Best practices in energy efficiency programs in the Northeast
Public Service Company of New Hampshire's Municipal Smart Start Loan Program
Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) is the state’s largest electric utility. With a service area covering more than 5,000 square miles, PSNH reaches over 475,000 customers. PSNH operates a variety of energy efficiency programs for its customers, including the Municipal Smart Start Loan Program. Smart Start allows municipalities to install energy saving measures with no up front costs. Under the program, PSNH pays for all of the costs associated with the purchase and installation of approved energy efficiency measures. Over time, the customer pays back the investment in services and products with the savings they gain from lower energy costs. To capture these payments, PSNH adds a Smart Start purchase and installation charge to the customer’s monthly electric bill until all costs are repaid. The charge is calculated to be less than the monthly energy savings that result from the efficiency improvements, providing immediate and continual cost savings to the customer.
Who is the end user/customer of the program?
PSNH serves 211 cities and towns across New Hampshire. Municipal accounts in this area are eligible for the Smart Start program.
The city of Claremont, located on the Sugar River in western New Hampshire, is home to approximately 13,000 residents. Claremont recently completed efficiency improvements in numerous public facilities with the help of PSNH’s Municipal Smart Start Loan program.
What was the situation prior to the program's implementation that the program hoped to correct or mitigate?
In 2004, when PSNH’s service territory expanded to include customers in western New Hampshire, the city of Claremont was economically depressed and geographically challenged. Electric rates had been increasing steadily over the years, and the city was seeking ways to reduce energy costs, improve municipal facilities, and draw new businesses and residents to the area.
As Claremont’s new service provider, PSNH partnered with the city to reduce electric bills. Detailed assessments were conducted on 15 municipal buildings in Claremont and many opportunities for energy savings were found. Claremont, however, did not have the funds to pay for the projects, even after rebates were applied. PSNH’s Municipal Smart Start program allowed the city to complete the efficiency improvements with no up front costs.
Did the program include any customer incentives such as rebates?
No up front monetary investment by the city of Claremont was necessary under PSNH’s Municipal Smart Start program. In addition, Claremont was able to obtain $57,160 in rebates (47 percent of the total cost) for lighting retrofits.
What improvements were made as part of the program?
Over the course of three years, PSNH and Claremont reviewed every city municipal, office and school building, conducted lighting audits and subsequently retrofitted the lighting systems in 15 buildings and replaced more than 1,000 streetlights. Those buildings benefiting from the lighting upgrades in Claremont include: the police and fire stations, City Hall, the Library, the Community Center, the Visitor Center, the Arrowhead Ski Area, the Elementary and Middle Schools and the Community Technical College.
Claremont’s lighting upgrades included replacing fluorescent T12 with high performance T8 systems, switching to LED exit signs, and installing occupancy sensors.
- High performance T8s. T8 lamps provide a high quality of light, resembling natural light, and a reduced power consumption. High performance T8 systems can save up to 20 percent more energy compared to standards T8s and up to 40 percent more than fluorescent T12 systems. T8 lamps operate cooler and quieter than older systems, to enhance occupant comfort.
- LED exit signs. LEDs produce relatively low amounts of heat and most of the energy they generate goes directly into producing visible light. LED exit signs can be found with low input wattages of two watts or less, compared to up to 40 watts for an incandescent exit sign.
- Occupancy sensors. To control lighting, heating and cooling in intermittently occupied areas, occupancy sensors were placed in appropriate areas.
Claremont's largest project was replacing 1,016 streetlights with more energy efficient high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. HPS lamps have a greater light output and are more energy efficient than mercury vapor lamps. They produce warm white light and last an average of 24,000 hours.
Quote from the end user/customer
“It’s been a win-win situation here. With the energy-efficiency projects conducted throughout the city’s facilities there’s a long list of benefits the city is enjoying. We’re not only saving energy, we’ve reduced our operating and maintenance costs, uniformed our lighting inventory, and we’re helping to save the environment as well. The best part of all was that the city did not have to come up with any money out of pocket. Taking advantage of PSNH’s municipal financing program we’re paying for the projects over time with the energy savings all the while realizing immediate savings on our bills. In then end the residents and taxpayers of Claremont will save an estimated $2 million dollars over the life of the projects. We couldn’t be more pleased.”
- Guy Santagate, City Manager, Claremont, New Hampshire
What was saved as a result of the program, and how much?
By 2006, all cost-effective energy saving measures were completed in Claremont’s city buildings. This year alone, the city is anticipating a $27,000 reduction in electricity costs, and, when the Smart Start improvements are paid off, the city expects to see a $118,000 reduction in their electricity bills each year. Over the life of these lighting improvements, Claremont will save an estimated $1.9 million dollars.
Claremont is experiencing a 17.3 percent savings in electricity used based on the comprehensive lighting retrofits undertaken in municipal buildings. The city's total annual energy savings are 422,791 kWh.
Were there non-energy benefits as a result of the improvement?
As a result of Claremont’s public energy efficiency projects, city employees are much more conscientious of their energy use. City leaders believe that the lighting upgrades will not only improve building occupant comfort and lower energy bills, but it will also keep taxes and energy costs stable and spur economic development.
In addition, learning more about energy efficiency from PSNH led Claremont to implement a procurement process in which only ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and equipment are purchased for city use.
Quote from the program administrator
“At 1,500 square feet, the Machine and Tool Shop at the Sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center is one of the largest classrooms in the state of New Hampshire. With the new highly efficient lighting system we’re not only saving energy, it’s now a safer environment for the students to work in. The shadows on the floor and equipment are gone, there’s much less glare on the equipment and computer screens, the light levels are significantly brighter and the color is now uniform throughout the shop. Some of the students even thought that we got new equipment! They were shocked when we told them it was just new lights.”
- Scott Pope, Mayor of Claremont and Sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center Instructor
Left to right: Mayor Scott Pope, Bruce Fulmer (PSNH Smart Start Program Administrator), Norma Limoges (Claremont Department of Public Works), Sue Blothenberg (PSNH Community Relations Manager).
The city of Claremont and PSNH were honored by NEEP through the Business Leaders for Energy Efficiency program launched in May at the 2006 Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit. For more information, please visit the Summit Web site.
Interested in submitting a case study for NEEP Notes? Please contact Catherine Stanley for more information.
