reserve funding based on the expected demand and annual energy savings for a proposed project. For more information about the C&I Standard Offer Program process, please visit the Participation Process section of the site or view the program process diagram. You may also view and download enrollment materials.

What is a project?

A project is the set of proposed or installed energy efficiency measures or other improvements necessary to produce demand and energy savings  contained in one program application. One project may contain energy efficiency measures at more than one customer site, as long as the sites represented in each project are similar. For example, installation of energy efficiency measures at a chain of grocery stores could constitute only one project. If customer sites are dissimilar, for example, warehouse and office area applications, a separate application is necessary for each site.

Does the customer hosting a project have to purchase their energy from PSO?

Yes. Only projects connected to PSO’s distribution system are eligible to participate.

How is each project's incentive calculated?

This program pays incentives for both demand and energy savings at fixed rates. The rates are $175/kW for peak demand reduction and $0.060/kWh for annual energy savings.

When are incentive payments made?

Incentive payments are made in two parts. The first is made upon approval of the Installation Report, at which time 40% of the expected incentive payment estimated on the Installation Report for measures requiring M&V and 100% of the incentive payment for deemed savings measures will be made. The second incentive payment is made after the customer has completed measurement and verification for the project and PSO has approved the Savings Report. The Measurement and Verification process may take as little as 90 days or as long as 12 months, depending on the energy efficiency measures involved in the individual projects. The second payment is for the balance of program incentives owed to the customer, based on the level of demand and energy savings actually achieved by the project (up to 60% of the contracted amount).

Regarding the security deposit, how will PSO handle a change in estimated savings, either up or down, between the Initial Application and the Final Application?

If the estimated savings for the Final Application are larger than that of the Initial Application, an additional security deposit may be required to reserve the incentive funding. If the estimated savings for the Final Application is less than the Initial, PSO will hold the original security deposit, but will base the 75% deposit return threshold on the lower Final Application estimate.

How is " peak demand reduction" defined for this program?

The peak demand reduction is defined as the maximum, one-hour average, demand reduction in kW that occurs when the system undergoing retrofit is operating at peak conditions during the summer period. The summer period is defined as weekdays, between the hours of 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. from May 1 until September 30, excluding holidays.

When can projects be combined or aggregated into a single application?

Different project sites may be combined into one application if they have identical proposed energy efficiency measures, similar functions, and similar operating conditions. For example, several sites of a chain of hardware stores could qualify as one project. The combination of similar project sites can help an application reach the program minimum project size of 20 kW peak period demand reduction. Sites that are dissimilar (installing different energy efficiency measures or having different operating characteristics) may not be combined into a single project. An example of two dissimilar sites would be an office building and a school, even if both sites included the installation of the same measure, such as a chiller.

How are actual energy savings determined?

The actual--rather than predicted--demand and energy savings are determined through measurement and verification (M&V) conducted by the customer or its contractor. M&V is mainly a form of due-diligence required by PSO to ensure that  incentive funding collected from electricity customers has been prudently spent. For the C&I Standard Offer Program, three levels of M&V rigor are used to estimate the amount of energy savings achieved by the programs.

• "Deemed savings" uses stipulated savings data for a particular energy efficiency measure taken from past DSM programs or other industry data; no short-term testing or long-term metering is required;
• "Simplified M&V" involves short-term testing or simple long-term metering, but relies chiefly on manufacturer's efficiency data and pre-set savings calculation formulas to determine savings; and
• "Full M&V" refers to any M&V activities that represent a higher level of detail than the simple M&V or deemed savings approaches, including stipulated savings based on short-term information, metered savings of equipment or systems, whole building billing analysis, and calibrated computer simulation.