“Making sure the utilities in fact do not charge more than what the normal bill would be is also important. “Making sure the contractors provide upgrades that the customers need, that is important,” he said. Owen intends to carefully monitor the management of the state’s PAYS programs. “This isn’t a low-income targeted program,” said File. “The higher the bill, the more effective PAYS works.” With federal weatherization funds available to low-income people, he said PAYS is a tool for people above that threshold who cannot obtain conventional financing. Owen, of Renew Missouri, said it all comes down to the size of the energy bill. Although the PAYS barrier to entry is low, making it attractive for people with low incomes or a poor credit history, it is high-income earners who typically use the most electricity and natural gas. Brian File, Evergy’s director of products and services, said people who use copious amounts of energy - and do so very inefficiently - stand to gain the most. But the more I found out about PAYS, the more I liked it and realized that this is really attractive for renters and working-class families.”Īlthough PAYS is theoretically available to any customer of a participating utility, the math has to work - and it doesn’t always. A couple of years ago, after seeing a webinar about the approach, he said, “I really, really tried to find something wrong with it. Geoff Marke, who as the chief economist for the public counsel’s office often challenges utility plans to spend more money, is enthusiastic about PAYS. The commission then instructed Evergy and Ameren to conduct 12-month pilot programs, which now are getting underway. In each case, consulting firm Cadmus concluded that PAYS would offer a valuable option, especially for renters and people with low incomes. Rather, the Missouri Public Service Commission strongly urged them to do so after years of lobbying by Renew Missouri and the state’s Office of Public Counsel, which is charged with protecting consumer interests in utility matters.Ī few years ago, the commission ordered feasibility studies for all three electric utilities. It’s not that the utilities all were necessarily eager to add this to their energy efficiency portfolios. The state’s other investor-owned electric company, Liberty Utilities-Empire District, in September asked state utility regulators for permission to join them. Jeff Berg, the company’s senior program supervisor for energy efficiency, said there have been successes but declined to provide any details. Ameren Missouri, which provides electric service in the St. Within the next few months, the gas company Spire expects to offer PAYS in both major cities. This year, about a dozen of them – mostly rural electric cooperatives – are offering this route to greater efficiency and lower bills, Lachman said.īut it’s a different story in Missouri. Utilities nationwide have been slow to embrace the program. The utility owns the improvements until they are paid off, and if the customer moves the obligation and savings accrue to the new owner or occupant. By carefully selecting only projects that will generate large savings, it can actually lower some customers’ monthly bills while they pay off an investment typically of $7,000 or $10,000 within a decade. A utility covers the upfront cost of improvements such as heating and cooling systems, insulation and air sealing. The program was designed by Vermont-based public policy experts Harlan Lachman and Paul Cillo. It’s a sort of cousin to Property Assessed Clean Energy, in which project costs are bundled and repaid through property tax bills instead of utility bills, though the two have other differences. Pay As You Save is a trademarked riff on the broader concept of on-bill financing, which allows utilities to collect payments on large customer expenditures over time as part of a regular bill. “We’re off to the races in Evergy territory,” said James Owen, who as executive director of Renew Missouri had pushed hard for the program for several years. Within 10 days, 250 customers had indicated they wanted to move ahead with a brief energy audit, the first step in the process. The Kansas City-based company began offering the program in September and was aiming to hear from 200 interested customers within a month.
Spire gas missouri full#
Missouri’s largest gas and electric utilities are all forging ahead with new programs that will finance customers’ energy efficiency upgrades and in many cases even decrease their monthly bills.Įvergy is the state’s latest utility to launch a Pay As You Save (PAYS) program, in which the full upfront cost of energy efficiency projects - along with their savings - are rolled into the customer’s monthly bill.