Multi-Family Replacement Window Assumption Request 9/30/2008 RTF Meeting Rich Arneson and Bruce Carter

Current Conditions The RTF currently assumes that owner/managers of multi-family dwellings have economic motivators sufficient to replace windows and will do so without program incentives. Because of this, the baseline for savings and costs is code window replacements. Input from the Puget Sound area window industry and observations from several utilities indicate that owner/managers of multi-family dwellings do not have strong economic motivations to pursue window improvements. The RTF assumption and the resulting lower allowed savings and costs preclude the development of substantial enough utility incentives to get owners/managers to initiate window replacement projects. 2

Issues Typically, multi-family owner/managers are interested in window replacement, but not enough to incur the cost of replacement. It has been the experience of Tacoma Power, SCL, Snohomish PUD and PSE that owner/managers are unlikely to pursue many other efficiency measures unless windows are included as a comprehensive package. MF owner/managers do not benefit from conservation investment in the same manner as single family home owners. While multifamily tenants benefit from conservation measure savings, owner/managers incur only the expense of the measure. 3

Utility Observations Tacoma Power: Bruce Carter Seattle City Light: Eugenia Morita Puget Sound Energy: John Forde Snohomish PUD: Kevin Watier 4

Request Tacoma Power, Puget Sound Energy, Seattle City Light and Snohomish PUD request that the RTF deem savings using on-site window types as the baseline for window improvements. The cost of window improvements should be calculated as a full measure cost. 5