PORTLAND, Ore. — March 14, 2016 — Energy Trust of Oregon will release in April a Request for Proposals for program management of its Existing Buildings program. It is Energy Trust board policy and national best practice to periodically bid out such contracts with the objective of delivering effective services and value for utility customers. Energy Trust will negotiate with the selected contractor for a three-year contract with two optional one-year extensions.

Energy Trust will release the Request for Proposals, RFP, in early April with proposals due May 16, 2016. Work under the new program management contract will begin January 1, 2017.

To view the posted RFP, and for more information, visit www.energytrust.org/opportunities. Potential bidders should hold all questions until the comment period following the RFP release. Energy Trust will announce a webinar to answer initial questions in the RFP document.

The selected program management contractor will be responsible for the management and delivery of the Existing Buildings program. The program serves all existing commercial customers within Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas territories in Oregon, and commercial buildings served by NW Natural in Washington. Existing Buildings includes services and incentives for equipment upgrades and retrofits, commercial lighting and commercial Strategic Energy Management. Major renovations are not served by Existing Buildings. For more information about the current program offerings, visit www.energytrust.org/commercial/equipment-upgrades-remodels/.

Owners and managers of existing commercial buildings have access to a wide range of technical services and cash incentives for building upgrades. In 2016, Energy Trust incentives to these customers are budgeted at approximately $26.4 million in cash incentives with energy-savings goals of approximately 92.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity and more than 1.6 million annual therms of natural gas. Existing Buildings is Energy Trust’s largest efficiency program and served customers at more than 3,500 sites in 2015. Management of Energy Trust’s commercial Strategic Energy Management, SEM, initiative is also included in the RFP. To date, this program offering has worked with 69 different public and private sector organizations. For 2016 the SEM budget includes $630,000 in incentives with energy-savings goals of more than 17.8 million kilowatt hours and 270,000 annual therms.

Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping utility customers benefit from saving energy and generating renewable power. Our services, cash incentives and energy solutions have helped participating customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas save $1.9 billion on energy bills. Our work helps keep energy costs as low as possible, creates jobs and builds a sustainable energy future. Learn more at www.energytrust.org or call 1-866-368-7878.