Load Management Dialogue

Resource Materials For:

Calculating Cost-Effectiveness
for Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Impacts

with Julie Michals, E4TheFuture, and Michael Brown, NV Energy

Thursday, May 7, 2020; 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Thank you for your interest in this PLMA Demand Response Dialogue. This will be a 30-minute conversation with just a few Powerpoint slides.

You have access to review the recording on this page.

You can download the slides here.

Contact info:

• Julie Michals, E4TheFuture; [email protected]
• Michael Brown, NV Energy; [email protected]

Are utility program cost-effectiveness testing practices developed decades ago adequate to guide our industry investments today? Are legacy measurement practices inhibiting both innovative program designs and commonsense best practices for putting ratepayer dollars to optimal use? Learn how E4TheFuture is partnering with DOE to offer guidance on how cost effectiveness testing can include the impacts of flexible load management, to include demand response and distributed energy resources. Julie will offer insights from “The National Standard Practice Manual (NSPM)” (see https://nationalefficiencyscreening.org/national-standard-practice-manual/), published in 2017 with a focus on cost-effectiveness assessment of energy efficiency, and which is actively being expanded to address a range of DERs including Demand Response. She will also share experience with the state use of the NSPM to date, and early learnings from the draft NSPM for DERs, a project co-funded by US DOE and forthcoming in summer 2020.

Julie Michals E4TheFuture Known for her long-haul tenacity and vigor in addressing complex challenges, Julie Michals joined E4TheFuture in 2016 after 14 years with Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Inc. (NEEP). At NEEP, she served as director of the Regional Evaluation, Measurement and Verification (EM&V) Forum, and earlier as public policy outreach manager. Michals convened energy commissioners, air regulators, utilities, evaluators and system planners to develop cost-effectiveness screening guidelines, EM&V protocols and standardized reporting for EM&V and efficiency impacts, and informed national protocol and guidance efforts. She collaborated with regulators, private sector firms, national labs and utilities to identify opportunities for advanced data analytics and SaaS automated M&V platforms. She has served on numerous national steering committees and advisory groups, including US DOE Uniform Methods Project, American National Standards Institute's Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative, and US DOE/EPA SEE Action EM&V Work Group. Before joining NEEP, she worked as a senior policy analyst for the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources.

Michael Brown Berkshire Hathaway NV Energy and PLMA Chair Since 2005, Michael has worked at Berkshire Hathaway NV Energy — the largest investor owned utility in the State of Nevada. He currently manages a business unit focused on smart grid enabled customer solutions for energy and peak demand management. Michael's efforts have included the design and implementation of: one of the largest two-way communicating programmable thermostat programs in the country; a large scale Home Area Network program that integrates EE and DR; a commercial building DR program that utilizes automated communications and optimization software technology to obtain significant energy and peak demand savings; and, an advanced DR Management System that allows demand side resources to actively participate in utility energy resource portfolio optimization and risk management processes.