Building Retro-commissioning, Texas Style

Abstract

CenterPoint Energy is the first investor-owned utility in the state
of Texas to sponsor a retro-commissioning program for commercial
and industrial markets in its service territory. CenterPoint Energy is
a Houston, Texas, based company engaged in the transmission and
distribution of electric power to 1.8 million customers in a 5,000 square-
mile area that includes Houston, the fourth largest city in the nation.
Deregulation occurred in Texas in 2001, and significantly changed how
investor-owned utilities offered energy efficiency programs within
their service territories. As part of deregulation, the State Legislature
required that 10 percent of all new demand growth be met through util-
ity-sponsored energy effi ciency programs. In the large commercial and
industrial markets, CenterPoint Energy implemented a commercial and
industrial standard offer program to help meet this 10 percent demand
reduction goal. After two years of implementation and a downturn in
the economy, it became apparent that another program was needed
to extract demand reduction from commercial and industrial markets.
Through discussion with national experts and review of other building
commissioning programs, CenterPoint Energy concluded that retro-
commissioning would be a good candidate to supply additional de-
mand reduction along with identifying opportunities for its commercial
and industrial standard offer program. In conjunction with other Texas
investor-owned utilities, a retro-commissioning program template was
submitted to and approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas
in early 2003. This program has been structured to be a market transfor-
mation offering, and will continue until retro-commissioning becomes
an everyday practice in the CenterPoint Energy service territory.