Team Lift: A Three-State Approach to Testing a New Program Design

摘要

Efficient lighting has long been one of the mainstays in the portfolios of efficiencyrnprogram. Across the country, efficiency programs have incentivized CFLs using an upstreamrnbuy-down model that provides a per-bulb incentive. As these programs mature, they arernfrequently able to claim only a portion of those savings due to net-to-gross factors. In 2012, twornorganizations recruited three states – Massachusetts, Oregon, and Vermont – to sponsor threernseparate, but coordinated, demonstration programs in residential lighting using Market Lift, arnnew upstream program design. Market Lift provides a direct incentive to the retailer for increasesrnin sales of CFLs above an agreed-upon baseline based on historical sales. This model allowsrnutilities to claim full savings for bulbs sold above the baseline, relies on the retailers’ expertise tornsell product, and provides the utilities with a robust set of data with which they can evaluate thernimpact of the program. These pilots – while similar in purpose – varied from state to state andrnhave benefitted greatly from cross-continental coordination, which allowed not only better pilotrndesigns, but also greater ease of implementation and increased participation.rnThe pilot projects discussed in this paper were preceded by an initial Market Lift pilotrnthat was done in Wisconsin in partnership with Focus on Energy and Lowe’s. This paperrnexplores lessons learned from planning and executing these concurrent cross-country pilots,rnincluding challenges and benefits of retailer engagement and coordination of pilots in threernseparate states. It also provides recommendations for implementation of future Lift programs.