How PG&E Organized Its Financing Program Development

Tool Time: Analyzing Energy-Efficiency Finance Programs

In this paper, presented at the 2014 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, co-authors from Cadmus and client Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) explain the unique financing program analysis tool they developed for analyzing energy-efficiency finance programs.

The tool is a highly functional spreadsheet that organizes program analysis into a hierarchy of six categories, 25 attributes, and 118 details. Users achieve a thorough understanding of each attribute and whether it represents a positive or negative for the program. This paper describes PG&E’s approach so readers can determine if it is a useful example for developing and analyzing their own energy-efficiency programs.