23 CAR § 461-108. Program plans

(a)(1) Program plans: (A) Shall cover at least one (1) year; and (B) May cover up to three (3) years. (2) All programs filed by gas and electric utilities should be consistent and should be fuel-neutral, i.e., they should be compliant with the Arkansas Public Service Commission’s Promotional Practices of Electric and Gas Utilities, 23 CAR pt. 460, including restrictions on fuel-substitution and load-building programs. (3) Program plans shall reflect the effects of all energy efficiency programs in the electric resource plans or natural gas procurement plans of the electric and natural gas utilities respectively. (4) Furthermore, all energy efficiency programs shall be consistent with each utility’s current electric resource plans or natural gas procurement plans. (b) Initial plan filings. (1)(A)(i) The initial filings of energy efficiency programs will cover program years 2007 – 2009. (ii) Program year 2007 will be a partial calendar year, while 2008 and 2009 will be full calendar years. (B) They should initially include energy efficiency measures that can be implemented on a relatively quick start and/or pilot basis. (C) The initial programs should be limited in nature in order to enable implementation in the 2007 program year. (D) Proposed Quick Start or pilot programs for program year 2007 shall be filed not later than July 1, 2007, with review to be completed and implementation to occur not later than October 1, 2007. (E) Electric and gas utilities should file energy efficiency programs choosing individual programs from within the following general list of initial program categories: (i) Education. (a) This would include the education of customers of all classes on energy efficiency and conservation. (b) It should, to the greatest extent possible, be a consistent statewide group of messages. (c) It should include education of builders and installers of equipment. (d) All messages should be fuel-neutral. (e) The messages should encourage the efficient use of electricity and gas. (f) The messages should increase awareness of opportunities to use electricity and natural gas more efficiently. (g) This category of programs would apply to all customer classes; (ii) Energy audits and evaluations leading to savings. (a) This would include: (1) Home and commercial energy audits; and (2) Audits of commercial and industrial processes and equipment. (b) The audits and evaluations would produce recommendations for opportunities to implement site-specific efficiency and conservation measures. (c) Programs would be designed for audits to lead to savings results, and could include cost-effective and economically justified customer incentives to encourage the implementation of site-specific measures. (d) This category of programs would apply to all customer classes. (e) A training component to increase the number and quality of auditors will be needed; (iii) Inspection and tune-up of heating and air conditioning systems. (a) This would be applicable to residential, commercial, and industrial systems. (b) This category of programs would apply to all customer classes; (iv) Lighting. (a) Improved lighting for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. (b) This category of programs would apply to all customer classes; (v) Increased deployment of demand response programs. (a) Many programs already exist. (b) This would look for additional opportunities to offer demand response programs including interruptible service, curtailment service, off-peak service, etc. (c) In the near term, this category of programs would apply to commercial and industrial customer classes and may eventually extend to residential customers; (vi) Weatherization. (a) A residential weatherization program that would be based solely on efficiency criteria, targeting least efficient homes first. (b) The program should establish clear criteria to target the least efficient homes first. (c) This category of programs would apply to the residential customer class. (d) An example of such a program is the Quick Start program and comprehensive Severely Energy Inefficient Homes (SEIH) program which the Arkansas Public Service Commission has directed all investor-owned gas and electric utilities to offer, using either the existing State Weatherization Assistance Program Network model or a substantially equivalent alternative implementation method chosen by the utility, provided the alternative method ensures that the SEIH program and all other residential programs are effectively available to all customers consistent with the timeframe for initial program plan filings; and (vii) Commercial and industrial prescriptive incentive programs. These programs offer a fixed-dollar incentive for multiple defined prescriptive measures, i.e., lighting, HVAC replacements, occupancy sensors, motors, etc. (2)(A) All programs filed from the above category list should have a high probability of providing ratepayer benefits to the majority of customers. (B) Program plans for program years 2008 and 2009 may contain additional programs beyond those included in the above category list. (c) Comprehensive plan filings. (1) Beginning April 1, 2009, each electric and gas utility shall file a comprehensive set of program plans for program years 2010 and later unless administration of programs has been previously delegated by the Arkansas Public Service Commission, in which case each administrator shall file a comprehensive set of program plans by that date. (2) The programs proposed may continue to include, but are not limited to, the Quick Start and/or pilot programs contained in the list of initial program categories.