2020 Annual Report

Improving Equity

Enhanced offers based on community input are bringing the benefits of saving and generating energy within reach of more Oregonians.

Building Partnerships

Collaborations with nonprofits and public agencies result in more successful outreach and participation from customers we haven’t reached in the past.

Helping Communities

From Oregon’s rural towns to urban neighborhoods, communities are partnering with Energy Trust to connect customers with energy opportunities and meet climate and other goals.

Expanding Innovation

We are working in new ways to meet Oregonians where they are with offers designed to address their needs.

From Our Executive Director

Given all the challenges associated with the pandemic, promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy may not seem like an obvious priority. But Energy Trust’s services and support provided some much-needed bill savings for people and businesses. Thanks to upgrades completed in 2020, customers saved a total of $432 million on their utility bills while also protecting our environment by avoiding 270,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

To help customers manage through the challenges of 2020, we redesigned program offers, launched bonuses and new virtual delivery options, and pivoted marketing and outreach efforts. As a result, Energy Trust met our annual goal for electric savings, exceeded our goal for gas savings and far exceeded our goal for renewable energy generation.

As we reflect on 2020, we are mindful that some people and businesses were impacted more severely. Low-wage workers experienced a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 at work and greater economic risks if they chose to stay home. Communities of color were disproportionately sickened. Thousands of Oregonians, mostly in rural parts of the state, faced rebuilding following devastating wildfires. These communities were already among the most vulnerable to economic disruptions. Energy Trust had already been working to prioritize outreach and services to these customers, but 2020 added urgency to our work.

While we all hope 2021 will bring more stability, we know working with customers and communities to recover requires us to become more flexible—to understand and respond faster to customer needs and local efforts to build community health and well-being. To do that, we are expanding our work with community partners to better understand when customer and community objectives align with energy efficiency and renewable energy. We look forward to the creativity and innovation that comes from collaborating in new ways to help customers emerge more resilient than before.

Michael Colgrove

Executive Director

Cumulative and 2020 Results

Our work benefited Oregonians in 2020 and creates lasting impact over time.

Since 2002

$9.5

Billion

Added to Oregon’s economy

956

AMW

Electricity saved and generated

Million Therms

Natural gas saved

$8.9

Billion

Saved on utility bills over time

In 2020

270,000

Tons

Carbon dioxide avoided

27,000

Projects Completed

By local trade ally contractors

Community Organizations

Collaborating to serve customers of color and with low incomes

67,000

Homes and Businesses

Completed clean energy upgrades

$159

Million

Cash incentives and services distributed to Oregonians

55,000

LEDS

Provided at no cost to low-income customers through community organizations

2,400

Customers

Received enhanced incentives for customers based on income

141

Projects at Schools

Saving money that can be used to serve students

Success Stories

We developed innovative, equitable solutions to help Oregon’s families, businesses and communities achieve their energy goals.

Collaboration

Serving more customers through community partnerships

New solar incentives expand access for income-qualified customers

Equity

With classrooms empty, schools make energy upgrades during pandemic

Community

Residents find comfort, cost savings in new manufactured homes

Innovation

Nonprofit accelerates energy investment in rural community

Community

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Goals

In 2020, we completed our 2019-2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Operations Plan to better serve communities of color, customers with low incomes and rural communities.

GOAL	ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS	LESSONS LEARNED
Increase participation in residential energy efficiency programs in communities of color	Provided free Energy Saver Kits, LEDs and smart thermostats to underserved customers Launched Community Partner Funding with higher incentives for nonprofits	Out-of-pocket costs are a significant barrier to participation Working with community-based organizations is an investment of time and resources and is essential to increasing participation
Increase participation of small, medium and rural businesses in commercial energy efficiency programs	Worked with community service, community-based and culturally specific organizations and rural chambers to reach business customers	Adding multilingual staff and partners improves outreach, particularly for Spanish-speaking contractors and customers Streamlining offers for businesses recovering from the pandemic and wildfires could increase their participation
Increase participation of small, medium and rural businesses in industrial energy efficiency programs	Launched incentive increases and bonuses Launched no-cost tubular LED installation offer in Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon	Coordinating incentives and outreach between commercial and industrial programs may be an effective way to reach target customers
Increase participation of low-income, rural and racially diverse communities in renewable energy programs	Awarded $80,000 in grants to community-based organizations exploring innovative solar project models that benefit underserved customers Created higher incentives for income-qualified customers	Incorporating more community feedback into program design could enable increased participation from target customers
Increase participation in the Trade Ally Network by minority- and women-owned businesses	Increased memberships and activities with trade organizations Translated enrollment forms for new trade allies into Spanish	More targeted outreach to explain the benefits of incorporating energy efficiency upgrades into their businesses is key to reaching this segment of trade allies
Increase the number of projects completed by minority- and women-owned trade allies	Completed 723 projects with minority-owned businesses and 1,574 projects with women-owned businesses in 2020	Providing leads to minority- and women-owned contractors could help drive project volume and remove barriers to participation
Increase the number of contracts executed with minority- and women-owned businesses	Increased communications and outreach to promote contracting opportunities Included diverse contractor requirements for some contracts	Enhancing tracking systems to improve visibility of smaller contracts and subcontracts can identify gaps to target where we can help more contracts go to minority- and women-owned businesses
Increase overall market awareness and understanding of underserved populations by engaging with culturally specific organizations	Formed 20 new relationships and created deeper relationships with 30 organizations Through these relationships, gained insight into customers’ barriers and gaps in Energy Trust offers	Developing more marketing efforts with community-based organizations and developing more materials in Spanish may increase awareness and reduce participation barriers
Increase the diversity in recruitment and hiring of employees	29% of new hires identified as people of color in 2020 12% of staff identified as people of color	Expanding training opportunities for hiring managers, expanding recruitment and hiring channels and including diverse representation on hiring panels can help ensure hiring of more people of color
Develop systems to collect, track, analyze and report demographic information related to program participation, program delivery and Trade Ally Network	Conducted a survey of customers to understand barriers to participation and met oversampling targets for underserved and non-participating customers Expanded regular participant feedback surveys to include more demographic questions	Energy Trust should continue to explore how to collect participant demographic information for offers where customers are not directly receiving an incentive, such as receiving an instant discount at a retailer
Based on the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale survey, increase cultural responsiveness of all staff and board of directors	Staff scored 3.9 out of 5 on Intercultural Effectiveness Scale in 2019 and 2020 Used survey results to select a suite of trainings that address areas of significant growth potential	Exploring other surveys could provide deeper understanding of progress
Report on progress to goals	Submitted Q2 and annual diversity, equity and inclusion progress reports to the OPUC and board of directors Launched a web page describing Energy Trust’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts	Stakeholders value reports on diversity, equity and inclusion activities, results and lessons learned so they can track on progress

2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report

2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Goals

2020-2024 Strategic Plan

We have completed the first year of our 2020-2024 strategic plan, making progress in five focus areas and implementing strategies to deliver immediate and long-term clean energy benefits to customers and communities.

FOCUS AREA	PROGRESS INDICATORS	PROGRESS TO DATE
Engage customers with relevant energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, information and services, including information and services specifically for underserved customers	Achieve our annual savings and generation goals and continue to use multi-year planning processes to identify ambitious longer-term energy targets that incorporate emerging sources of savings	On track; achieved annual energy goals and prioritized innovative projects and approaches
	Meet or exceed the goals we establish to increase the diversity of program participants	On track, managing; achieved about half of the DEI participation goals
We strengthen the value we deliver to customers by linking energy efficiency and renewable energy to the approaches utilities are using to meet changing customer energy needs	Develop a framework to value, deliver, report and evaluate energy efficiency and renewable energy resource opportunities in targeted locations in collaboration with utilities	On track; staff began documenting approaches from initial targeted partnerships with utilities
	Implement and evaluate initiatives designed to drive customer adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in targeted areas	On track; targeted partnerships with 3 of 5 partner utilities
We provide objective information and analyses to policymakers and implementers to support development and implementation of energy policies	Establish a system for monitoring regulatory and policy initiatives; contribute data analyses and technical expertise during policy development and participate in policy implementation when there is potential customer benefit related to energy efficiency and renewable energy	On track; internal tracking system established
We maximize the effectiveness and reach of public purpose charge funding by leveraging additional funding to advance clean energy investments that deliver multiple benefits	Acquire more energy savings and renewable generation than would otherwise be achieved with only public purpose charge funding	Not started; development of leveraged funding tracking system underway
	Coordinate with more organizations and communities where their additional resources help accomplish mutually supportive objectives	Not started; community partnership tracking system under development
	Establish a concept agreement with the OPUC and at least one natural gas utility to assess a joint carbon reduction effort	Not started; collaboration with one natural gas utility underway
We enhance our ability to quickly and effectively respond to changes, needs and new opportunities	Achieve diversity, equity and inclusion goals for employee hiring and recruitment and for the board of directors	On track; achieved 25% increase in diversity of staff applicants and other activities are underway
	Annual surveys indicate that staff are significantly aware of how annual goal setting, business planning and prioritization enables flexible resourcing of existing and new initiatives	On track, managing; staff agreed with 6 of 12 statements in surveys

Highlights from our Strategic Plan Focus Areas

Learn More About Strategic Planning

Transparency & Accountability

We are governed by a volunteer board of directors and overseen by the Oregon Public Utility Commission. Three stakeholder advisory councils guide our work.

Accountable and Transparent

Every dollar received and invested is accounted for in monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements.
Financial statements are audited annually by an independent auditor. Energy Trust has a perfect track record of unmodified financial audits.
Each kilowatt hour and therm acquired is reported in quarterly and annual reports.
All major programs are evaluated by a third party.
We contract for an independent management audit every five years.

Revenues And Expenditures

Revenues totaled $179.2 million.
Expenditures totaled $189.5 million.
Delivered $103.4 million in incentives, with most of the remainder for delivery of customer services.
Maintained acceptable administrative and program support costs at 6.7% ($11.8 million) of revenue.

Measuring 2020 Performance

Category	2020 Performance Measures	2020 Results
PGE efficiency	Save at least 23.3 aMW	Exceeded, with 25.7 aMW saved
PGE efficiency	Levelized cost not to exceed 4.1 cents/kWh	In compliance, levelized cost at 3.9 cents/kWh
Pacific Power efficiency	Save at least 15.3 aMW	Exceeded, with 17.5 aMW saved
Pacific Power efficiency	Levelized cost not to exceed 4.3 cents/kWh	In compliance, levelized cost at 4.2 cents/kWh
NW Natural efficiency	Save at least 4.7 million annual therms	Exceeded, with 6.4 million annual therms saved
NW Natural efficiency	Levelized cost not to exceed 43 cents/therm	In compliance, levelized cost at 31.8 cents/therm
Cascade Natural Gas efficiency	Save at least 0.46 million annual therms	Out of compliance, with 0.43 million annual therms saved
Cascade Natural Gas efficiency	Levelized cost not to exceed 55 cents/therm	In compliance, levelized cost at 42.2 cents/therm
Avista efficiency	Save at least 0.33 million annual therms	Exceeded, with 0.41 million annual therms saved
Avista efficiency	Levelized cost not to exceed 41 cents/therm	In compliance, levelized cost at 36 cents/therm
Renewable energy	For project and development assistance (part 1), deploy at least $1.99 million in non-solar project development assistance incentives; maintain a non-solar project development assistance pipeline in excess of 25 projects; report number of projects served, total dollars spent and summarize project progress through development stages	Out of compliance, paid $1.48 million and committed $1.64 million in project development assistance to 30 projects; the program exceeded the benchmark for number of projects in the pipeline but was short of the benchmark for dollars deployed due to a slowdown in irrigation modernization efforts as a result of the pandemic and limited hydropower potential in some districts
	For project and market development assistance (part 2), report annual results, including number of projects supported, milestones met and documentation of results from market and technology perspective	In compliance
	Obtain at least 1.9 aMW of installed generation of standard net-metered Solar program projects	In compliance, with 3.09 aMW of installed generation from standard solar projects
	For solar projects funded outside of the Solar program’s standard, net-metered incentive offer, report sources of funding for projects and the criteria for selection	In compliance, program did not dedicate funds for custom solar projects in 2020
Financial integrity	Receive an unmodified financial opinion from an independent auditor on annual financial statements	In compliance, with an unmodified financial audit opinion for 2020
Administrative/program support costs	Keep administrative/program support costs below 8% of annual revenues (no more than $14,189,583)	In compliance, with 2020 administrative and program support costs of 6.7% of annual revenues ($11,771,712)
Administrative/program support costs	Administrative/program support cost growth limited to 10% year-over-year increase (no more than $1,322,542)	In compliance, program support cost growth of 7% year-over-year ($771,297)
Staffing expenditures	Staffing cost growth is limited to 9% year-over-year increase (no more than $1,262,428)	Out of compliance, with staffing cost growth of 9.8% year-over-year ($1,323,250) due to unused vacation time liability resulting from COVID-19 restrictions; Energy Trust proactively identified this issue and put a management plan in place to bring vacation liability down in 2021
Customer satisfaction	Demonstrate greater than 85% satisfaction rates for interaction with program representatives and overall satisfaction	In compliance, with a 98% satisfaction rate for interaction with program representatives and a 96% overall satisfaction rate; results for major programs are averaged to determine satisfaction rates
Benefit/cost ratios	Report utility system and total resource perspective annually. Report significant mid-year changes as warranted in quarterly reports	In compliance, with no mid-year changes
Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and market transformation	Report annually: • Savings and costs • Savings strategies • Show Energy Trust direction to NEEA through committee membership • Summary of Energy Trust direction to NEEA • Summary of NEEA initiatives Energy Trust opts out of and why	In compliance
Diversity, equity and inclusion	Implement the data enhancement project as outlined in the 2020 Budget and Action Plan and deliver a minimum of four reports to the Diversity Advisory Council	In compliance, completed the data enhancement project and gave three reports to the Diversity Advisory Council
	Implement and publish the DEI Lens project as outlined in the 2020 Budget and Action Plan and approved by the Diversity Advisory Council	In compliance, completed the DEI Lens project that was approved by the Diversity Advisory Council in December 2020
	Complete 1,000 projects with trade allies that are minority-owned businesses in 2020	Out of compliance, completed 723 projects with minority-owned trade allies in 2020; many contractors experienced disruptions due to COVID-19 and wildfires; OPUC staff was informed of this in mid-2020
	Implement a rural-focused workshop as outlined in the 2020 Budget and Action Plan	In compliance, held a virtual workshop with residents of Umatilla in October 2020

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