California’s Financing Programs

California is rolling out a suite of new statewide financing pilots that seek to bring together the security of a loan loss reserve, with private lender capital and utility on-bill repayment.  Dunsky is playing a key role to evaluate these innovative new pilots, as both the technical lead on the impact evaluation team, and financing experts on the process evaluation team.

This dual role has given us a chance to see the pilots and the implementation efforts from many angles, and to understand the challenges and promise of the various program elements. A key component of our work has been preparing a new cost-effectiveness framework that accounts for the wide range of benefits and costs associated with financing. This required significant modification to the current incentive program approach and the consideration of factors such as the reduced borrowing costs for customers.

Our work has included conducting market research to prepare a baseline study of efficiency financing in California’s residential and commercial sectors, and assessing successful practices for work with private lenders and contractors from efficiency financing programs across the U.S.  This has given us a chance to dig deep into many of the questions behind energy efficiency financing and develop valuable insights into what drives program volume and efficiency impacts.

Similar projects: Dunsky brings extensive experience advising clients on the evaluation of innovative programs. Outside of California’s PUC and its utilities, other clients have included the Ontario Energy Board, Efficiency Maine Trust, Manitoba Hydro, Quebec’s Energy Efficiency Agency, Connecticut Green Bank, Gaz Metro, the City of Toronto, and Hydro-Quebec, among others.