DiLytics Powered BayREN’s Energy Efficiency Efforts Across Micro and Small Hard-to-Reach Businesses with an Enterprise Data Aggregation and Reporting Solution

The Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN), founded in 2013, is a collaborative effort of the nine counties that make up the San Francisco Bay Area. It operates in the Environmental Services industry and is overseen by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). BayREN’s mission is to implement successful regional energy-saving programs, leveraging the knowledge and experience of local governments in the Bay Area. BayREN achieves this by developing and administering programs that promote climate protection, resource conservation, and sustainability. 

 

 

Business Context 

One of the six programs that BayREN currently runs is called ‘The Commercial Program or BayREN Business FLEXmarket’. The Program started in the year 2022 with the objective of driving participation and energy savings among historically underserved businesses. It focuses on micro and small hard-to-reach businesses such as restaurants, corner stores, auto shops, and other small commercial spaces and provides them with valuable resources and support to implement energy-efficient upgrades. These upgrades refer to improvements made to homes or buildings to reduce energy consumption and waste. This includes measures such as installing energy-efficient appliances, improving insulation, sealing air leaks, and upgrading heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and more. 

 

These small businesses can enter the Program in three ways: 

  • Through contractors who market the program to businesses.
  • By contacting program representatives via the website.
  • Through outreach initiatives conducted by counties/member agencies, which direct businesses to the program’s website or phone number.

 

Once a business shows an interest, the Program staff determines if it fits the Program. After thorough review, the Program staff connects the business with contractors. Contractors then propose energy efficiency improvements and submit relevant information such as project costs, estimated energy savings, scope of work, and signed agreements.  

 

The Program follows a pay-for-performance approach, paying contractors incentives based on metered energy savings from completed projects. This ensures that ratepayer funds are tied directly to energy savings, making participation smooth and attractive for contractors. Meanwhile, businesses also enjoy utility bill savings and learn about the program through contractor outreach, program marketing, and referrals.  

  

Though BayREN employed a very comprehensive approach and undertook a variety of activities toward achievement of the Commercial Program’s objectives, it suffered from several issues such as the inability to: 

  • Measure the Program’s impact at varying levels of granularity
  • Determine which businesses meet the requirements to participate in the Program
  • Identify top-performing contractor agencies based on their energy efficiency results
  • Leverage insights from customer satisfaction surveys for the Program’s improvement

 

A root cause analysis of these issues pointed towards the following challenges:

  • Fragmented Data:
    – Data is stored across multiple databases which makes the process of combining the data a challenging one.
  • Manual Process:
    – Data analysis and report generation are manual processes that are performed in Microsoft Excel. This is not only time-consuming but also error-prone. Further, Microsoft Excel, as a data visualization tool, does not provide a rich set of features to present information in a clear and compelling way.
    – Reports are not made available to users from a centralized location. Rather, they are distributed to them via email. This makes it difficult for users to locate and reference reports in an easy manner.
  • Inaccessible Data:
    – The client conducts customer satisfaction surveys to gain insights into the Program’s effectiveness and areas for potential improvement. However, this survey data remains in a siloed system and is difficult to leverage.
    – It is challenging for county/city stakeholders to get visibility into project details like costs, rebates, energy savings, economic impacts, jobs created, and associated contractors.
  • Lack of Interactive Data:
    – The county and city stakeholders receive standard reports at a periodic frequency. These reports are static in nature and hence cannot be ‘queried’ on demand. This lack of interactivity delays county and city stakeholder’s ability to make timely decisions.

 

To address these challenges, BayREN identified the need to implement a data analytics solution that will source data from multiple sources, store it in a persistent form in a centralized location, enable its analysis from different stakeholders’ perspectives and present it to users in a visually appealing manner.  

Through a competitive bidding process, BayREN chose DiLytics as its partner to implement such a solution. 

DiLytics’ Solution 

DiLytics went about the task of implementing the solution in a phased manner which comprised the following phases: 

 

1. Discovery Phase 

 

DiLytics started the Discovery phase by identifying the various stakeholder groups involved in the Program and gaining an understanding of the role that they play in carrying out Program activities at the ground level. Based on this understanding, DiLytics created structured questionnaires for each stakeholder group and shared it with them well in advance of the scheduled discovery workshop date. Utilizing the structured questionnaire as the basis of the discovery workshop discussion, DiLytics elicited the required information pertaining to the various aspects of the Program from the stakeholders.  

 

The different stakeholder groups that DiLytics held the workshops with, included: 

  • Program Lead: They are responsible for the day-to-day Program administration, marketing, and implementation.
  • Program Implementer: They coordinate contractors for business projects, provide measurement and verification (M&V) services, and calculate contractors’ incentives.
  • Member Agencies: They are responsible for planning and executing localized marketing campaigns and outreach events in their county.


DiLytics also conducted a thorough review and analysis of the Program’s existing IT architecture, processes, data flow, and technical design. Leveraging its extensive experience in Data Warehousing, Data Integration, and Analytics, DiLytics evaluated BayREN’s current platform, identified issues, gaps, unrealized opportunities, and technology deficiencies.  

 

DiLytics utilized the insights gathered from the workshops to: 

  • Understand the current state of the Program
  • Draw the future state desired by various Stakeholder groups
  • Identify strategies to take the Program from its current state to the future state
  • Create a roadmap for implementing the identified strategies

 

The output of the discovery phase was a comprehensive report that captured the findings related to the current state of the Program and the future state desired by stakeholders; analysis of those findings; recommendations about the proposed solution, its architecture, tools for various architecture components; and the roadmap to implement the solution. 

 

2. Implementation Phase 

 

DiLytics went about implementing the solution by leveraging its established methodology that comprised of the following phases: 

  • Solution Design
  • Solution Development
  • Key User Training
  • User Acceptance Testing
  • Solution Deployment
  • Post Go Live Support

 

The solution entailed an automated data integration process that extracted data from various sources such as Salesforce and flat files; consolidated the data into a cloud-based data warehouse on Snowflake; and disseminated insights to users via a data visualization tool, Tableau. A high-level architecture of the solution is depicted in the schematic below:

  • BayREN Case Study

The solution enabled a series of interactive reports that offer a visual representation of key metrics across various aspects of the Program, allowing for easy interpretation and analysis.  

 

Some of the key reports that the solution provided include: 

  • Regulatory ​CPUC Quarterly Claim Reports: ​​​It provides project-level information on incentives, measures, energy savings, and more for installed projects.
  • ​​Regulatory ​CPUC Monthly Reporting: This report provides an overview of metrics like ​Year-to-date (YTD)​​ ​ Committed Funds, ​​YTD Committed Net kWh, ​YTD Committed Gross Therm, YTD​ Committed​ Net kWh, ​and more for reserved/committed and installed projects.
  • ​​Regulatory ​CPUC/BayREN Value Metrics: This ​ ​provides​ information on different metrics like kWh, kW, and Therms​ as well as equity metrics like number of hard-to-reach- businesses served, energy savings at hard-to-reach businesses, and bill savings or other non-energy benefits.
  • BayREN Leads Report: It describes the list of potential ​business ​customers to whom the program could provide​ the​ service. It stores information like first name, last name, phone, email,​ business address, hard-to-reach qualifying criteria, potential energy efficiency upgrades, lead source, and lead status.
  • ​​​​Commercial Subcommittee Progress to Date Report:​​​​​ ​​During monthly Commercial Subcommittee meetings with Member Agencies, the BayREN BPA and Program Lead share metrics on the number of total projects by county, business types, aggregators completing projects, incentives reserved, incentives remaining, and energy savings.

 

Some of the KPIs that the solution enabled included:

  • Number of Opportunities: Total potential projects eligible for energy efficiency improvements.
  • Average Project Duration: Typical time taken from project initiation to completion.
  • Proposed Project Cost: Estimated expenses for implementing energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings to improve energy performance and sustainability.
  • Proposed Aggregate Reservation: Total funding or incentives reserved for supporting energy efficiency projects across multiple commercial buildings.
  • Proposed Total System Benefit: Expected overall advantages from energy efficiency projects for building owners, occupants, communities, and the environment.
  • Proposed Customer Cost: Anticipated expenses for building owners to implement energy efficiency measures and technologies.
  • Proposed Upfront Aggregator Payment: Initial lump sum payment pooled with other funds to support commercial energy efficiency initiatives.
  • Proposed Electric Savings (kWh): Anticipated reduction in electricity consumption annually due to energy efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings.
  • Proposed Aggregate Value Including Upfront Payment: Total estimated project value, including participant payments and program contributions.
  • Final End-Customer Rebate: Financial incentive provided to participants for implementing energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings.
  • Average Final Project Cost: Mean total expenses incurred for energy efficiency projects within commercial buildings.
  • Final Project Cost: Total expenses for completing an energy efficiency project in a commercial building.
  • Final Aggregate Payment Reservation: Total funds allocated to support energy efficiency projects in the commercial sector.
  • Final Forecast Total System Benefit: Projected benefits from energy efficiency projects for building owners, occupants, communities, and the environment.
  • Final Total Customer Cost: Complete financial investment by participants for energy efficiency projects in their commercial buildings.
  • Final Upfront Aggregate Payment: Total initial payments by participants to support commercial energy efficiency efforts.
  • Final Forecasted kWh Savings: Estimated reduction in energy consumption (kWh) resulting from energy efficiency projects in commercial buildings.
  • Final Forecasted Aggregate Including Upfront Pay: Projected total financial resources, including participant payments and program incentives, for supporting energy efficiency projects in the commercial sector.

Outcomes 

The solution resulted in the achievement of the following outcomes for BayREN: 

  • Deeper and Accurate Understanding of the Program’s Performance: Automation of the data integration process and creation of a centralized data repository enabled efficient data access and analysis, reduced manual effort significantly, and eliminated data inconsistencies. In addition, the implementation of interactive data visualization tools, such as charts and graphs, enabled stakeholders to quickly grasp complex data and make better decisions based on it. All these led to the delivery of efficient, reliable, and accurate insights into various aspects of the Program.
  • Improved Targeting of the Program: Report-level security at the county level enabled counties to access reports specific to their jurisdiction. This facilitated conducting targeted program management. In addition, granular insights into program performance down to the city level helped in implementing localized strategies and allocating resources effectively.
  • Easier Identification of Improvement Opportunities for the Program via Leverage of Customer Satisfaction Survey Data: Previously, it was challenging to leverage customer satisfaction data for the Program’s improvement as it was captured in a siloed system. However, after integrating this data into the Program’s data ecosystem, the client could leverage this data to identify areas for the Program’s improvement to better meet customer needs.
  • Efficient Selection of Businesses for the Program: Consolidation of multiple pieces of information such as customer name, phone number, email, physical address, and baseline energy usage into a single database facilitated easier review, analysis, and finalization of businesses’ eligibility for the program.

About DiLytics 

DiLytics is a leading IT service provider, specializing in the domain of data analytics – Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Data Integration, Data Visualization and Predictive Analytics. The company has a presence in the US, Canada, and India and has undertaken multiyear, multimillion-dollar projects for several clients which is a testament to its capabilities and expertise in the data analytics domain.   

 

With 12+ years of existence, DiLytics has been a trusted partner for clients across 20+ industries and has established a strong record of collaborating with global clients in the public as well as commercial sectors. DiLytics brings a wealth of experience in the data analytics space: 10,000+ happy users, 100+ person-years of project experience, 100+ successful projects, and 30+ clients. With a comprehensive suite of 35+ service and solution offerings, it has empowered clients in their journey to make data-driven decisions.    

 

What sets DiLytics apart is its innovative Insight Solutions. DiLytics has a multitude of readymade, end-to-end, plug-and-play data analytics solutions developed under the name DiLytics Insight Solutions. These solutions are available in various areas, including Financial, HR, Procurement, Property Management Analytics, Compliance analytics, Grant, and PBCS insight. These solutions are designed to be implemented fast, often going live within a few weeks!  

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