WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--BASIC VIDEO 1

WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--BASIC VIDEO 2

WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--ADVANCED VIDEO 1

WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--ADVANCED VIDEO 2

One of EnergyCAP’s important functions is to audit the effectiveness of energy management programs. Using procedures in compliance with the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP), EnergyCAP helps answer the question, "What is the estimated Cost Avoidance that can be reasonably attributed to energy management efforts?"

Cost Avoidance refers to avoided spending due to the implementation of energy management activities.

EnergyCAP Cost Avoidance methodology and core calculations date back to 1982, when EnergyCAP’s predecessor (FASER Energy Accounting) first introduced Cost Avoidance. Members of the pioneering team of software engineers and developers for Cost Avoidance in 1982 are still refining and enhancing EnergyCAP today. Over the years these principles have served the needs of thousands of energy managers and assessed billions of dollars in energy management projects.

EnergyCAP and Measurement and Verification (M&V) Methods

"Measurement and verification (M&V)" is the terminology commonly used to describe the practice of measuring energy savings and verifying Cost Avoidance. EnergyCAP 's Cost Avoidance module is an M&V tool — it is one method available to measure and report energy and cost savings.

The U.S. Department of Energy funded an effort to develop a written standard to define and describe various M&V options. The standard, called the International Performance Measurement & Verification Protocol (IPMVP) was U.S. Department of Energy document DOE/GO-102002-1554. DOE has passed the maintenance and distribution of this document to a non-profit organization called the Efficiency Valuation Organization; it is available for download from www.EVO-World.org. EnergyCAP is considered an "Option C--Whole Building" method of M&V under this standard.

See www.EVO-World.org for additional M&V resources.

This topic deals with the fundamental principles of Cost Avoidance in EnergyCAP.

Defining Cost Avoidance

Cost Avoidance is avoided spending, not necessarily decreased spending. Cost Avoidance is a much more direct and accurate term than dollar savings in energy management. Consider the following example regarding a company energy management initiative implemented late in 2006: 

An accountant or controller looking at these figures could argue that despite the initiative, energy “savings” in February of 2007 were negative — the company "lost" $540, because an extra $540 had to come out of the checkbook in February 2008. Dollar savings implies that a simple comparison between the dollars spent then and now is made. This is not how Cost Avoidance is calculated.

The Philosophy of Cost Avoidance

Cost Avoidance assessment uses CURRENT CONDITIONS as the reference point, since prior energy management initiatives impact current energy consumption and costs. 

Considering the above example, we can see that our theoretical energy management initiative was actually successful from an energy management perspective — it reduced heating oil consumption from 1,000 to 900 gallons for the current month, a 10 percent reduction. 

Using current conditions as the reference point, we ask, "What would I have used if I had not implemented energy management?" The simple answer, assuming no other significant variables are in play, is 1,000 gallons —consumption in 2007 would have likely remained at a similar level to 2006.

The next question is, "What would I have spent at today’s commodity prices?" Since the cost of heating oil in February of 2007 was $2.60/gallon, you would have spent :

1,000 gallons x $2.60/gallon = $2,600 

With this information, it is possible to calculate the Cost Avoidance due to energy management: 

Estimated cost today without energy management (1,000 gal@ $2.60/gal) = $2,600

Actual cost today thanks to energy management (900 gal@ $2.60/gal) = $2,340

Cost Avoidance due to energy management = $260 

The controller might argue the point since the company budget shows a $540 increase in spending. But, without energy management, it is reasonable to predict that the company would have spent $260 more.

Calculating Cost Avoidance

The preceding example introduced a very basic method for calculating Cost Avoidance, described as follows:

1. Determine consumption in the pre-retrofit period.
2. Determine consumption and cost in the post-retrofit period (CURRENT CONDITIONS).
3. Calculate what the pre-retrofit consumption would have cost given current conditions.
4. Subtract the cost associated with step 2 from the cost associated with step 3. This gives you Cost Avoidance — what you would have spent minus what you really did spend. 

Cost Avoidance is a comparison of what is used and what it cost today with what was used before the implementation of an energy management project. The pre-retrofit period is the "yardstick" used to measure how far you've come; in EnergyCAP, this period is called the BASELINE.

Here is another basic example incorporating the process and terminology outlined above.

1. Baseline consumption=20,000 KWH  Baseline cost=$1,152.39
2. Current consumption=15,000 KWH  Current cost=$1,500.00 ($0.10/KWH)
3. Baseline consumption at current rate=20,000 KWH  @  $.10/KWH  = $2,000.00
4. Cost Avoidance (step 3 – step 2):    $2,000 – $1,500 = $500

Note that the Baseline Cost of $1,152.39 is irrelevant. It does not enter into the calculation. Those prices aren't available to us today. Commodity prices are beyond the control of the energy manager.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

This brings us to one of the most important concepts in energy accounting and Cost Avoidance calculation: the energy manager can reasonably be credited for only those variables under his/her control, such as:

• Implementing retrofit projects, such as relamping and/or HVAC control systems enhancements
• Cutting or reallocating hours of usage
• Setting back thermostats
• Initiating energy awareness campaigns
• Changing rate schedules, such as from a standard rate to time-of-use

There are many factors that will affect consumption. Those beyond the control of the energy manager are "independent variables" because they are independent of management control. Examples are:

• Colder winter weather
• Hotter summer weather
• Longer hours of occupancy
• Fewer days in the billing period
• Changes in utility rates initiated by the commodity vendor
• New construction affecting floor area/building size and utility load

Adjusting the Baseline

The initial calculations/examples provided in this Cost Avoidance HELP module compared the "raw" baseline with the current bill using only the variables of CONSUMPTION AND COST. This simple comparison is reasonable if there are no significant changes in independent variables such as weather, billing period, or other variables beyond the control of the energy manager. 

However, to account for these independent and often very significant variables in Cost Avoidance calculations, we must make adjustments for them — we do this by adjusting the baseline to bring it more closely in conformance with current conditions. Below is the revised Cost Avoidance calculation process:

1. Determine consumption in the baseline (pre-retrofit) period.
2. Determine consumption and cost in the current (post-retrofit) period.
3. Adjust the baseline consumption for weather, billing period length, and other independent variables so that it is more closely comparable to current conditions. The adjusted baseline allows for a more precise calculation of utility costs likely to be incurred in the absence of a Cost Avoidance Program (CAP).   Remember the underlying principle for all adjustments: Always adjust the baseline to reflect current conditions.
4. Calculate the cost of step 3 using today's rates.
5. Subtract the cost associated with step 2 from the cost associated with step 4. This gives you Cost Avoidance — what you would have spent minus what you really did spend. 

Note that the two bills cannot be compared directly because one of the independent variables, billing period length, does not permit an "apples-to-apples" comparison. In accordance with the underlying principle of Cost Avoidance (Always adjust the baseline to reflect current conditions.), it will be necessary to adjust the Feb 2006 bill to match the Feb 2008 bill by calculating the probable consumption in Feb 2006 if the billing period length that year had been 33 days long.

In this example, a rough comparison could be made by first determining the DAILY USE for the baseline year:

The next step is to multiply the baseline DAILY USE by the total number of days in the “current” billing period:

432.76*33 = 14,281 KWH = Feb 2006 Baseline Usage Adjusted for Billing Period Length

This example illustrates how independent variables can significantly affect Cost Avoidance calculations. A cursory review of the two bills might have suggested that the energy use in 2008 (14,600 KWH) was significantly higher than 2006 (12,550 KWH). When adjusted for billing period, it is revealed that the consumption is much more similar (14,600 vs. 14,281 KWH with billing period adjustment).

As the table above reveals, since the median temperature in February of 2008 was higher than that of February 2006, the weather for these two months does not allow an accurate "apples-to-apples" comparison. However, EnergyCAP can perform a sophisticated linear regression analysis to determine and account for variations in consumption based on weather. EnergyCAP can adjust the February 2006 consumption to reveal probable energy use in the baseline year if the weather had been identical to current conditions!  

Acknowledging Cost Avoidance Limitations

It is important to remember that Cost Avoidance is only an estimate — an approximation. We have no way to precisely or exactly calculate Cost Avoidance — there are too many variables that cannot be tracked and accounted for. But EnergyCAP's Cost Avoidance values are reasonable estimates derived from a widely-accepted methodology consistently applied month after month— a methodology which has proven to be reliable, easy to understand, simple to use, and relatively inexpensive.

WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--BASIC VIDEO 1

WATCH VIDEO ON COST AVOIDANCE--ADVANCED VIDEO 2

This topic deals with the theoretical basis for EnergyCAP weather adjustments in determination of Cost Avoidance. For related software interface and operation questions not discussed in this topic, see the Cost Avoidance Operations topic group.

Before making weather adjustments, EnergyCAP determines if a meter is weather sensitive. The important question is: Does the weather have a significant impact on how much energy this meter uses?"

Meters can be weather sensitive in the summer only, winter only, both, or neither. Usage patterns can be very different in each season. For this reason, EnergyCAP handles summer and winter graphs, weather factors, and adjustments separately and independently. If a meter shows no weather sensitivity, there is no rationale for weather adjustments to the baseline for determination of Cost Avoidance.

Understanding Degree Days

Weather analysis is based on a very specific type of weather data—the daily mean temperature. This historical data is widely available from a variety of sources. In EnergyCAP, there is even an option for automatic download of weather information for each weather station associated with the organization. EnergyCAP also provides an interface for manual data entry of known weather data.

Most facilities use energy for heating and/or cooling. The extent of use varies with the extremes of temperature. In EnergyCAP, these extremes are related to a theoretical non-use norm—the building Balance Point Temperature (BPT). The Balance Point Temperature is the point at which the building does not require energy for heating and/or cooling. Heating Degree Days refer to days where the daily mean temperature at the facility was below the building Balance Point Temperature. Cooling Degree Days refer to days where the daily mean temperature at the facility was above the building Balance Point Temperature. In EnergyCAP, the default building BPT is 55°F. However, this value can be changed globally or on an individual basis for each building (place).

EnergyCAP compares the individual building BPT and the known daily mean temperature to determine the number of heating or cooling degrees in the day.  More significantly, EnergyCAP sums the daily heating degree days and cooling degree days to determine the total number of heating and the total number of cooling degree days for the known utility billing period.

EXAMPLE:

On April 24, 2007, the mean daily temperature for the area around Fire Station Alpha was 51°F. The building BPT is 55°F. Therefore, there were four Heating Degree Days on April 24. A general cooling trend in April brought the total of Heating Degree Days for the utility billing period to 150.

As can be seen from the discussion following, the Degree Day concept can be very useful in comparing weather severity from year to year. Heating or Cooling Degree Days can be related to utility billing information to assess the weather sensitivity of individual meters, and to provide for a more accurate assessment of Cost Avoidance from year to year.

EXAMPLE:

In June of 2007, there were 140 Cooling Degree Days associated with Fire Station Beta. In June of 2008, there were 96 Cooling Degree Days. Per this information, June 2007 would probably required more air conditioning than June 2008. Therefore, if the meter serving Fire Station Beta is weather sensitive for cooling, the facility would have less weather-related consumption (and less cost, barring any significant utility rate changes) in June 2008 versus June 2007. To answer the question, “How much more/less would I have spent in 2007 if I had experienced 2008 weather?” we need to account for any variation in utility rates, and we also need to determine the degree of weather sensitivity for the meters associated with the building. EnergyCAP uses a simple linear regression analysis (see next section) based on several months or years of data to find how much meter consumption is due to weather and how much is not (the “base load”). The base load consumption for June 2007 is added to the consumption that would have been used, if the meter had experienced June 2008 weather. The adjusted June 2007 consumption can be compared to the June 2008 consumption to determine how much more/less consumption occurred. In addition, multiplying the adjusted June 2007 consumption by the Average Unit Cost of the June 2008 bill gives how much the adjusted June 2007 consumption would have cost us in June 2008. Comparing the adjusted June 2007 cost to the June 2008 costs answers the question, “How much more/less would I have spent in 2007 if I had experienced 2008 weather?”

The EnergyCAP approach is to plot the baseline bills, month-by-month, on a grid with consumption on the vertical axis and weather (as expressed using the “degree days” concept) on the horizontal axis. EnergyCAP does this internally via statistical linear regression analysis, but it is possible to obtain the same results by plotting the monthly consumption data on a graph or in a spreadsheet program.

Each point represents an electric bill received in a baseline winter month. The "best fit" line is found by statistical single linear regression analysis, and is called the "regression line."

The regression line in this case would be nearly horizontal. The meter uses about the same amount of electricity every month. Is it weather sensitive in winter? No, because the cold weather has no effect on usage. Usage stays the same.

The slope of the line is zero, which means that the weather factor, expressed as KWH per degree day, is zero.

Since the meter is not weather sensitive, there's no reason to adjust the baseline for degree days.

NOTE: A meter may be weather sensitive even though it is not statistically apparent from the baseline data.  The typical case is a building that was so poorly controlled (e.g. open windows are used to control excessive heat in the winter) that there was no statistical correlation between baseline usage and baseline weather.

Consider this data from a gas meter in winter. This graph is very different. The usage increases as the weather gets colder, and decreases as the weather gets milder. Clearly, this meter is weather sensitive.

At the point of zero heating degrees (mild weather), the usage is zero. This means that the meter has no base load. There is no non-weather sensitive usage. All of the energy used is related to the weather.

This winter utility data from an electric meter shows a consistent slope which rises to the right, so the meter is weather sensitive. In the cold months such as December, January, and February, the weather load is greater, while in the mild months the weather load is smaller.

Note, however, that unlike the previous example, the Y-intercept (the point at which the line hits the vertical axis) has a value greater than zero —in this case, about 5,000 KWH. The Y intercept reveals the base load—the non-weather-related portion of the total usage. This meter uses 5,000 KWH even if there is mild weather (zero heating need degrees) plus some additional KWH depending on the weather. Once the weather load for the meter has been established, it is possible to more accurately adjust the baseline consumption for Cost Avoidance calculations.

Baseline Adjustments and Cost Avoidance

Baseline adjustment for non-weather sensitive meters

In EnergyCAP, a non-weather sensitive meter must meet one of the following criteria:

• The user has unchecked the “Attempt summer/winter weather adjustments to baseline?” option in the Meter Properties – CAP tab (see image below).

OR

• The baseline length, as defined in the Meter Properties window, is greater than 12 months.

Setting the Baseline Length to any value greater than 12 months disables the weather analysis, even if the Usage Adjustments checkboxes have been previously enabled.

OR

• EnergyCAP performed a usage vs. weather analysis for this meter and did not find an acceptable correlation between usage and degree days. Correlation data is displayed in the Cost Avoidance – Savings and Normalizations – Use vs Weather tab; a “red” background color for the statistical results indicates a lack of correlation in the statistics, while green means that a weather correlation exists.

If a meter is found to be non-weather sensitive, no weather adjustments will be made to the baseline consumption.

Cost Avoidance calculation for non-weather sensitive meters

The EnergyCAP processor calculates Cost Avoidance for non-weather adjusted meters using these steps:

1. Obtain current bill data. A "current" bill is a bill in the post-retrofit period; i.e., a bill that has a billing period End Date later than the Savings Start Date.

Current Billing Period:        7/15/06 to 8/14/06 (30 days)

Current Usage:                    42,000 KWH

Cost:                                       $3,750.00

1. Using the 365-day baseline period for the meter, extract the daily baseline usage for the matching period of 7/15 to 8/13* and total the daily baseline usage values for each day in the 7/15 to 8/13 period. This total usage is called the "without CAP" because it is the raw baseline that has been "adjusted" to match the billing period of the current bill, and reflects what would have been used in the absence of a Cost Avoidance/energy management program.

*NOTE: The current bill is 7/15 to 8/14 but we use the baseline period of 7/15 to 8/13. Why? For convenience, EnergyCAP assumes that bills are read at noon, so the current billing period of 7/15 to 8/14 includes 29 full days (7/16 to 8/13) and two half days (7/15 and 8/14). To keep it simple, EnergyCAP uses all of the start day (7/15) and none of the end day (8/14) when processing the baseline. So, the last day is always dropped. This gives us the correct number of 24-hour days in the billing months and year.

1. Next, adjust the baseline usage value for any floor area adjustments (proportional) or other special adjustments. For this example, let’s assume the sum of daily baseline usage without CAP for that billing period after all adjustments is 45,500 KWH.
2. Next, calculate the cost of the 45,500 KWH used in the baseline year. Using today's average unit cost as the costing method, we first calculate the unit cost of today's energy.

For example: $3,750 ÷ 42,000 KWH = $0.0843 per KWH

Then, we apply that unit cost to the adjusted baseline usage of 45,500 KWH:

45,500 KWH @ $0.0893 = $4,063

The “without CAP” cost is $4,063. This means that we would have spent $4,063 in the period of 7/15 to 8/13 if our consumption level had stayed the same as the base year and we paid today's rates.

1. Finally, calculate the Cost Avoidance.

Cost Avoidance is simply the difference between what we would have spent and what we did spend. Thanks to energy management, our actual spending was lower than expected, so we have a savings.

Cost Avoidance = Without CAP Cost - Actual Current Cost

Adjusting the baseline for weather-sensitive meters

The baseline creation process for a weather sensitive meter is very different from that of a non-weather sensitive meter.

1. Determine that the meter is weather sensitive. To do so, enable the meter for weather regression analysis using the Attempt Weather Adjustments checkbox option in the Meter Properties - CAP tab. Once enabled, the statistical analysis will reveal if the meter is weather sensitive. If a meter is weather sensitive, the Weather Factor and R-squared values are displayed on the Use vs Weather tab against a green background, as illustrated below.
2. Calculate the degree of sensitivity using a statistical technique. A meter that consumes 1 KWH per cooling degree is not highly weather-sensitive (the weather does not cause high energy usage), while a meter that consumes 100 KWH per cooling degree is much more sensitive. The regression analysis calculates a "weather factor" in units of usage per degree day of weather. The slope of the statistical regression line is the indicator of weather sensitivity. TO view this line, click the Use vs Weather tab at the bottom of the Cost Avoidance Manager window. There are separate slopes for summer and winter. Click on the Display Summer/Winter radio buttons to select the desired analysis. A meter may be weather sensitive in one season but not in the other, as in this example.

Only the summer shows a positive (green) correlation for this meter. Winter calculations are highlighted in red, indicating a poor correlation or no correlation.

1. "Disaggregate" each baseline bill into daily weather and non-weather components.

In the chart above, the daily “base load” is indicated in dark blue and the weather load is indicated in light blue.

1. Store the daily weather and non-weather components in the baseline file.

It is possible to change the weather factor by deleting any abnormal "outlier" bills in the baseline year. An "outlier" point is a month that has an abnormal usage vs. weather value.

A good example of an outlier is the July (Jul) bill (see graph, above) for a school that is shut down from June 20-August 1. The July weather is hot, so the "predicted" usage is high, but the actual usage is low because A/C is turned off.

Clearly, July is an abnormal outlier. The outlier point affects the weather adjustment by lowering the R-square value, often below the minimum. This causes EnergyCAP to ignore weather adjustments in all months, even though other spring and fall months may be good candidates for adjustments.

The EnergyCAP Use Vs Weather tab enables the user to remove an outlier month from the weather calculation: simply move the mouse cursor to the outlier point and click on the point.

NOTES: EnergyCAP may have already deleted some outliers. Any point more than two standard deviations away from the regression line will be removed from the analysis automatically, and the point indicated by a red diamond rather than a green circle. Any points outside of the lines (which indicate one standard deviation from the regression line) are possible candidates for manual deletion, but may be valid. Do not remove points outside of the lines unless you are confident that they are abnormal and not representative.  When a point is removed from the analysis, it will change from a green circle to a red diamond. You can include it by clicking on it again.

It is not possible to include far outliers that have been automatically removed by the EnergyCAP software.

When outlier points are removed from the regression analysis, the entire date range of that bill is removed from weather analysis. For example, if you or EnergyCAP removes a 7/03 – 8/05 bill, the energy usage associated with that date range will never be weather adjusted — the non-weather sensitive rules will apply.

The minimum R-squared value changes when outliers are removed because the minimum is based upon the number of points. Fewer points require a higher R-squared value for the same 95% confidence level.

Adjusting the building Balance Point Temperature (BPT)

It is possible to adjust the "heating needed below" temperature (for winter analysis) and the “cooling needed above” temperature (for summer analysis) to a setting that may be more appropriate. The “heating needed below” temperature must be less than or equal to the “cooling needed above” temperature. EnergyCAP allows for a “dead-band”, a range of temperatures where the building requires neither heating, nor cooling, but it does not allow an overlap range of temperatures where the building is being heated and cooled at the same time. These set points are for the building “balance point temperature” (BPT) used to calculate the number of heating or cooling degree days for each day in the billing period. Based on experience, a building manager may be able to assess the proper BPT for a specific facility with great accuracy.

As the BPT for summer or winter is changed, the R-square value will change. There may be many temperature settings that all have R-square values over the minimum required for a weather correlation. Which one is best?

Here's where some judgment and understanding of the building is important. The very highest R-square value is not always the best.  For example, the best R-square for an elementary school may be at 37º, but the building manager knows that the boiler controls turn on the heat at a 55º outside temperature. Use 55º instead of 37º.

Since the regression line must be a single straight line, EnergyCAP plots the line as shown above.

However, the figure below shows a more appropriate plot for these points — the combination of a flat and sloped line. This reveals that the BPT is probably set too high (if heating) or too low (if cooling). The leftmost months are essentially all the same usage — weather has not yet affected them.

Experiment with editing the BPT so less sensitive weather months "fall off" the graph to the left, providing a better estimation of heating needed below temperature, as shown below.

Knowledge of a building can be used to make better assumptions. Is September a heating month? If so, it should appear on the heating graph. If not, lower the heating temperature so that September falls off the graph because it isn't a heating month. Use the same approach for cooling months.

As the BPT changes, several changes may be observed:

• The minimum R-square value changes as more or less points (months) appear on the graph. The minimum is based upon the number of points; fewer points require a higher minimum for the same 95% confidence level.
• The months will shift to the right or left. The vertical height of the point for each month is the usage, so that won't change. The horizontal position of each month is the degree days. Because a change in temperature changes the degrees of heating need, the month will move left or right. For example:

With more extensive changes to BPT, more months will disappear from the graph. As the temperature is lowered, some months will no longer be considered "heating" months because they will no longer have heating need. They will disappear from the graph.

If you don't use the Use vs Weather screen to adjust the weather factor, the processor will automatically create one for you using 55ºF as the default temperature, automatically deleting any outlier bills that are more than two standard deviations outside of the regression line.

EnergyCAP uses the weather factor to disaggregate each baseline bill. The technique is really quite simple. EnergyCAP starts with the first day in the billing period. Since the weather factor is the consumption per degree day, the weather factor times degree days equals the total weather-related consumption.

EXAMPLE:

100 KWH per degree of heating need x 10 degrees of heating need = 1,000 KWH

By multiplying the factor times the heating degrees on this day, it is possible to closely estimate how much energy was used on this day in the base year for weather related loads (heating or cooling).

EnergyCAP steps through each day in each baseline bill and calculates the weather component in this manner. Next, EnergyCAP totals up the weather usage for each bill and subtracts it from the total consumption. The "left-over" usage must be the non-weather (lights, equipment) component because the weather component has already been accounted for. This non-weather component is then evenly assigned to each day of the billing period.

The result is that each baseline bill is disaggregated into a daily weather component and a daily non-weather component. The sum of the daily components always exactly equals the actual bill.

NOTE: The CAP06 Baseline Report shows the result of the disaggregation and can be used to verify the process.

Calculating Cost Avoidance for a weather-sensitive meter

EnergyCAP calculates Cost Avoidance for weather sensitive meters on a daily basis following this procedure:

1. Retrieve the current year bill.
2. Retrieve the bill start and end dates. Each day is processed to include the start date but exclude the end date. (The end date is processed as the start date on next month's bill.)
3. Retrieve the usage and weather for day one.
4. Retrieve the baseline data.

NOTE: You can use the CAP06 Baseline Report to print the baseline data for each day. The baseline will have two components: non-weather and weather.

1. (see *NOTE below) The non-weather component stays the same throughout the month, except for the “fringe” dates around the first or last day of the billing period. They may be different since there is a possibility that the monthly utility bills will not match up precisely from year to year.
   
   The weather component for the day is determined by multiplying the number of degree days by the slope of the corresponding best-fit straight line of Use vs. Weather from the baseline. For example, if the current day has 10 CDD and the meter has a baseline Use vs. CDD slope of 57.0, then the meter would have consumed 570 units to maintain a comfortable indoor building temperature.

1. Add the adjusted weather sensitive component to the unadjusted non-weather component. The result is the "without CAP” usage (adjusted baseline) — the baseline after it has been adjusted for today's weather condition.
2. If any special adjustments of floor area adjustments exist, apply them to the baseline.
3. Calculate the average unit cost of today's bill by dividing total cost by total usage. This is the current average unit cost.
4. Multiply the average unit cost times the “without CAP” usage. The result is the “without CAP” cost for this day.
5. Repeat steps 3 through 9 for each day of the current billing period (from step #2).
   NOTE: From the Savings tab, you can open a new window with the day-by-day results for the month by clicking the relevant Cost Avoidance data table entry or graph bar. If you click on the graph outside of the display bars, the last-viewed month will display.
6. Sum all the daily “without CAP” baseline costs.
7. Subtract actual current cost from the “without CAP” adjusted baseline to determine Cost Avoidance:

Cost Avoidance = Without CAP Cost - Actual Current Cost

*NOTE: A special situation that may be encountered at step 5 is that a particular day may have been a heating day in the baseline year but a cooling day in the current year. For example, in the 2000 baseline year, April 3rd was a heating day because the average temperature for the day was 45ºF. This year, April 3rd was a cooling day because the temperature was 66ºF.

The procedure in step #5 does not work in this case of a "swing" day. Instead, a slightly different approach is used. Since April 3rd of this year was a cooling day, and the baseline must be adjusted to today's conditions, it is necessary to calculate what would have been used in the baseline if the temperature had been 66ºF. First, the cooling weather factor (shown on the Use vs Weather tab) is examined.

• If the factor and R-square are zero, this means that the baseline year was not weather sensitive in the summer. The “without CAP” usage will be equal to the non-weather component with no weather component.
• If the meter is summer weather sensitive, then the cooling weather factor will be determined and added to the non-weather component. The result is the total “without CAP” usage for the “swing” day.

Peak Demand NOTES:

Peak demand is not adjusted for weather in EnergyCAP. Adjusting peak demand using peak degree days (the most severe day in the billing period) is unreliable for two reasons:

• There is a two-in-seven chance (30%) that the worst weather day will occur on a weekend or holiday when mechanical systems are in setback modes.
• Extrapolating peak demand using peak weather can easily result in a calculated value that exceeds the installed load of the building.

Because peak demand weather adjustments are unreliable, they have been removed from all versions of EnergyCAP and FASER since 1992.

Cost Avoidance values can be significantly affected by the nuances of current utility rate schedules. To understand this better, consider the relationship of Average Unit Price (Average Unit Cost) and Marginal Unit Price.

The current average unit price is simple to calculate and easy to understand. It is the current total cost divided by the current total usage. For example, if your current electric bill was $10,000 and you used 100,000 KWH, the average unit price was $.10/KWH.

Although simple to calculate and understand, the average unit price is not an appropriate way to calculate Cost Avoidance in many situations. Many rate schedules, particularly electric rates, have declining pricing tiers. You may pay $.15/KWH for the first 1,000 KWH and then the price declines to $.11/KWH for the next 24,000 KWH and then $.08/KWH for all KWH above 25,000. That means that if you reduce your usage from 100,000 KWH to 95,000 KWH, the 5,000 KWH saved are valued at $.08/KWH and not $.11/KWH or $.15/KWH. The marginal unit price – the price of one more or one less KWH at the top of a tiered rate schedule – is $.08/KWH.

Electric bills also typically include a demand charge for the peak KW usage recorded for the billing period. In some utility service areas the KW demand charge can be up to 50% of the total cost of the bill; therefore it can often be important to include demand values in the cost calculation.

Energy accounting standards specify that pricing methodologies must take into account all elements of cost (energy, peak demand, etc) and account for incremental/marginal rates. EnergyCAP allows you to use average unit price as well as marginal unit price, depending upon the degree of precision desired.

In some regions or localities, electric and gas accounts are deregulated – they are ‘customer choice’ accounts. In most cases, a Local Distribution Company (LDC) delivers and meters the energy and sends the customer one bill while a separate supplier (also called the retailer, marketer, generator or producer) sells the commodity and also sends a bill.

Because BOTH bills are necessary for accurate calculation of Cost Avoidance, the EnergyCAP software has special processes and logic for handling this type of deregulated scenario, which usually involves two separate accounts in EnergyCAP where each account is associated with the same meter.

For information about setting up deregulated accounts, see Deregulated (LDC/Supplier) and Summary Account Setup.

A deregulated meter in EnergyCAP is typically associated with two accounts:

• Distribution account (LDC- local distribution company)
• Supply account (supply/generation)

The scenario with separate Distribution and Supply bills requires special cost avoidance processing. When accounts have been set up properly in EnergyCAP, the Distribution (LDC) bill contains 100% of the demand and usage, while the supply bill has no demand or usage, just cost. This prevents double-counting of usage in reports and PowerViews. The Cost Avoidance Processor uses the LDC bill’s usage, demand and cost, and then adds in the supply bill cost in order to calculate a total cost and average unit cost.

In order to calculate cost avoidance, both bills (Distribution and Supply) for the billing period must have been received. Otherwise, the average unit cost cannot be accurately calculated. The Savings window in the Cost Avoidance Manager indicates deregulated meters with a distinctive icon (see image below), and EnergyCAP does not calculate cost avoidance for a deregulated meter until both bills have been received for each billing period.

When cost avoidance cannot be processed due to a missing bill (usually due to a delay in receiving the supply bill), an asterisk is shown in the Cost Avoidance column for that month. Click on the asterisk to view a popup window with detailed billing information regarding the account status for that meter for that billing period.

NOTE: Meter assignments for an account can be viewed and managed from the Account Properties – Meters tab. (If a meter is no longer assigned to an account, it can be unassigned on this tab in order to allow the Cost Avoidance Processor to continue without “waiting” for the entry of a bill for that account-meter combination.)

Beginning with EnergyCAP Release 6.1, the Savings Details ... window includes an AUC (Average Unit Cost) Details tab. Click the tab to view information on how both Supply and Distribution bills were used to generate the Average Unit Cost for that meter.

Previous topics included discussion of how EnergyCAP makes adjustments to the baseline for such factors as floor area changes and weather. Although EnergyCAP can take these variables into account using standard adjustment equations, sooner or later you'll probably need to make some "special" adjustments to the baseline. You can make adjustments for special situations such as: 

• Addition of new equipment
• Changes in occupancy
• Other special one-time, recurring, or continuous changes
• Marginal pricing considerations 

Special baseline adjustments (called CAP Adjustments) provide a means for fine-tuning Cost Avoidance in order to give credit for the appropriate level of energy savings. Many changes that take place in buildings today result in increased energy usage. This increased energy usage tends to cancel out energy savings, giving the appearance of low or zero savings. EnergyCAP's special adjustments can restore the true calculation of Cost Avoidance. The following graph shows what happens when new loads — due to building additions, added occupants, or new equipment — are added after the baseline year.

Addition of New Loads 

As this graph shows, there was a reduction from the baseline year to the current, but the addition of new loads in the current year obscures the savings. In fact, the numbers show that the usage increased in the current year — a negative savings! 

The solution is to increase the baseline to show what would have been used in the baseline period if the new loads had been in place then. The following graph illustrates this approach, showing the net savings.

To create a CAP adjustment:

1. Open Meter Properties and click the CAP Adjustments tab.

2. Determine and select the type of adjustment:

• One-time adjustments:
  For example, add 50,000 KWH to the adjusted baseline in March 2006 because you hosted a conference and used more than normal energy that month. (Select the continuous option for one-time adjustments.)
• Continuous adjustments:
  For example, add 50,000 KWH to the adjusted baseline starting in March 2006 and continuing each month to account for the addition of a new PC training laboratory.
• Recurring adjustments:
  Use the recurring option for an adjustment that recurs each year for a certain date range. For example, add 50,000 KWH to the adjusted baseline each June and July to account for summer school which you hold now but didn't hold during the baseline year. 

3. Enter a start date and end date of the adjustment, unless it continues indefinitely.
4. Select one of the thirteen adjustment methods: 

• Add X per day to without CAP use.

Use this for fixed loads. For example, new lighting has been added to a room. The lighting is 10,000 watts, which is 10 KW. The lighting operates 12 hours a day, five days a week. 110 KW x 12 hours/day x 5 days/week = 600 KWH/week. On a seven day basis, this averages out to 85.7 KWH per day. 

• Add X% to without CAP use.

Use this adjustment for loads that vary in the same manner as the overall bill varies, such as with changes in number of occupants, hours of occupancy, or floor area changes. If the hours of occupancy increase by 10%, you may estimate that total energy will increase by 10%.  (Normally, you will let EnergyCAP automatically adjust the baseline for floor area changes. When the floor area changes, EnergyCAP automatically prorates the baseline an equal amount (a 15% floor area increase causes a 15% baseline adjustment). In some cases, you may want to use a different percentage. You may estimate that a 15% floor area increase will only increase energy use by 9% because the new addition is more energy efficient. In this case, turn off the automatic floor area adjustment on the Meter Properties-CAP tab and create a special adjustment for 9%.  One last important note about percentage adjustments: you should not create two that run concurrently. For example, do not create a 50% adjustment that runs concurrently with a 10% adjustment. Results will vary depending upon which percentage is applied first, and you have no way to control the order. When a second adjustment is needed, terminate the first adjustment and start a new adjustment that incorporates both needs.) 

• Add X% to heating weather usage.

This adjustment handles only weather sensitive loads, and will only be active when 1) a day has heating degrees, and 2) there is a weather adjustment in effect. 

• Add X% to cooling weather usage.

This adjustment handles only weather sensitive loads, and will only be active when 1) a day has cooling degrees, and 2) there is a weather adjustment in effect. 

• Replace the without CAP use with X per day.

This option allows you to discard the without CAP usage created by EnergyCAP and replace it with another value. This can be used for one-time situations in which you need to adjust a single bill.
NOTE: A simpler way to make a single-month adjustment is from the Savings tab in the Cost Avoidance Manager: click on the appropriate month to view the daily Use or Demand charts, then click the Manually Adjust button to enter a value manually.

• Replace the without CAP cost with X per day.

This option allows you to discard the without CAP cost created by EnergyCAP and replace it with another value. This can be used for one-time situations in which you need to adjust a single bill.

• Calculate Cost Avoidance using incremental cost on avoided use only.

This option uses a stipulated unit cost, called the marginal or incremental unit price, times the avoided use. This approach is described in IPMVP as an alternative to rate schedule modeling.

• Calculate savings with usage unit cost X.XX. 

This option overrides the default value of average unit cost and replaces it with a stipulated unit cost.

• Turn off Cost Avoidance (savings = 0, no loss/no gain).  

This option allows you to turn off Cost Avoidance for a meter for a period of time or indefinitely.  Example - A building has been leased out to a tenant.  You want to keep the meters in the system so that historical usage and Cost Avoidance will appear on reports, but you don't want the system to calculate ongoing Cost Avoidance. 

• Calculate Cost Avoidance using average unit cost on avoided use only. 

This option causes Cost Avoidance to be calculated as average unit cost (from today’s bill) times the avoided usage. This is different than the standard calculation because average unit cost is normally multiplied times the usage without CAP (i.e. the adjusted baseline usage).

• Add X.XX% to the demand without CAP. 

Use this adjustment for demand loads that vary in the same manner as the overall bill varies, such as with changes in number of occupants or floor area changes. If the number of occupants increases by 10%, you may estimate that total demand will increase by 10%.  Normally, you will let EnergyCAP automatically adjust the baseline for floor area changes. When the floor area changes, EnergyCAP automatically prorates the baseline an equal amount (a 15% floor area increase causes a 15% baseline adjustment). However, in some cases, you may want to use a different percentage

• Add X.XX per day to the demand without CAP.

Use this for new loads impacting demand. For example, additional lighting has been added to a room. The lighting is 10,000 watts, which is 10 KW.

• Replace the Demand without CAP with X.XX per day.

This option allows you to discard the without CAP demand created by EnergyCAP and replace it with another value. This can be used for one-time situations in which you need to adjust a single bill.
NOTE: A simpler way to make a single-month adjustment is from the Savings tab in the Cost Avoidance Manager: click on the appropriate month to view the daily Use and Demand charts, then click the Manually Adjust button to enter a demand value manually.

Select the desired calculation options and click the Calc Savings button to process the adjustment. After calculations are complete, select the Savings tab and click on any desired bills to open the Savings Details window and see the impact of special adjustments.

NOTE: All special adjustments are noted in the Explanation text box in the Savings Detail window.

Special Adjustment Processing Sequence in EnergyCAP Cost Avoidance

The order of processing for adjustments can sometimes be significant.  For example, if you add 100 KWH per day to a meter and then add 10%, the result will be different than if you add 10% FIRST, and then add 100 KWH per day.  The CAP Adjustments tab in the Meter Properties window has an interface feature that allows you to alter the sequence in which adjustments are processed. Just click on the desired adjustment to highlight it; then reposition it in the list using the up/down arrows. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is highly recommended that only one % adjustment be in effect for any given time period, and that the % adjustment be performed first (i.e. it appears at the top of the list of special adjustments for the meter).

Over 25 years of experience has shown that EnergyCAP’s level of functionality is sufficient for 95% of corporate and institutional users who need a tool to estimate/approximate Cost Avoidance but who lack the time, expertise or inclination to delve deeper into the complexities of energy savings measurement & verification (M&V).

Those who desire more exacting engineering computations are typically either:

• Energy services companies that need more precise Cost Avoidance calculations
• Facility/mechanical engineers in complex facilities (hospitals, industrial plants, research buildings) and a need to adjust for independent variables other than the weather.

If you require these advanced features, you should consider a different M&V methodology:

• Automatically adjust for production (and other time-series ‘channel data’ such as occupancy, sales volume, etc.). Adjusting for multiple independent variables (weather plus production, for example) can be problematic because many more data points are needed for statistically acceptable regression analysis, so monthly utility bills are seldom sufficient. This means that daily consumption and production data are needed, and most organizations don’t have a good handle on historic baseline data of this type.
• Calculate Cost Avoidance using rate schedules rather than average unit price or marginal unit price. Admittedly, the average and marginal unit price methods available in EnergyCAP are limited when the rate is complex (such as time-of-use) or when the demand reduction is very different in magnitude than the consumption reduction. The problems with using a rate schedule to calculate Cost Avoidance include: (1) most users balk at the tasks of creating and maintaining unique and complex rate schedules, (2) complex rates often involve cost determinants that require special treatment outside the scope of EnergyCAP (such as power factor, time-of-use, hourly pricing, demand reduction incentives/penalties and reactive demand.)

The Report Manager manages lists of available reports (Installed, Saved, Report Batches, Public Reports, and Report Email Groups), including a category of Cost Avoidance Reports. 

To open the Report Manager, click the Reporting tab from the Navigation Bar and select the Reports or Web Reports icon.

To view the list of available Cost Avoidance reports, click the Cost Avoidance Reports folder from the Installed Reports folder. The report list will be displayed in the right-hand pane of the Report Manager. You can select and view the desired report in the same manner as the other available reports.

The table below provides a brief description of available Cost Avoidance reports.

Issue Tracker is a Cost Avoidance feature that helps document, track, manage and report problems, issues, and cost savings opportunities.

To access Issue Tracker:

1. Click Cost Avoidance from the Navigation bar. 
2. Click the Issue Tracker icon. The Issue Manager will by displayed.
   
   
   
   NOTE: If the Issue Tracker icon does not appear, the user may not have access rights. Also, in order to use Issue Tracker, the Cost Avoidance module must be included in the Annual Maintenance Contract. To check for EnergyCAP modules associated with your software purchase, click Help – Piracy Protection – Info.
   
   
    

Each user must have user permission for Cost Avoidance. If necessary, update user security settings via the User Manager.

Creating an Issue

Issues are always meter-based. That means that each issue is assigned to a meter. Issues can be created in multiple ways from multiple program areas including the Issue Manager and the Bill Entry window. One way to create an issue from the Issue Manager (Cost Avoidance > Issue Tracker) is to drill down in the Issue Tracker Tree View (similar to the Facilities Tree View) to the appropriate meter and then click the New Issue button. Use the Find Meter button to open a Search window which can be used to locate a meter quickly by code, name, serial number, address, etc. From the Search window, select the desired search filter parameters and use the "+" button to add the desired filter settings to the search. Add as many different filters as desired. To remove filters, highlight the filter and click the "-" button from the Search window. When your search parameters have been selected, click the Search button to display search results.  

Issues can also be created from the Create Bill or View Bill windows by clicking the New Bill Issue icon  in the center of the bill menu bar.

When an issue is created, the Create Issue window will open.

The Create Issue window offers the following data fields:

Managing Issues

To add a new note after saving an issue, click on Edit/Add Notes. Notes are added in reverse chronological order with the most recent on top. 

The Options button enables filtering options to effectively manage and process issues recorded in the Issue Tracker.

Right-click an issue in the issue list for multiple Locate and View options (see image, below).

NOTE: The View Issue option allows you to print or email an issue quickly. 

Issues may be printed via the new CAP14 report.

NOTE: The latest report updates must be installed in order to access CAP14.

To edit an issue that is being viewed, click on the Issue ID.

Before tracking and reporting Cost Avoidance it is necessary to configure global, place and meter Cost Avoidance settings.

Click Tools – Options - Global and select the Cost Avoidance tab. The parameters defined from this tab are global settings that will apply to all newly-created meters.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Setting or changing the first five global settings will not affect any existing meters – you must edit existing meters individually using the CAP tab in Meter Properties, or you can edit many at once using the Global Update tool.

Baseline Start:
The day that begins the pre-retrofit baseline period.

Baseline Length: 
The number of months (12 to 36) in the baseline period. Baselines of over 12 months will not be weather adjusted.

Savings Start: 
The day on which Cost Avoidance calculations will begin. Normally this is the day following the end of the baseline period, but in some cases you may have a ‘deadband’ period between end of baseline and beginning of savings calculations.

Balance Point Temperatures:
EnergyCAP defaults to 55°F which is generally a better default value than 65°F because most modern commercial buildings have heating/cooling switchover temperatures below 65°F. All degree day calculations in weather reports and Weather Manager degree day PowerView charts are based upon these settings.

Cost Avoidance Limits:
These global settings are used every time the Cost Avoidance savings processor is run, so if you change a value here you must re-calculate savings for all meters, all months in order for the change to take effect.

AUC Safety Min and Max:
The Cost Avoidance savings processor normally uses Average Unit Cost (AUC) of the current bill to calculate the value for savings due to Cost Avoidance. That is, if the current cost of electricity is $0.10/KWH, then a savings of 10,000 KWH will show a Cost Avoidance of $1,000. In some cases, however, the current AUC can be abnormal:

EXAMPLE: Due to a shut-down for construction or remodeling, the current bill was reduced from a “typical” consumption of 1,000 KWH to a mere 50 KWH. The bill cost of $50 is due mainly to service and base charges, so the calculated current bill AUC is skewed to $1.00/KWH. If the baseline bill for the same month was $95 for 1,000 KWH, the "normal" Cost Avoidance calculation would show 950 KWH saved x $1.00/KWH = $950 Cost Avoidance, which is clearly inaccurate, since the bill was only reduced from $95 to $50.

The AUC Safety min/max values define an acceptable ratio between the Average Unit Cost (AUC) of the current bill and the AUC of the corresponding baseline bill.  If the user-configurable AUC Safety min/max (minimum or maximum) thresholds are exceeded, the Cost Avoidance savings processor will use the AUC of the unadjusted baseline bill, rather than the AUC of the current bill, to calculate the Cost Avoidance value. This protocol helps preclude an unreasonable Cost Avoidance value, particularly when the current bill AUC may be legitimately questioned.

The default AUC Safety minimum setting is 0.5 and the default AUC maximum setting is 5.0.  With these default settings, if the AUC of the current bill is less than half of the AUC of the baseline bill, the Cost Avoidance savings processor will use the AUC of the unadjusted baseline bill when calculating Cost Avoidance.  Similarly, if the AUC of the current bill is more than five times greater than the AUC of the baseline bill, the Cost Avoidance processor will use the AUC of the unadjusted baseline bill to calculate Cost Avoidance.  If the ratio of the AUC of the current bill to the AUC of the corresponding baseline bill falls within the AUC ‘safety net’ defined by the min/max values, the Cost Avoidance savings processor will use the AUC of the current bill to calculate Cost Avoidance (unless overridden by a CAP adjustment).

Min Degree Day Per Day: 
This value can be used to stop weather adjustments in mild weather. When the daily average for degree days falls below the input value, a baseline weather adjustment for the month will not be made.

EXAMPLE:
In the base year there were 10 heating degree days in October; in the current year there were twenty heating degree days in the same month. Even though the weather was twice as cold from a degree day standpoint, you consider it to be irrelevant. If you set the minimum degree day per day value to 1.0, no weather adjustment will be made because the month must have at least 31 degree days (an average of 1.0 per day) to qualify for weather adjustments.

Use the Global Meter Update option from the Cost Avoidance menu to update Cost Avoidance settings for multiple meters at once.

NOTE: Beginning with Release 6.1, EnergyCAP Users with Cost Avoidance privileges are only able to to make global changes in areas of the EnergyCAP program for which they have been granted corresponding access in User Permissions.

To use this feature:

1. Click Cost Avoidance > Global Meter Update. The Globally Update Meters window will open.
2. Input the desired meter parameter changes for any or all of the available parameters. Make sure to activate the Update checkboxes for each setting that will be globally updated.

NOTE: Cost Avoidance adjustments for weather will NOT be performed on meters that are using a  baseline greater than 12 months.

1. Click the Filter button. The Set Filter window will open.
2. Select the desired Place and Commodity filters and click OK to save the changes and exit the Set Filter window.
3. Click Update Meters to perform the Global Update.

1. When done, click Close to close the Global Update window.

NOTE: The Include Meter in Cost Avoidance checkbox must be checked in order for a meter to be included in Cost Avoidance reports, charts and calculations. The purpose of the checkbox is to enable the user to exclude certain meters from Cost Avoidance calculations if those meters are irrelevant to energy management activities. The include/exclude checkbox for meters can also be managed individually from the Cost Avoidance Manager. Just highlight/select the meter from the Cost Avoidance tree view, then check or uncheck the Include Meter in Cost Avoidance checkbox.

A handful of Cost Avoidance options are not configurable from the Global settings window. These settings, which must be adjusted from the CAP tab in the Meter Properties window, include:

Apply building area adjustments to baseline?:

The Apply building area adjustments to baseline? option, when enabled, will automatically adjust for changes in the floor area of the parent building (the place to which the meter is directly assigned in the Facility Manager tree).

During Cost Avoidance calculations, EnergyCAP reviews the floor area of the related building (as recorded in the Facility Manager Place Properties window under the Building tab) for the baseline period and the current month. If the floor area values are different, the percent difference is calculated and the baseline is adjusted up or down by that percentage to match the floor area associated with the current bill.

EXAMPLE: The floor area today is 10% greater than in the same month of the baseline year (based on the area in effect as of the first day of the bill period).  The baseline usage will be adjusted upwards by 10% to reflect what the usage would have been in the base year had the floor area been the same as it is today.

NOTE: If it is desirable to adjust for floor area changes but not on the percentage difference basis described above, uncheck the Apply building area adjustments to baseline? option and then create a CAP Special Adjustment to define the appropriate floor area compensation.

Track Demand?:

If this is an electric meter, you can track demand in the Cost Avoidance Manager separately from usage.
To enable Demand tracking, click the Track Demand? checkbox.

Cost Adjustment Method:

There are two Cost Adjustment methods.  The default method is Current Average Unit Cost.  This option uses current cost for the valuation of current and baseline usage, in accordance with fundamental Cost Avoidance philosophy. The alternative method, Net Cost Difference, performs the valuation for the current period usage with current cost and the baseline period using baseline cost. Usage and demand are ignored; Cost Avoidance is calculated as the net difference between the cost of the baseline bill and the cost of the current bill. This seldom-used method may appropriately be used when, in the judgment of the energy manager, use of current costs for valuation of baseline usage would reduce the reliability of the cost avoidance estimate.

NOTE: Use CAP Adjustments for additional costing options such as marginal unit price.

Meters inherit the weather station of the immediate parent Place (building) so in order for weather adjustments to function, each place  must be assigned to the appropriate weather station. With EnergyCAP Release 6.0 SP2 and later, weather stations are assigned automatically to a Place when the address information (ZIP code) is entered. However, weather stations may be added or changed manually using the procedure below.

NOTE ON CANADIAN POSTAL CODES: Input format must be LNL NLN
WHERE: L=letter and N=number. A SPACE is required between each 3-character grouping.

To assign a building (place) to an existing weather station:

1. Click Setup from the Navigation Bar and select the Facilities icon. the Facility Manager will open.
   

   

2. Right-click the desired Place from the Facility tree and select Properties. The Place Properties window will open.
   

   

3. Click the General tab from the Place Properties window and look for the Weather: drop-down box.
   

   

4. Click the Weather: drop-down arrow to reveal a list of installed weather stations for your organization.
   

   

NOTE: If there are no weather stations installed (e.g., the drop-down box is empty), you will need to complete the Setup process for weather stations (see Weather Station Setup topic).

1. Click to select the weather station associated with the place. Then click OK to save your settings and exit the Place Properties window.

EnergyCAP’s Cost Avoidance processor performs all of the weather adjustment and Cost Avoidance calculation on demand so that the values will be immediately available for reports and charts.

It is advisable to run the processor immediately after:

• entering or importing billing data
• adding or revising CAP adjustments
• making EnergyCAP configuration changes

To run the processor:

1. Click the Cost Avoidance tab from the Navigation Bar. The Cost Avoidance Manager will be displayed.
2. Click Cost Avoidance--Calculate Savings from the Cost Avoidance menu options.
   
   The Calculate Savings window will open.
   

   

3. Select the desired calculation options per the instructions below using the window control features:

• To reprocess the entire baseline, click the ReProcess Baseline checkbox option. Unchecking the ReProcess Baseline checkbox will improve performance, and is recommended if you have not entered or edited any bills or settings that affect the baseline year.
• To ignore weather for purposes of Cost Avoidance calculation, click the Ignore weather adjustments checkbox.
• To reduce processing time to the last two months of recent bills, select the Limit Processing … checkbox. But be sure to uncheck this box if you have entered or updated any bills or settings that affect prior months.
• Click the Filter button if it is necessary to limit the processing to selected meters. The Set Filter window will open.
  
  Select the desired place and/or commodity filters; then click OK to save filter options and exit the Set Filter window.
• If desirable, use the Ignore Special Adjustments checkbox to filter out Cost Avoidance Special Adjustments by Type (as selected from the drop-down list).

1. Click the Calc Savings button to start the processor. While the processor is running, the Calc Savings button will be grayed out, and the Cancel button will change to a Stop button.
   

CAUTION: If you click the Stop button, the processor will stop but the Cost Avoidance calculations may be incomplete.

1. When calculations are complete, the Calculate Savings window will close automatically. If calculations have not been completed, you may exit the Calculate Savings window by clicking the Cancel button or the "X" on the window title bar to close the window.

NOTES:

• To check/verify the Cost Avoidance calculations, review the relevant Cost Avoidance data; if necessary, re-calculate with any special adjustment types included (uncheck the Ignore Special Adjustments checkbox). Then compare the resulting data.
• There is no harm in running the Calculate Savings processor. Each time the processor is run, the Cost Avoidance values will be re-calculated and prior values will be updated if the data has changed.
• User permissions impact the scope of the Cost Avoidance Processor. No meters are processed that are outside of the user's topmost place permission.

To view Cost Avoidance for an individual meter, select the desired meter from the Facilities Tree in the Cost Avoidance Manager. Then click the Savings tab to view savings results.

The displayed data table lists all bills subsequent to the Savings Start Date that have been processed by the Calculate Savings processor. The Wthr Htg (Weather Heating) and Wthr Clg (Weather Cooling) columns are flagged with an “X” if the savings for that month have been affected by a heating or cooling weather adjustment. The CA% of Act Cost column shows the percentage of monthly actual cost represented by Cost Avoidance.  Values highlighted in red indicate negative Cost Avoidance.  Values in green indicate positive Cost Avoidance (savings).  Values in yellow are positive Cost Avoidance that exceed 50% of the actual total utility cost for the month.  Such a high value, although attainable with aggressive energy management efforts, should be reviewed to ensure that the cost avoidance estimate is reasonable; hence the yellow ‘caution’ color.

Viewing Daily Savings Details

To drill down into the daily savings details for a selected meter:

Click on the bar chart or on the table entry for the desired billing month.  The Savings Details window will open, displaying additional supporting calculations and details, including daily costs associated with the bill.

NOTE: The Savings Details window will not open if a node in the Facilities Tree other than a METER has been selected.

If demand applies, click the Demand tab to view the demand calculation results.

Explaining Monthly Savings

Click the Explain Savings button from the Savings Details window. The Explanation of Savings window will open.

The bar on the left (Actual Baseline Use) represents the “raw” baseline use for the month, separated into weather (if applicable) and non-weather components.

The bar on the right (Actual Current) is the actual use for the “current” month.

The bar in the middle (W/O Cost Use) is the adjusted baseline use for the month. The middle bar is the baseline after it has been adjusted to today’s conditions.  These adjustments may include weather, floor area and other adjustments.

Cost Avoidance is not calculated as raw baseline vs. current but rather as adjusted baseline vs. current. The green bar shows the difference between adjusted baseline and today – the avoided use.  This value may be positive or negative.  Positive values indicate use avoidance. Negative values indicate increased use. The usage values are then assessed at current per-unit utility rates to determine the associated Cost Avoidance.

NOTE: A supporting Cost Avoidance report is the CAP06 – Baseline Report.  This report displays the day-by-day “raw” baseline values which are also shown in the Explanation of Day-by-Day Baseline Adjustments list box in the Savings Detail window.  The Explanation of Day-by-Day Baseline Adjustments list box also indicates which additional adjustments have been applied to each day of the billing period.

From the Cost Avoidance Manager, click on  the displayed billing data or related graph point for the selected meter to open the Savings Detail window. Then click the Manually Adjust button from the Savings Detail window. The Manually Adjust window will open.

Input the desired values for Without CAP Use, Demand and Cost (i.e. the adjusted baseline values). Then click the Save button. The Cost Avoidance values will be calculated using the new information.

NOTE: If desired, click the Zero Savings button from the Manually Adjust window to zero out savings for a particular month.  This means that the month will be no loss/no gain in the case of a special condition or circumstance that disqualifies the month from normal Cost Avoidance calculations.

After making any manual entry you should enter a descriptive memo documenting the need for the manual adjustment.

To vew the results of the baseline weather analysis for a selected meter, click the Use Vs Weather tab from the Cost Avoidance Manager.

Click the Summer or Winter Display option to view the cooling months or the heating months in the data table and associated Use Vs Weather graph.

NOTE: EnergyCAP uses the building Balance Point Temperature (BPT, as set in the Meter Properties window and the CAP tab), as well as the Min[imum] Degree Day Per Day limit (configured in the Cost Avoidance tab of the Options window) to determine which months have sufficiently severe weather to qualify as heating or cooling months (see Tools > Options – Global > Cost Avoidance tab).

The statistical linear regression chart will show the results of plotting each baseline bill (as listed in the table) on the grid:  use/day on the vertical and monthly average degree days on the horizontal.

Since the highest degree day (DD) points are on the right and the highest usage points are at the top, a meter that has a usage vs. weather correlation will have a line that rises from left to right.

The weather normalization settings in the Use Vs Weather tab make it a valuable interactive tool for Cost Avoidance determination. Weather calculations are ordinarily based on a 12-month baseline period. However, EnergyCAP gives you the option of performing more exhaustive analysis based on up to three years of billing data.

To change the analysis Method, click on the radio button corresponding to the preferred method:

• The Combined Method includes all the billing period data points for up to three years in a single-line linear regression analysis.
  

NOTE: The Combined Method only analyzes billing data PRECEDING the End Date for the baseline period, regardless of the date displayed in the Analysis Begins: window.

EXAMPLE: If the baseline period ended 12/31/06, a three-year combined linear regression would use cost/use data from 12/1/04 through 12/31/06. A two-year combined linear regression would use cost/use data from 12/1/05 through 12/31/06.By combining multiple years to provide additional data points for the analysis, it is possible to determine the calculated line slope with higher confidence.

• The Separate Method plots each year of data with a separate regression line. If the Separate Method is chosen, the Analysis Begins: text box will be enabled. To set a beginning date for weather regression analysis, input the desired date of the billing month in the Analysis Begins: text box. Each year of data will be represented on the graph in a different color. The color/shape "key" to the regression graph is indicated to the right of the selected (active) year, which is shown in the "default" green color.
• 

NOTE: The primary purpose of the Separate Method of analysis is to illustrate how the weather sensitivity of a meter may have changed over time. When the regression lines coincide, there has been little change in weather sensitivity. When one regression line intersects the left vertical lower than another yet the slope is the same, this means that the non-weather loads (lighting, plug loads) were less. When the left (Y-axis) intersects are about the same but the slope of one regression line is lower than another, that year was less weather sensitive (possibly due to better controls, lower thermostat settings, improved insulation and equipment, etc.)

• The Off Method turns off multi-year analysis.

To use the results obtained using the Combined method for Cost Avoidance calculations, click on the Wrench button while the relevant data is displayed in the Cost Avoidance Manager. 

The Manual Slope Adjustment window will open.

Enter or verify the Cooling and/or Heating Base Load values, as well as the Use/Degree value (line slope as displayed using the Combined method) using the text fields provided. Click the relevant Use Manual Summer/Winter Values check box(es).

Click OK to close accept the changes and close the window.

Viewing Graphs

From the Cost Avoidance Manager (Cost Avoidance > Savings and Normalizations), navigate to the desired facility or meter group and click the CAP Comparison tab at the bottom of the display to view Use per Day and Cost per Day graphical comparisons (line graph format) for a selected year with the baseline year and the adjusted baseline (Without CAP). Cost Avoidance values are presented in an accompanying bar graph format.  There will be positive savings in any month where the actual monthly value is less than the “Without CAP” (adjusted baseline) value.

The CAP Comparison charts display the ‘raw’ baseline year with a blue line, the adjusted baseline year (called ‘without CAP’) with a green line, and the selected comparison year with a red line. Positive Cost Avoidance (savings) derived from the comparison is indicated with a green bar; relative losses are indicated with a red bar.

NOTES:
Point (arrow) 1 – In the provided example, the currently-selected year (August to July, 2007) is greater than the base year and adjusted base year for the month of December.  The base year and adjusted base year are almost identical, which means there were only small adjustments.  The net result is a loss (negative cost avoidance, represented by the red bar) because the actual was higher than the adjusted base year.

Point (arrow) 2 – The base year was adjusted upwards due to increased unit cost and other independent factors.  The current year is less than the adjusted baseline, so there is a positive cost avoidance (savings).

Point (arrow) 3 – The base year was adjusted downwards due to milder weather and other factors.  The current year is less than the adjusted base, so there is a positive cost avoidance.

To print the graph(s), right-click the graphic display and select the Print Page option.

Viewing Year-to-Year Actual Comparison Charts

Use the Actual Comparison tab from the Cost Avoidance Manager to display USE, COST and DEMAND charts for up to seven years of data using any fiscal year basis.  Data is presented by overlaying annual values, making it convenient to spot abnormal values.

Resizing Actual Comparison Graph Images

To resize the graphs presented in the Actual Comparison tab, move the cursor to the divider line separating them. The cursor will change its shape. Then click and drag with the mouse to resize the graph panel.

Copying Cost Avoidance Graph Images

To copy the graph image to the Windows Clipboard, right-click on the graph. Then select the Copy to Clipboard option.

Printing Cost Avoidance Graph Images

 To print the graph image, right-click on the graph and select the Print Page option.

Displaying Cost Avoidance PowerViews

In addition to the Cost Avoidance module, Cost Avoidance presentment is built into EnergyCAP PowerViews.

To view Cost Avoidance information from the Facility Manager, select the desired meter and click the Cost Avoidance tab.

A quick way to view cost avoidance information from many important meters is to use the Meter Group (Setup > Groups) functionality to create the desired meter list. Double-click a meter from the Group list to display its Facility Manager Powerview. Once the Cost Avoidance window is open for one of the meters in the list, click on the Groups icon to return to the meter list to select a different meter.