Willdan Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program for SCE Customers - FAQs

Willdan is a third-party implementer for the Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program for Southern California Edison (SCE) customers.

Southern California Edison (SCE) has contracted with Willdan Energy Services (Willdan) to develop, implement, and offer this Program to SCE customers.

Willdan is a nationwide provider of professional technical and consulting services. Our customers include facility owners/tenants, utilities, and government agencies among others. Willdan’s service offerings span a broad set of complementary disciplines that include electric grid solutions, energy efficiency and sustainability, engineering, modeling software, and municipal financial consulting.

For over 55 years, Willdan has delivered industry-leading engineering and energy solutions that have transformed government and commerce. We have implemented more than 120 utility programs and served 300,000 industrial, commercial, local government, multifamily, and education customers nationwide. Willdan has provided customers with technical assistance and more than $1 billion in incentives to help save energy. Today, we are leading our clients into a future accelerated by change in resources, infrastructure, and technology.

For additional information, visit Willdan’s website at www.willdan.com.

This program helps eligible customers save energy and money by upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment and optimizing processes. Willdan and our team create an easy, seamless experience for you. We provide as much or as little assistance as you want – from identifying energy-saving opportunities at your facility to technical assistance and full-service installation. We can also connect you with financing options and provide incentives.

The program provides both common area and in-unit solutions for measures that include, but are not limited to, HVAC, indoor and outdoor lighting, controls technologies (e.g., thermostats and occupancy sensors), water heaters, ovens, energy management systems, and even electrification. Our team will provide you with more details on the specific improvements available following our energy consultation.

This program (including outreach, energy consultations, technical assistance, incentives, etc.) is funded by Public Purpose Program (PPP) funds, which most SCE customers pay into every month. There is no fee for participating in the program, and the cost of project implementation ranges based on project scope, equipment selection, and if you qualify for technical assistance or cash incentives. The program is offered to SCE customers under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). If you’re curious about how much you pay into the PPP each month, look at “Your Electric Charges Breakdown” on your electric billing statement.

* Willdan is not a representative of SCE or otherwise affiliated with SCE

Previous programs were designed, developed, and managed by SCE. The CPUC mandated that investor-owned utilities (including SCE) outsource 60% of their energy efficiency portfolios to inspire market innovation. For this new program, SCE contracted with Willdan Energy Solutions to offer a single energy efficiency program for all qualifying SCE multifamily customers. Willdan designed this program and is responsible for all program outreach and delivery.

New enhancements for the Willdan program include:

• Comprehensive Technical Assistance

• Tailored Financing

• Flexible Incentives

• Integrated Single Point of Contact Delivery

• Turnkey Project Delivery

Your energy-saving project may qualify for incentives. In addition to these incentives, this program offers multiple financing options and technical assistance to make it easier for customers to realize energy savings. You are not obligated to use Willdan resources for financing and/or technical assistance.

Call (844) 668-3206 to speak with one of our Customer Service Representatives. We’ll walk you through a quick set of eligibility questions and let you know whether you qualify. Additional requirements for program eligibility may apply, e.g., prior participation in previous incentive programs may affect eligibility. You can also request a consultation here.

Eligibility criteria include:

• You have an active SCE account

• You purchase electricity from SCE and pay a PPP charge

• You have not previously received an incentive for the same service

• You have a peak demand greater than 20 kW

The program has four steps to reduce your energy costs:

1. Qualify – Willdan will ask you a few questions to verify that your property meets the program participation criteria. Topics include your standing as an SCE customer, if you pay Public Purpose Program charges (found on your utility bill), and SCE rebates or incentives you’ve received in the past. We’ll ask you to sign a no-obligation Willdan Services Request Form to indicate your preliminary interest in our program, help verify your eligibility, and authorize a no-cost energy consultation and the collection of utility billing and usage data.

2. Consultation – We’ll visit your site to perform a no-cost energy consultation, to share how the program works and to evaluate potential energy-saving opportunities. We may install data loggers to establish energy use baselines and collect maintenance records for applicable systems. This information is used to develop specific project proposals to realize your energy savings. We’ll review the program assistance that your project would qualify for, including incentives, technical assistance, or other benefits that make achieving energy efficiency easier. Willdan or one of our authorized partners will work with you hand-in-hand through the process, from defining the project you want to implement to scheduling, installation, and delivering energy savings.

To officially enroll in the program, you’ll sign a Customer-Implementer Agreement. This document lists the full program terms and conditions and provides all of the program disclosures. It also authorizes Willdan to submit a Pre-Installation Package for your project to SCE and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for review.

3. Install – After the Pre-Installation Package is approved by SCE, you can use your own contractor or a program contractor (including Willdan turnkey experts) to install your selected energy efficiency measures. If you need financing, we can connect you with options tailored to your needs. We can also provide technical assistance such as engineering design, equipment selection, or commissioning.

4. Start Saving – Congratulations! You’ve started saving energy. We’ll measure, verify, and report the amount of energy saved to you, SCE, and the CPUC for review as a Post-Installation Package. If you qualified for an incentive, we’ll issue it once the Post-Installation Package is approved by SCE.

You are under no obligation to pursue or install any of the energy/cost-saving opportunities identified in your program-provided energy consultation. By completing the Services Request Form, you agree to provide the information needed to assess your opportunities (e.g., utility billing and usage information, property access to evaluate systems, etc.). There is no cost to review and assess the opportunities available to you. To receive an incentive or program assistance, you agree to maintain your chosen upgrades for at least one year.

Once you’ve finished your no-cost, no-obligation consultation, you may have the option to formally enroll by signing a Customer-Implementer Agreement.

Yes. You are under no obligation to participate and may cancel your enrollment at any time prior to installation by notifying Willdan in writing. Other terms and conditions will apply for cancellations made after the start of project installation (please refer to the Customer-Implementer Agreement for more details).

Flexible incentives include no-cost technical assistance; multiple, tailored financing options; and traditional cash incentives. The amount of the incentive is customized on a project-by-project basis. If you qualify for a cash incentive, it will be paid after the energy efficiency upgrade is installed and savings are verified. It should be noted that, while our calculated estimates are highly accurate, every property has variability, and measures do not guarantee an exact amount of energy savings.

Willdan’s engineering team provides technical assistance such as energy-saving measure identification, energy savings calculations, systems and property energy modeling, engineering design, evaluation of higher-efficiency alternatives, emerging technology education, equipment selection, commissioning and optimization, and electrification consultation. We work with you to create a business case to adopt more efficient alternatives. Willdan has the expert staff to implement your project as a turnkey solution – handling everything from project conception through savings measurement and verification.

Yes! No matter who installs the upgrades (your preferred contractor, your qualified in-house team, or Willdan’s turnkey experts), we will work with you to provide financing options, technical assistance, and process any applicable cash incentives for the project.

The DIY option helps you reduce labor costs and makes scheduling even easier, minimizing disruption to your tenants. After a streamlined energy consultation of each unit type at your property, an Energy Service Representative will provide you with specialized kits that you (or your tenants) can install. DIY-eligible measures include screw-in LEDs and other straightforward measures. You’ll have two weeks for you or your tenants to install the kits. Once the kits are installed, contact Willdan, and we’ll send an Energy Service Representative out to your site to verify proper installation and counts.

Yes. This consultation is a no-cost, no-obligation way to help you make the right choices to improve operations and reduce your energy use even more than what you’ve already identified. We identify a comprehensive range of measures that are specifically eligible through this program that will result in the most energy-efficient option(s) for your property. Available technologies, property needs, and equipment health change over time, so it’s important that your upgrades reflect the latest opportunities.

Willdan will maintain all information that is not publicly available on a secure server, using a proprietary database and will apply the same standard of care used for our internal confidential information. Willdan may ask you to sign an authorization form allowing SCE to provide us with your usage information.

Willdan follows industry-standard practices for safety and abides by all customer-communicated property safety protocols while on-site, including personal protective equipment, COVID-19 precautions, background checks for anyone going in-unit, clearly marked program security badges, etc.

Our COVID-19 protocols include:

• Willdan’s COVID-19 Task Force develops and implements the Willdan Corporate COVID-19 Response Policy, which follows the current CDC and OSHA COVID-19 guidelines, with updates as they are published.

• Our office managers develop and update office-specific COVID-19 plans to accommodate state and client requirements, and local offices are stocked with the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, disinfectants, hand sanitizers, and wipes.

• Our COVID-19 Task Force members across the country and an industry consultant meet virtually every two weeks to review the most current CDC guidelines and adjust and implement a robust and effective response strategy.

• We tailor our Environmental Health and Safety Plan (EHASP) at the start of every project to conform to site-specific requirements–our safety plan addresses 40 hazards and is updated to address current COVID-19 risks.

• Our field staff are equipped with the appropriate PPE, in accordance with OSHA’s Guidance in Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 (publication number OSHA 3990 2020 and updates).