Conservation First Framework Tool Kit
Final v2 – March 26, 2015
Implementation Guideline for MultiDistributor Customer Strategy
1. Context
The Minister’s Direction of March 31, 2014 includes a requirement that “…the OPA and/or
Distributors shall provide enhanced co-ordination efforts with regard to…opportunities to target
consumers with multiple locations across several licensed service areas…and CDM measures
delivered or promoted through provincial or national channels…”(Section 3.5(x))
2. Purpose of this guideline
The purpose of this guideline is to present the implementation guideline for province-wide
programs for the first part of that requirement – multi-distributor customers.
3. Introduction
Customers do not all represent equal savings potential. Four per cent of saveONenergy retrofit
customers have delivered over forty per cent of all savings. And participation level does not
necessarily reflect potential – some high-potential customers are light participants.
Different strategies therefore need to be adopted for different customers based on their potential
and internal governance (eg. franchise vs corporate) – the higher the savings potential the higher
the level of service.
4. Guidelines
There are three elements to the multi-distributor customer implementation guidelines:
1. identifying high-potential customers;
2. engaging customers; and
3. making participation easy.
The guideline was developed with input from LDCs and from customers and channel allies
through the consultation sessions held in May and July, 2014. The strategy on which it is based
was communicated as part of Toolkit v1 on July 31st.
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4.1 Identifying high-potential customers
There is currently no centralized source of broad-based business information about multidistributor customers available for use by LDCs and the IESO.
The IESO will procure for use by LDCs a list of Ontario businesses with information about
the business showing, for each, subsector, size of business, number and locations of
facilities, contact information for executives and other information useful for
understanding and engaging the customer. The business information will be blended with
saveONenergy for Business application and participation history to provide a sense of the
level of engagement with programs to date and, by extension, the type and size of
opportunity remaining.
The list will be provided to LDCs by February 2015 with the first update in late 2015. The
timing of subsequent updates will be done with LDC input, as will any changes in the list
content or format.
4.2 Engaging customers
Customers feel the current level of engagement is very good. Surveys of ERII customers in
the second quarter of 2014 show that 93 per cent would participate again and an equal
number would recommend the program to others.
Still, the customer, channel and LDC consultation sessions identified opportunities in four
areas:
 streamlined customer service;
 consistent customer experience across the province;
 access to expertise and guidance; and
 customer-focused marketing & communications.
Streamlined customer service
a) Single point of contact
The adoption of a single-window approach is encouraged. LDCs feel the Head Office
Model is working (although awareness could be higher) and customers and channels
prefer a single point of contact – it makes participating simpler. LDCs are also entering
into a new framework with more aggressive goals.
b) Customer choice
The framework allows customers to enter the saveONenergy program through the
IESO, a single LDC or multiple LDCs.
Any customer will be able to ask to have their application processed by any of these
choices.
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The LDC(s) involved and, if appropriate, IESO will consult to determine the role for
each. An example would be the one that processes the customer application or the one
that provides support such as site visits to facilities in their territory. Based on that
consultation we either confirm the customer’s choice or offer an alternative.
c) IESO support
The IESO will continue to have Business Managers available to assist LDCs in
identifying and pursuing opportunities with customers and engaging key accounts at
senior levels.
d) Compensation
Recognizing that the LDC processing the application incurs direct and indirect costs
for the benefit of other LDCs (who realize savings from projects in their service
territories) a portion of the project admin cost proportionate to their share of total
savings from the application should be allocated to each of the LDCs to whom savings
are attributed. LDCs may contract with each other or ask the IESO to provide
settlement.
Consistent customer experience
Consultations also identified the benefit for multi-distributor customers of having a
consistent experience across the province.
There are six customer touchpoints for which consistency is important to producing a
highly satisfactory customer experience:
To promote a consistent customer experience, customer experience standards will be
established in three of those areas for head office applications.
a) Participant agreement
A standard participant agreement will be provided by the IESO for all province-wide
programs. That agreement will be used for all head office applications. Recognizing
that the customer participation agreement is between the customer and the LDC, an
LDC may choose to create and use its own customer participant agreement for nonmulti-distributor-customer applications. Should an LDC choose to create and use its
own participant agreement it will include the terms and conditions specified in the
Energy Conservation Agreement and the program’s rules.
b) Incentives
Customer incentives for province-wide programs will be consistent across the
province.
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c) Application processing
Customer experience standards, such as the number of days to process a completed
application, will be determined by the working group accountable for the design of the
program.
d) Interpretation of program rules
Customer feedback has been received that the interpretation of program rules
sometimes differs from LDC to LDC. To avoid this situation (1) the IESO will make
program rules publicly available online for use by LDCs, channel allies and customers,
(2) LDCs are encouraged to seek clarification from the IESO when there are questions
about program rules or measure-level guidelines, (3) the IESO will publish these
clarifications in an FAQ format in a centralized location accessible by LDCs.
e) QA/QC and project M&V
Customer experience standards including timelines will be established by program
working groups to meet the established QA/QC requirements as part of the process
for approving the project and participant incentives. Should an LDC (other than the one
processing the application) that is being attributed savings not meet those service
standards, or decline to provide the service, the one processing the application may find
an alternative for meeting the QA/QC requirements in that service territory and charge
the LDC for the cost of doing so. The cost charged will be according to an agreed-upon
rate. LDCs may contract with each other or ask the IESO to provide settlement.
To ensure consistent project savings evaluation for multi-distributor customer projects,
the LDC is encouraged to provide a savings evaluations template for small custom
projects (incentives < 10K) or an M&V report template for large custom projects to the
other LDCS to be used by them and their third-party project evaluators.
Project evaluators in LDC territories should use this template as a baseline and, if
necessary, comment on how savings at the facility they are reviewing should be
evaluated differently.
f) Settlement
Customer experience standards, such as the number of days to process payment once
the post-project documentation is complete, will be determined by working groups.
g) Monitoring service standards
Should service standards not be met an LDC should bring the situation to the attention
of the program working group for follow-up. The working group should report the
number and nature of incidents on a quarterly basis to the IESO for tracking purposes.
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Access to expertise and guidance
High-potential multi-distributor customers have, almost by definition, sophisticated needs.
In recognition, the IESO will facilitate access for LDCs, channel allies and customers to
program and technology knowledge through a variety of methods.
The following will be made available by the IESO:
a) Training programs
The IESO will continue to offer or fund participation in a variety of training and
certification programs. The list for 2015 is currently under development.
b) Technology expertise
The IESO will continue to have Engineering Leads available to support program
working groups.
Through the IESO’s Market Transformation & Engineering vendor of record list,
which is expected to be available beginning in January 2015, LDCs may access
consultants to provide advice on technology for each major measure category such as
comment on measure-level M&V.
The IESO will fund access for all LDCs to the E Source Technology Assessment
Service which deals with emerging technologies beginning in Q4 2014.
The Conservation Fund will continue to fund initiatives aimed at commercializing
emerging technology.
c) Sector expertise
The IESO will continue to publish Market Characterization and Market Overview
studies, with input from working groups used to decide sub-sectors to be profiled.
The IESO will continue to have Sector Outreach Managers available to assist LDCs in
identifying and pursuing opportunities within priority sectors and engaging with those
sectors.
Through the IESO’s Market Transformation & Engineering vendor of record list LDCs
may access consultants directly to conduct sector reviews and profiles.
d) Program expertise
The IESO will fund access for all LDCs to the E Source Demand-Side Management
Service which deals with program design and delivery. Through the IESO’s Market
Transformation & Engineering vendor of record list LDCs may access consultants to
provide advice on program design.
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e) Knowledge sessions
On topics aligned with current priorities and with input from program working groups,
customers and channels, these types of knowledge sessions will take place:
 LDC workshops and events;
 channel-specific workshops and sessions; and
 customer workshops and sessions.
Marketing and communications
The IESO will continue to provide communication materials to LDCs (for customization)
and directly to customers and channel allies. This includes advertising, newsletters, case
studies, and related sales and program support material and templates in a variety of
formats.
a) Customer focus
Customers and channel allies strongly urged that material be available which is easy to
understand and use by those who are not familiar with mechanical or electrical
technology, energy efficiency programs or even the electricity sector. Customerappropriate versions will be produced.
The IESO will stakeholder or conduct market research with customers and, where
appropriate, channels for each major marketing piece or template for province-wide
programs prior to making it available to ensure it is relevant, clear and effective with its
audience.
b) Use of saveONenergy
Brand standards will evolve for LDC and channel allies to employ the saveONenergy
brand effectively in their own advertising and messaging.
Consistency in how the brand is used by the IESO, LDCs and channel allies across the
province is important for multi-distributor customers since different parts of their
organization will be exposed to advertising and messaging created by different sources.
Flexibility is also important for the saveONenergy brand to be integrated with the brand
of the individual LDC or channel ally.
The goal is that the brand standards are optimally effective by exhibiting the right
balance between consistency and flexibility. The updated brand standards will be
communicated and ready for use on January 1st 2015.
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c) IESO Support for LDCs
The IESO will also provide a toolkit for LDCs to use containing suggestions and best
practices for using the brand as well as being the source for saveONenergy advertising
templates created by the IESO and those made available for sharing by other LDCs.
The goal is to have the toolkit available in Q2 2015.
4.3 Making it easy to participate
The final element of the guideline deals with program applications and their processing.
a) Application enhancements
The IESO will make a standard application available for all province-wide programs.
In consultations we heard that under the previous framework the amount of required
content was high and that the language used was not customer-friendly. These are
being addressed.
b) Processing enhancements
Feedback in the consultations was clear – that improvements to iCon CRM should
continue to be implemented to streamline administration,
Some of the identification and, in particular, prioritization of enhancements will come out of
input from working groups and customer experience mapping. Some are currently in various
stages of being designed and implemented, while others have been identified and are waiting
resourcing.
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