Leadership
The State of California has two state statues that cover Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contracting (GESPC) one provides for state agencies, local units of government, and universities. A separate statue covers K-12 school districts. The length of contracts under both statues are up to 20 years.
The statues allow for a scope of work that includes all measures that pay for themselves in energy savings, use of water savings, renewables, and allows capital funds to be added as buy-down.
The statues also provide for end-users to retain any excess savings in their department budget if the savings exceed the guarantee.
In the past there have been examples where the verified savings have exceeded the guarantee:
- In 2012 the City of Brea entered a 20-year GESPC. The project included installing high-efficiency lighting systems in 14 city buildings and 4,000 street lamps, updating HVAC systems at six buildings and installing 1.8 megawatts of solar panels at three sites. The project was projected to save the city $13 million on energy costs over the next 25 years. Savings have exceeded the projected savings by about 10 percent.
- In 2009 the Central Library in Sacramento was in dire need of mechanical repairs to the HVAC systems. A new system was procured through an GESPC. The overall investment for this project was $250,200. The Library expected to see savings of $2,207 per month. Of that, $2,095 was to be used to pay back the initial investment (which would be paid in full in 12 years). Savings have exceeded the guaranteed savings by $559 per month, or monthly savings of $2,766.
Program
The state does not have a dedicated GESPC program administrator. The state uses a set of standardized instruments for use with GESPC for state facilities.
ESC Chapter
The state's ESC Chapter launched in 2014.