AI-generated summary
· Rir · 07/04/2025
EfficiencyOne files comprehensive information request responses defending its proposed Nova Scotia-specific Benefit-Cost Analysis test to replace the existing Total Resource Cost framework for evaluating DSM plans.
AI summary
- EfficiencyOne (E1) and its consultant Energy Futures Group (EFG) responded to 46 NSEB information requests, 16 Industrial Group requests, 20 Small Business Advocate requests, 24 Synapse requests, and 12 Eastward Energy requests filed July 4, 2025, all defending the proposed Cost Effectiveness BCA framework for Demand Side Management evaluation.
- E1 and EFG confirmed all impact categories — including health impacts from criteria air pollutants, avoided social cost of carbon, and host customer non-energy benefits — are characterized as directly related to DSM rather than indirect, and are assigned equal weights of 1.0 following National Standard Practice Manual (NSPM) symmetry principles; no sensitivity analysis varying weights was conducted.
- The proposed BCA uses a 2% real social discount rate aligned with Government of Canada interim guidance on greenhouse gas social costs, deviating from the federal Treasury Board's 3% guidance; EFG acknowledged it did not survey Canadian jurisdictions' discount rates or BCA methodologies, and confirmed no Canadian jurisdiction has formally adopted the NSPM.
- Host customer non-energy benefits (comfort, amenity, empowerment, pride, health and safety, productivity) will be quantified using proxy adders developed through DSMAG workshops and based on EFG expert judgment rather than primary empirical research, with higher adders assigned for income-qualified and First Nations customer segments.
- E1 confirmed the proposed BCA is intended as the single primary test replacing the TRC, with a 1.0 threshold at the portfolio level; the Board retains discretion under the Public Utilities Act to approve plans or components on broader grounds, and E1 intends to continue filing Program Administrator Cost (PAC) test results for informational purposes alongside the new BCA.
Disclaimer: This summary was generated by AI from the filings it describes. We take care to make it accurate, but errors are possible - and it isn't advice. Only the filings themselves are the record: if you're relying on something here, confirm it against the source documents or the Nova Scotia Energy Board's own record. Full disclaimer →
What was filed
Documents filed on this day
- E-3 E1 (EE) RIR 1-12
- E-4 E1 (IG) RIR 1-6
- E-5 E1 (NSEB) RIR 1-46
- E-6 E1 (SBA) RIR 1-20
- E-7 E1 (Synapse) RIR 1-24
- 98396 Letter E1 re: RIRs