5/31/24

Bringing Efficiency Within Reach: A Q&A with Pete Rusin

Electrification Manager Pete Rusin and his team are spearheading Tri-State's energy efficiency and electrification programs, helping members save money and reduce emissions.

How does Tri-State support our members’ electrification and energy-efficiency goals?

Along with reliable and affordable power, our members work to provide cost-saving energy services to their consumers. As a Generation and Transmission Association (G&T), we’re in a unique position to help our members achieve their individual goals at lower cost and with greater efficiency. We can leverage the economy of scale of all members to support their staff, identify opportunities, help secure funding, and provide back-office services.

How do you identify the programs to focus on for energy efficiency and cost savings?

We work with our members to identify the ways technology and best practices can help them advance electrification. With our targeted approach, we are focused on a few specific programs with big impacts that can help members sell more electricity or reduce their system demand. On-bill repayment is one of the programs that will allow us to support our members to make a real difference for consumers and businesses.

We’re partnering with Colorado Clean Energy Fund to offer on-bill repayment (OBR) services to our members across all the states we serve. Residents and businesses can participate and make electrification and energy-efficient upgrades at no initial cost. The upgrade expenses are repaid monthly, and in many cases, their monthly energy savings is greater than their monthly repayment.

To enhance the value of the program, we’ve brought in a technical service provider to conduct an energy assessment for the home or business, whether it's a small commercial operation, an agriculture building or pumping plant. They identify energy use and energy-saving improvements that will have the most impact. For a home, it could be better insulation or an HVAC system. In an agriculture operation, there may be energy efficiency potential through a new motor for the irrigation system or new lighting in the barn. The OBR program can also be used as bridge funding.

For agricultural producers, there are exciting funding opportunities available from the USDA, but there can be a gap between applying for and receiving the funds. OBR can bridge that funding gap so the member can start reaping those energy- saving benefits right away.

How do members benefit from on-bill repayment?

To make the program successful, we’ve done a lot of upfront work and collaborated with a few key early adopter members. We wanted to make sure the administrative processes were clear and that the aim was specific and measurable. The end goal is for our members to see the benefits of increased load or load growth and their end-use consumers to see reduced utility bills.

With all the potential benefits of participation in OBR, we make accessing the program as smooth as possible. A few of the advantages we can provide:

• We can offer low-interest loans due to the funding we received from the USDA Rural Energy Savings Program, with $50M earmarked for OBR.
• We have vetted contractors that will select and install the right equipment.
• We provide all the back-of-house administration so it’s easy for members to participate and for their member consumers, financing is easy and shows as a line item on the member’s utility bill.

We continue to develop new tools, and we can show members in the program what they can expect as far as revenue and savings. What’s key is that the efficiency benefit doesn't stop at the member level – it flows to their member consumers. Electrification helps everybody out. If we improve load factor or we sell more electricity when it costs less, it will eventually impact everyone down the line in a positive way.

Where do Tri-State members see potential growth?

Our oil and gas electrification program is a member-driven idea that can bring electrification to that industry. The focus is on electrification, efficiency, and demand response – it’s the whole package. Every step of extracting, transporting and refining oil and gas requires energy and offers room for efficiencies.

Like many industries, oil and gas producers are expected to decarbonize and some face increasingly stringent state regulations. We are creating solutions and putting them at their doorstep. We’re piloting the electrification components that, once proven beneficial, we can replicate. Efficient, electrified oil and gas load could become a big part of our portfolio over the next five years.

View the full 2023 report