Aesp fall 2013 a toolkit of technologies and tactics for successful community‐based initiatives avseikova

A Toolkit of Technologies and Tactics

for Successful Community‐Based

Initiatives

Melanie Coen, National Grid

Kessie Avseikova, Opinion Dynamics

October 1, 2013

AV sponsored by:

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Presentation Overview

Efficient Neighborhoods+SM (EN+SM) Background

EN+SM Design

Involving Evaluation Early

Community Selection - Microtargeting Approach

Key Takeaways

Initiative Background

Efficient Neighborhoods+SM born

from the Appreciative Inquiry

Summit led by National Grid in the

spring of 2012.

Stakeholders interested in

environmental justice and equity

in service

Main issue is difficulty reaching

lower to moderate income

customers, typically who earn

between 60-120% of state median

income

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Barriers to Higher Residential

Participation

41% of Massachusetts

housing stock is multi-

unit structures Split Incentives

Higher Job Costs

No point

of

contact

Pre-Weatherization

Barriers

Income

verification

screening

Initiative Design

EN+SM included in the

Massachusetts Joint Statewide

Three-Year Electric and Gas

Energy Efficiency Plan

Extension of the Mass Save®

Home Energy Services (HES)

initiative

Statewide effort – most

Program Administrators (PAs)

implementing EN+SM from

June through November 2013

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LEANLow-Income Energy

Affordability Network

Initiative Design (Cont.)

Open to the entire community, but targets lower to

moderate-income energy customers in designated

neighborhoods

Low-income customers and customers in 5+ unit structures

do not qualify and are referred to other programs

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Enhanced Incentive DescriptionEnhanced EN+ SM

IncentivesExisting Incentive

Common Area Lighting (LED or CFL

depending on fixture) $120 $0

Pre-Weatherization Barrier Incentive Up to $800 $Up to $800

90% up to $3000 Insulation per unit/single

family $1,980

$1,650

(Based on historical

costs)

2-4 Family Landlord Whole House

Insulation with Adder

(50% of Customer Contribution)

(Based on historical job

costs)

2 Family $5,130 $4,000

3 Family $7,695 $6,000

4 Family $9,500 $7,500

Early Retirement Refrigerator

(ENERGY STAR® labeled) $200 $150

EN+ SM Boiler & Furnace Incentive Adder $100 $0

Early Boiler Replacement (EBR) Rebate

with Additional $500 Incentive for Non-

owner Occupied Properties

($4,000)

Unrestricted Timeline

($4000)

Restricted Timeline

EN+ SM Whole House $500 Incentive Adder

Package

Insulation + Heating Equipment $500 $0

Enhanced Incentives

Involving Evaluation Early

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Community Selection – Big Questions….

How do we select the communities that have

high concentrations of target customers?

How do we identify customers that are most likely

to fall into the desired customer segment?

How do we avoid customers who do not qualify for the

program or who already participated in the program?

How do we find communities with city/town support?

Are there other initiatives that are going on in that

community?

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Community Selection – Effective Solution

Microtargeting

A strategy that uses

demographic, geographic,

household, psychographic,

and other data to identify

customer segments of interest

for purposes of marketing,

targeting, and outreach.

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Community Selection – Effective Solution

Multiple sources of data:

Census

Past program participation

Utility customer

Other (secondary segmentation data,

GIS shapefiles)

Easy to Use

EfficientFlexible

Microtargeting=Data+Mapping

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Community Selection – Process

American Community Survey (ACS) data for 2007-2011

Data fields of interest available at the census block group level

Core data fields (housing count, population count, income, housing stock, home ownership status)

MassGIS data

Maps of towns and census block groups

Maps of Massachusetts PA service territories

Program tracking data

Utility customer data

Census block group –between

600 and 3,000 people, with an

optimum of 1,500 people.

Census Block group

Income

Housing stock

Ownership status

AddressTown

Program

Administrator

Participant Flag

Audit Flag

Address

Low Income Rate

Code

Multi-family indicator

Census Data Utility Customer DataMass GIS Data Program Tracking Data

Microtargeting database

Perfect for our purposes!

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Community Selection – Process (Cont.)

Step 1 Step 2

Initial data

analysis to

narrow the set of

communities to

target

In-depth

community

analysis and final

community

selection

Three-step approach

Step 3

Customer

Targeting List

Development

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Step 1 – Approach

Step 1 - Initial data analysis to narrow the set of communities to target

Target communities have a higher

than average number of households

with:

Incomes falling between 61% and 100% of

median income

1 – 4 unit buildings

Also want to avoid communities with

high concentrations of:

Low-Income Program eligible customers

Multi-family (5+ units) buildings

In setting optimal thresholds, it was

important to substantially narrow down

the set of communities while still

providing PAs with enough

communities to meet their goals

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Step 1 – Results

Qualifying communities:

• 30% of households or more have

income between 61% and 100%

of the state median income

• 30% of units or less are in 5+ unit

structures

Qualifying communities:

• 311 census block groups

• 112 towns with at least one

qualifying census block group

• 43,253 households

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Step 2 – Approach

Step 2 - In-depth community analysis and final community selection

In-depth analysis of qualified

communities

Prior participation in PA-administered energy

efficiency programs

Percentage of renters vs. owners

Building stock and characteristics (age, size,

etc.)

Other characteristics

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Step 2 – Results

Town of Townsend

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Step 2 – Results (Cont.)

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Step 2 – Results (Cont.)

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Step 3 – Approach

Step 3 – Development of Customer Targeting Lists

For selected communities, mapped customer addresses

and rate codes to support custom marketing and targeting

Identification and removal of the low-income rate codes, past participants,

customers in multi-family structures

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Step 3 – Results

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Key Takeaways

Customize program design and delivery

to account for the specific

characteristics of the target audience

Community selection is one of the

critical design components

Targeting can be done efficiently and

cost-effectively

A wealth of data available at fingertips

Engage evaluation early on in the

process – they can help!

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Jan. 27-30, 2014

For more information - www.aesp.org

May 12-14, 2014

Aug. 4-6, 2014