Accurate, trustworthy evaluation is crucial to understanding the work of market transformation and ensuring a high level of accountability. Toward that end, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created a California Market Transformation Framework, via CPUC Decision 19-12-021, which calls for setting clear savings goals, other market transformation initiative (MTI) metrics, and ongoing evaluation to reduce program performance risk.
To ensure this outcome, CalMTA has developed an MTI Evaluation Framework that describes the policies, principles, and high-level approaches that CalMTA will use to assess its portfolio of MTIs. The approaches are consistent with the Decision and reference the substantial existing body of literature on the best practices and lessons learned for market transformation evaluation.
Evaluation is essential to ensure that market transformation programs are making progress and delivering cost-effective energy savings for California’s ratepayers and incremental system benefits to California’s electrical grid. CalMTA will oversee implementation of rigorous and strategically focused evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) practices, which will allow us to gauge the performance of MTIs, verify incremental impacts, and improve the design and success of future work.
Evaluation informs effective evolution of initiatives and ongoing investment decisions and supports strong management accountability, which in turn can enhance stakeholder trust and collaboration. The graphic below illustrates the importance and purpose of evaluation.
“Real-time” market evaluation provides the continual feedback that MTI program managers and implementers need to understand whether the intended market changes are occurring and, if needed, pivot strategies to improve MTI performance. Tracking of near- and longer-term market progress indicators that are tightly aligned with the MTI’s market transformation theory will reduce MTI performance risk and support timely decisions regarding ongoing investment or termination of an MTI.
The Evaluation Advisory Group provides expertise and unbiased recommendations to CalMTA’s evaluation management team regarding evaluation plans for upcoming market transformation initiatives (MTIs). Market transformation is the strategic process of intervening in a market to create lasting change and can deliver lasting energy efficiency benefits.
This Framework is the foundation upon which CalMTA develops MTI-specific Evaluation Plans, which are included in the MTI Plan for all MTIs that CalMTA recommends advancing to Phase III: Market Deployment.
Careful evaluation is essential to the success of market transformation (MT) efforts. Accordingly, CalMTA is implementing strategically focused evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) practices to ensure cost-effective energy savings for California’s ratepayers and system-wide benefits to the electrical grid. These evaluations inform adaptive management of market transformation initiatives (MTIs) and provide insight for ongoing investment […]
The California Market Transformation Administrator (CalMTA) develops and manages market transformation initiatives in the state to reduce energy use and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
CalMTA follows a rigorous process for reviewing, scoring, and then developing relevant, timely market transformation initiatives. The process supports market transformation initiative creation from concept to program development to market deployment, as well as the eventual exiting of the market.
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