AI-generated summary
· Order · 12/22/2025
NSERB approves EfficiencyOne's 2026 DSM extension targets and $63.75M plan, with directions shaping the upcoming 2027–2031 five-year DSM application
AI summary
- The Board issued Decision 2025 NSEB 21 on December 22, 2025, approving Efficiencyone's legislatively mandated one-year extension of the 2023–2025 Demand Side Management plan, setting 2026 targets of 116.0 GWh incremental energy savings, 18.9 MW demand savings, and 16.3 MW demand response capacity at a plan cost of $63,750,000 (Exhibit E-1, Appendix A, pp. 9–21).
- The Board allowed Efficiencyone to retain 2024 savings from the Residential Behaviour program (6.27 GWh) and demand response programs (0.057 MW residential; 8.034 MW BNI), rejecting Board Counsel consultant Dr. Gil Peach's recommended disallowances, but directed that future behavioural savings claims be fully justified and that the Residential Behaviour program be evaluated as a potential marketing program ahead of the 2027–2031 plan (Decision, paras. 59–63).
- The Board found the current Performance Monitoring mid-course adjustment process "unbalanced," directing Efficiencyone to develop a revised process through DSMAG consultation for inclusion in its five-year DSM plan application, after the Industrial Group identified unrestrained budget shifts between customer rate classes of up to 25% without advance notice (Decision, paras. 67–73).
- The Board declined to impose a mandatory PAC ≥ 1.0 threshold for demand response programs in the 2027–2031 plan, affirming portfolio-level Cost Effectiveness evaluation under s. 6(2) of the Energy and Regulatory Boards Act, but put Efficiencyone on notice that unresolved overlap with NS Power's Critical Peak Pricing program and constrained-area targeting could complicate future plan approval (Decision, paras. 65–66).
- Efficiencyone is directed to include PAC Program Evaluation test results for 2023–2025 in its 2025 Annual Progress Report and annually thereafter, following the Board's earlier decision in Matter M12282 (2025 NSEB 18) to use the PAC test rather than a broader benefit-cost analysis (Decision, para. 89).
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What was filed
Documents filed on this day
- 100400 Board Decision
- 100401 Board Order
- 100400 Board Decision
- 100401 Board Order