Ashley Muspratt
Username
Ashley Muspratt
Proposer First Name
Ashley
Proposer Email
ashley.muspratt@cetonline.org
Proposer Last Name
Muspratt
Proposer Company/Organization
Center for EcoTechnology
Proposer Phone
(781) 492-6946
Proposer Job Title
President
Boston 2023 Areas of Focus
Proposed Session Description
Imagine your utility told you they wanted to invest in state-of-the-art technology for your home or business. No taking on debt, no credit checks, no matter if you're a renter, and no matter if you plan to move soon. Your obligation? Paying a monthly tariff that sums to no more than the savings in energy costs afforded by the new measures. The tariff, tied to your electric meter, would extend for as long as it takes for the utility to recover its investment,and if you move, would simply transfer to the next occupant. This is tariffed on-bill (TOB) financing. This session will present results of a business, technical, and consumer feasibility study of TOB by the Ipswich Electric Light Department and plans for implementation.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
As described above, TOB can play an important role in making efficiency and electrification measures accessible to low-income owners and renters. When combined with support available through the Inflation Reduction Act, TOB eliminates all upfront costs and renders monthly payments a small fraction of the savings that result from the measures.
Learning Objectives
Explain tariffed on-bill financing and the key differences from traditional on-bill financing.
Understand the business case for a TOB program from the utility perspective (i.e. rate of return) and how the utility generates value for all customers with each individual participant.
List key risks and mitigation strategies for utilities and occupants entering into TOB agreements.
Extrapolate findings from the Ipswich case study to approximate how TOB would work elsewhere in Massachusetts under different conditions, including municipal vs. investor-owned utility territory, average housing type, and demographics.
Has this session been presented before?
No
Session Format
Interview or structured conversation among panelists
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Session Format Details
The session will be co-presented by Ashley Muspratt, President of CET and Jon Blair, General Manager of the Ipswich Electric Light Department. We are comfortable structuring the presentation component as a standard presentation or structured interview (Muspratt interviewing Blair). We will leave 20 minutes for Q&A.
Recommended Length
60-minute session
Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023
Comments about your speaker roster
Muspratt and Blair are both seasoned presenters who give remote and in-person talks to large audiences on a regular basis.
Reviewer 1
Boettcher, Dave
Reviewer 2
Hildebrand, Lauren
Curator
Baumann, Lauren
Proposal #
133
Session #
203
Committee Decision
Accepted
Presenters
Full Description
Q: How do we make buildings 2050 compliant at the rate and scale that's required?
A: Existing TOB programs (in the Southeast US) accelerate energy efficiency uptake by five times. Combined with the Inflation Reduction Act, our study found that TOB would eliminate all upfront costs to the customer for comprehensive electrification, and allows them to enjoy immediate savings. This is a rapidly SCALABLE SOLUTION.
Q: How do we ensure renters and low-income homeowners are left behind in the energy transition?
A: TOB decouples capital investments from the individual resident or business and eliminates the split incentive challenge that often gets in the way of making improvements to rental properties.
Q: Why will the audience care?
A: Tariffed on-bill financing is an emerging and still little-known tool among utilities and energy practitioners. It has been successfully implemented in eight states in the Southeast, but not yet in the Northeast, where climate, building types, and existing energy efficiency programs present a unique set of conditions. This case study helps demonstrate the applicability of TOB in Massachusetts, including regulatory requirements for municipal utilities.