CenterPoint Energy has created a streamlined program process to encourage strong participation among eligible Project Sponsors. This process can be broken out into seven basic activities, with the second activity being optional:

• Registering as a Project Sponsor
• Signing a Standard Agreement and Submit Project Deposit
• Submitting a Project Application
• Signing a Project Authorization
• Installing the project and submitting an Installation Report
• Conducting measurement and verification and submitting a Savings Report

This section of the Web site explains each of these activities in detail.

Register as a Project Sponsor

The first step to participating in the C&I Standard Offer Program is registering with CenterPoint Energy as a Project Sponsor using the EnerTrek^® system.

The registration process requires that the following information be provided by the Project Sponsor:

• Company name and federal tax identification number
• Name of parent company (if applicable) and parent company's tax identification number
• Name, address, phone, fax, and e-mail of the primary contact for the sponsoring company
• Secondary phone number for the sponsoring company
• Evidence of possession of all applicable licenses and required insurance
• Description of the sponsoring organization that includes areas of expertise and total number of employees. May also include relevant experience, references, customer affidavits, or other evidence of competency
• Descriptions and references for at least three comparable projects, including the year the project was undertaken, the services provided, and the estimated and actual performance of the energy efficiency equipment
• Evidence of good credit rating
• Disclosure of any legal judgments entered against the Project Sponsor in the previous two years, as well as a current list of pending litigation filed by or against the Project Sponsor

Please send the required hard copy information to:

Initial Application

To assess projects for eligibility and to tentatively reserve incentive funding for the project, Project Sponsors must submit an Initial Application (IA) using EnerTrek^®. The Initial Application requests the following information:

• Identification of the host CenterPoint Energy customer site(s).
• Description of the proposed set of energy-efficiency measures.
• Estimated demand and/or energy savings for each proposed measure and associated incentives requested.
• Brief work plan for project design, M&V approach, implementation, operation, and management, including the anticipated project timeline.

Initial Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis until all incentive funding has been committed. CenterPoint Energy will review the IA and notify the project sponsor of the review results. A typical review cycle for Initial Applications is 15 calendar days. (Projects submitted on the initial offering day may take longer due to the volume of applications.) Once the Initial Application has been reviewed and approved, CenterPoint Energy will prepare and send an IA review letter to the Sponsor to notify them of their project review results and reserved incentive amount.

Sign a Standard Agreement and Submit Project Deposit

Before a project application can be submitted on EnerTrek. The Project Sponsor is required to sing a Standard Agreement and submit a deposit equal to 5% of the reserved incentive for any Large Commercial project.

The deposit shall be in the form of a check or money order originating from the Project Sponsor. The deposit is refundable to the Contract Holder upon approval of the Savings Report, provided the project achieves a minimum percentage of the contracted savings. All Large Commercial projects will be required to submit the deposit along with the Project Application. In the event that the Program is sold out, and the project has been placed on the waitlist, CenterPoint Energy will return the deposit check to the sponsor. As an alternative, at the behest of the sponsor, CenterPoint Energy can keep the deposit checks on file and apply the same when the project is moved from the waitlist to the active list.

The Standard Agreement is a general terms and conditions contract between the Project Sponsor and CenterPoint Energy. Project Sponsors are required to sign a Standard Agreement with CenterPoint Energy before proceeding with project development. The terms of the contract will be standard for all Project Sponsors and are not negotiable.

To download a sample Standard Agreement and sample Host Customer Letter of Intent, click on the following filenames:

*Requires Adobe® Acrobat Reader® for viewing and printing. You may also request these sample documents from the Program Manager.

Submit a Final Application

To enroll in the program, Project Sponsors must submit a Final Application. The Final Application assumes that the Project Sponsor has conducted a detailed engineering study and site audit. It requires the following information:

• Identification of the host customer site(s) and documentation that the customer agrees to participate in the C&I Standard Offer Program (Host Customer Agreement).
• Inventories of the existing and proposed equipment, including equipment counts, equipment efficiencies, and equipment name plate data.
• Building occupancy and equipment operating schedules.
• Engineering calculations estimating the project's energy and demand savings based on the efficiency of the proposed equipment compared to that of new, minimum-standard efficiency equipment.
• A project-specific measurement and verification plan that describes how the Project Sponsor will monitor and verify energy and demand savings, the methods for calculating actual savings, and a schedule for conducting and reporting on these activities. In some cases, measurement and verification activities may be required prior to measure installation to accurately estimate the project's savings. An M&V plan is not required for projects for which savings will be verified using deemed savings only. In choosing deemed savings, Project Sponsors agree to follow the guidelines provided in the program manual.
• Work plan--revised, if an Initial Application was submitted--for project design, implementation, operation, and management, including the anticipated project timeline.
• A refundable deposit equal to 5% of the total incentive amount requested in the application (unless the deposit had been submitted previously). This deposit will be refunded upon approval of the Savings Report (discussed in step 6) and will be prorated based on the performance of the project.

Project Sponsors must use EnerTrek^® to complete most of these elements. The Project Sponsor should use the forms provided below to prepare equipment and should attach them to the Final Application in EnerTrek^®.

Separately, a hard copy of the signed Host Customer Agreement must be mailed to the Program Manager. You may download a sample Host Customer Agreement by clicking on the following filename:

Host Customer Agreement  (31K - Microsoft Word)

You may also request one from the Program Manager.

Detailed instructions for using EnerTrek^® to complete the Final Application are available in the program manual.

Sign a Project Authorization

Once a Project Sponsor's Final Application is approved, the Project Sponsor receives a Project Authorization from CenterPoint Energy. The Project Authorization must be signed and returned by the Project Sponsor and will become an attachment to the Standard Agreement. The Project Authorization contains information drawn from the approved Final Application and includes a description of the measures that are to be installed, estimates of the demand and energy savings, a maximum incentive payment amount associated with the project, and the measurement and verification approach.

To download a sample Project Authorization, click on the filename below. Note that the file is in PDF and requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader® for viewing and printing.

Project Authorization (27K)

You may also request a sample Project Authorization from the Program Manager.

After the Project Authorization has been signed and returned to CenterPoint Energy, the Project Sponsor may begin to install the measures (see the next step).

Install project and submit an Installation Report

Once a Project Sponsor receives a Project Authorization from CenterPoint Energy, that Sponsor may begin to install the project's measures at the host customer's site. Project Sponsors are allowed up to three months to install lighting-only projects and up to six months to install projects with mechanical measures. Projects requiring different timelines must be approved by CenterPoint Energy. When all the measures are installed, the Sponsor must complete and submit an Installation Report to CenterPoint Energy; this report requires the following:

• A detailed description of the energy-efficient equipment actually installed
• A description of the operating conditions at the customer's site
• A certificate filled out by the host customer indicating that the equipment was installed

The Project Sponsor should use EnerTrek^® to complete and submit the Installation Report. Instructions for doing so are in the program manual If there are any changes to the equipment inventories or the measurement and verification plan since the Final Application, please submit the revised materials with the Installation Report.

In addition, the Project Sponsor must mail to the Program Manager a hard copy of the Host Customer's signed certification that the equipment has been installed. You may download a copy of the certification form by clicking the following filename:

Customer Certification (39K - Microsoft^® Excel^® )

Project Sponsors may also request this file from the Program Manager.

After receiving the Installation Report, CenterPoint Energy conducts a post-installation inspection of the facility to verify that the equipment specified in the Project Authorization has been installed and has the potential to generate demand and energy savings.

The review/inspection process may take up to 45 days. If the project passes the post-installation inspection, the Project Sponsor may invoice CenterPoint Energy for the first of two incentive payments: the Installation Payment. The second and final payment may be invoiced after the measurement and verification period is complete (see the next step).

Conduct M&V and submit Savings Report

When Project Sponsors submit a Final Application, they include with it a measurement and verification (M&V) plan, which describes how the Sponsor will determine the actual savings produced by the measures they plan to install. The complexity of these M&V activities and length of time it takes to complete them varies depending on the measures involved. Some projects' M&V requirements may take less than 30 days to complete, while others may take as long as 12 months. This site's Measurement and Verification section offers guidelines for carrying out M&V activities and instructions for creating an M&V plan.

The Project Sponsor should submit the Savings Report using EnerTrek^®. Instructions for doing so are included in the program manual.

Once approved, this report becomes the basis for the Sponsor's final incentive payment, called the Performance Payment. Also following the approval of the Savings Report, CenterPoint Energy refunds all or a portion of the Project Sponsor's application deposit.