CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

STATE OF NEW YORK
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
CASE 07-M-0548 - Proceeding on Motion of the Commission Regarding an Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard.
NOTICE SOLICITING COMMENTS

(Issued May 30, 2008)

On May 21, 2008, the Commission discussed the status of this proceeding and expressed an interest in considering the issuance of an Order in June, 2008 that would, among other things, initiate a process for the submittal, review and approval of proposed energy efficiency programs to be administered by electric utilities.

One integral issue is that of performance-related incentives. Whether, and to what extent, financial incentives based on the extent to which performance exceeds or falls short of targets should be established prior to the submittal of proposals by utilities. Although the question of utility incentives has been discussed in this proceeding, the parties have not submitted comprehensive briefs on this topic. The Commission seeks comment from the parties in this proceeding regarding a number of concerns related to utility incentives. In order to provide timely guidance to utilities in the preparation of proposals, the Commission intends to adopt policies related to performance incentives substantially in advance of due dates for utility proposals.

To facilitate consideration of this issue, the Department’s Advisory Staff has prepared a set of Guidelines and an incentive model that implements the Guidelines. Parties are encouraged to comment on the Guidelines, on the Advisory Staff model, and on two other models: (1) the Trial Staff proposal described on pages 18-21 of Staff’s Revised Proposal filed November 27, 2007 and pages 30-31 of Staff’s Initial Brief filed April 10, 2008 in this proceeding; and (2) the Shareholder Risk/Reward Incentive Mechanism adopted by the Public Utilities Commission of California, Decision 07-09-043, September 20, 20071. The documents for the two other models can be found at the Internet link: http://www.dps.state.ny.us/Case_07-M-0548.htm under the title "May 28, 2008 - Other Incentive Models." Parties are encouraged to comment on: a) whether incentives are necessary; b) the reasonableness of the Guidelines, and any recommended modifications; c) any other specific issues not encompassed within the Guidelines; (d) the strengths and weaknesses of the three incentive models identified above, and any recommended modifications; and (e) the range of incentive levels that will accomplish the objectives identified in the guidelines.

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