The C&I Standard Offer Program pays Project Sponsors incentives based on the savings in peak demand and in energy that their projects achieve. Demand savings incentives are paid for the maximum one-hour average demand reduction that occurs when the newly installed system 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. Incentives for energy savings are paid for the total amount of energy savings achieved by a project over a 12-month period. A project's demand and energy savings are determined from deemed values or other measurement and verification activities.
This section of the site presents the following:
- Incentive rates
- Payment schedules and formulas
- Limitations
- Available funding
Incentive rates
The program pays incentives for demand and energy savings at the following rates:
| MEASURE TYPE | $/KW | $/KWH |
Lighting - Flourescent, HID, CFL |
120 | .04 |
Lighting - LED |
210 | .08 |
Cooling - DX Units |
240 | .09 |
Cooling - Chiller |
260 | .11 |
Motor |
235 | .09 |
VFD |
180 | .07 |
Window Film |
200 | .08 |
Window Replacement |
210 | .08 |
Roofing |
240 | .09 |
All Other Measures |
175 | .06 |
Demand savings incentives are paid for the maximum one-hour average demand reduction that occurs when the newly installed system is operating at peak conditions during the summer period. The summer period is defined as weekdays, between the hours of 1P.M. and 7P.M., from May 1 until September 30, excluding holidays.
Energy savings incentives are paid for the total amount of energy savings achieved by the project over a 12-month period.
A project's demand and energy savings are determined by using either deemed values or more involved measurement and verification activities.
Payment schedule and calculations
Incentive payments are made in two installments: an Installation Payment is made after a project is installed and the Installation Report has been approved; a Performance Payment is made after a project's measurement and verification activities are complete and the Savings Report has been approved.
The Installation Payment is equal to 40% of the project's total incentive amount (as documented in the Project Authorization). Therefore, using the standard incentive rates, the formula for calculating the Installation Payment is as follows:
- Installation Payment = 0.4 x [(total estimated peak demand savings x $175) + (total estimated energy savings x $0.060)]
- The Performance Payment is based on a year's worth of verified energy and demand savings and may be up to 60% of the total, contracted incentive amount. Using the standard rates, the formula for calculating the
Performance Payment is as follows:
- Performance Payment = [(total verified peak demand savings x $175) + (total verified energy savings x $0.060)] - Installation payment
A Project Sponsor with a project that uses only deemed savings may submit both the Installation Report and Savings Report at the same time, since no M&V activities are required after the installation of the measures. For these projects, the Installation Payment and Performance Payment will be combined into one payment.
Under no circumstances will Energy CenterPoint Energy make a total incentive payment (that is, the sum of the Installation and Performance Payments) that is more than 100% of the total estimated incentive amount specified in the Project Authorization. If, however, measurement and verification activities indicate that the total actual savings are less than the total estimated savings, the total incentive payment may be less than the total payment specified in the Project Authorization.
Limitations
The following limitations apply to incentive payments:
No single Project Sponsor or group of affiliated Project Sponsors may receive more than 20% of the total incentive funding available the current program year.
Under no circumstances will Energy CenterPoint Energy make an incentive payment equal to more than 100% of the total incentive amount specified in the Project Authorization.
