2012-2013 Billing Analysis Report - Indiana Weatherization Program

The Billing Analysis Report for homes Weatherized between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013 was completed at the end of March.  Here are a few highlights from the full report.

• 2,341 households were weatherized, serving 5,423 people.
• Average net natural gas savings of 264 therms (+/- 10), 22.6% (+/-.8%).
• The state average of 264 therms is the largest average measured since INCAA has been performing billing analysis for the entire state.
• Average gross electric savings for electrically heated homes of 1,571 kWh (+/-294).

The average net natural gas percent savings are shown in Figure 7 from the Billing Analysis report.  Ninety six percent of Indiana's Weatherization providers were able to meet IHCDA's net natural gas savings benchmark of 15 percent. 

Natural gas is approximately $1.00 per therm on average in Indiana.  So each therm saved is another dollar each weatherization household has to spend on something other than their gas bill.  Figure 8 from the report shows how many therms (and roughly dollars) each client saved on average.  $264 per year might not seem like much, but it is more than 1% of the average weatherization client's household income, assuming the household income is at the Federal Poverty threshold for a family of two.  The CAPs at the left hand side of the chart are worth noting.  They made an even bigger fiscal impact on their weatherization client's households.  And these energy savings are persistent for the lifetime of the retrofits, which means they will last for years to come, stretching the savings out into the future for the people living in that home.

The Billing Analysis process has begun again for the 2013-2014 DOE cycle.  So program managers can expect requests from me for additional data and fuel release forms in the near future.

2012-2013 Billing Analysis results (updated 2015-02-10)

The billing analysis results for homes weatherized in the 2012-2013 DOE cycle will be trickling out over the next few weeks.  As they do, I'll be updating the results for the agencies that have been sent out.  The state average net natural gas savings is about 32 percent higher than last year's average (from 200 therms to 264 therms).  The average natural gas percent savings was up about 23 percent, from 18.3 percent to 22.6 percent.

Agency	NAS	%
NWICA	301	25.5%
RS	236	20.0%
Area IV	189	19.7%
Area Five	294	27.2%
CAGI	258	21.9%
CANI	206	19.6%
CAPE	377	27.7%
CFS	220	19.3%
COWI	73	9.8%
HSI	302	35.1%
ICAP	291	25.5%
CICAP	516	27.2%
HUEDC	213	24%
LHDC	219	35.5%
NCCAA	212	18.8%
OVO	580	51.2%
SCCAP	227	38.8%
SIEOC	155	18.4%
TRICAP	189	31.4%
WICAA	209	26.9%
PACE	486	33.8%
CASI	325	18.9%
PWC	227	24%
INDIANA	264	22.6%

And that is all of them.  Next up is the statewide report...

Electronic signatures for field work

Back in the early, chaotic days of ARRA (were the days ever not chaotic during ARRA?) I was trying to get as much of Indiana's paperwork to a workable level on my laptop.  As a contractor for a CAP, transferring files electronically made more sense to me.  Plus, there is so much little bits of math here and there in Indiana's Wx process, it makes sense to me to have those formulas automated.  Eventually, I know I'll make a little mistake that can ripple, so automating the proper formula gives me one less thing to worry about, letting me focus more energies on the client & the house.

Anywho, there was no getting around the documents that needed a client's signature.  Those had to be hard copies kept in a folder in the work bag, along with the seldom used forms that one carries, just in case.

Those of you now using touch screen laptops (Surfaces, etc.), that problem doesn't exist.  Those nifty capacitive pens let clients sign right on the screen.

I finally stumbled upon how to sign documents on your mobile device (agnostic name for Android or Apple phones).  Here is a step by step, using Adobe Reader.

Oh, and those of you using Android tablets in the field, the MS office suite looks to be out of beta.  I haven't used it.  I'd love to hear some feedback of how well it works if anyone is.

AEP Health & Safety Repairs Wrap up

AEP's Health & Safety Repairs program has been completed.  In all, $329,000 was spent on 127 AEP customers' homes.  The program was designed to help pay for health & safety repairs on Weatherized homes.  A few highlights:

• 65 homes received new heating appliances because existing units were operating in an unsafe manner.
• 65 homes received repairs to mitigate existing moisture problems (installation of vapor barriers, roof repairs, sump pump installations, plumbing repairs, etc.)
• 34 damaged or unsafe water heaters were replaced.
• Over 160,000 cfm@50Pa was air sealed in the participating homes
• Over 78,000 square feet of attic insulation was installed
• Over 41,000 square feet of wall insulation was installed
• Just under 1,500 feet of pipe insulation was installed
• Over 22,000 square feet of foundation walls were insulated

AEP's service area is the north east corner of the state, so there were fewer CAPs participating in this program.  The final funding breakdown was as follows:

At this time there is no word about a continuation of this program in the future.  

2012-2013 Preliminary results

Some of the state results are winding their way through BEACon.  These are just preliminary numbers:

Average net natural gas savings: 192 therms (+/-10); 18.9% (+/-.01%)

Average local burn electric savings: 717 kWh (+/-133); 7.3% (+/-1.2%)

Average total electric savings: 843 kWh (+/-342); 1% (+/-2%)

Preliminary.

I'm still working on the Citizens Energy Group homes and reviewing the individual results more closely.

Preliminary.

Revised NACs for 2011-2012 Billing Analysis report

source: nflspinzone.com

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?  

I tend to vote for the bad news first.

Last spring when the Production reports were being generated there was a significant flaw with the weather normalization that affected nearly a third of the homes being modeled.  No, it wasn't a bug in BEACon, no there wasn't a formatting error with the consumption data from the utility companies.  

I forgot to use current weather data from NOAA...

Fortunately, for the majority of the homes, there was only one month where there was no weather data to help normalize the consumption data.  However, since NIPSCO provided consumption data for their customers in early 2014, there were many, many more clients affected by the lack of weather data.

Acting on feedback and independent investigation from a small handful of persistent Weatherizers, a review of the old consumption data with more current weather data was done.  And now comes the good news.

The average net natural gas savings during that evaluation period wasn't a tepid 15.4%, but a healthier 18.4%.  The average net natural gas savings went from 163 therms up to 200 therms.

In all, 10 weatherization providers were affected.  Nearly all had significant increases in their average net natural gas savings:

• Area Five
• original: 5.9%
• revised: 28.3%
• Area IV
• original: 16.9%
• revised: 23.1%
• CANI
• original: 10.9%
• revised: 27%
• Human Services
• original: 17.3%
• revised: 18.6%
• North Central CAA
• original: 15.9%
• revised: 25.5%
• Northwest CAA
• original: 14.9%
• revised: 23.3%
• Real Services
• original: 7.9%
• revised: 15.8%
• Housing Opportunities of Warsaw
• original: 7.2%
• revised: 17.4%
• Indiana Builders Association
• original: 10.3%
• revised: 13.2%
• Miami County YMCA
• original: 17.3%
• revised: 23.7%

Another possible solution to room pressure imbalances

Green Building Advisor had an interesting post about a new ventilation strategy for homes with central returns or other HVAC system problems.

The product is an interior door that has free area built into the door itself, while engineering to reduce the amount of sound transmission.  The door has an equivalent open area of 100 square inches.  So it will be able to handle imbalances that are too big for a simple door undercutting.  

The door will cost more than a tradition interior door.  But we've all come across that rare room that has no real wall space facing the main body of the house.  This door might help reduce pressure imbalances to more acceptable levels.

The door will be going into production soon.