by Brianna Crandall — October 1, 2014—Of interest to federal facilities managers who have considered utilizing Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) or Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs) to reduce energy costs for their buildings, on September 18, identical, bi-partisan House and Senate resolutions were introduced urging a change in the current Congressional scoring practices used to evaluate legislation related to these energy efficiency performance contracts, according to public-private initiative the Alliance to Save Energy.
The Alliance applauds the authors of the legislation — Alliance Honorary Vice-Chair Chris Coons (D-DE), Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), Alliance Honorary Vice-Chair Peter Welch (D-VT), and Congressman Cory Gardner (R-CO) as well as 45 other members of Congress — for seeking to unleash the power of energy efficiency performance contracts to save the American taxpayers money on federal energy bills.
Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs) are proven and cost-effective financing tools that federal agencies use to reduce energy consumption and associated costs, points out the Alliance. However, changes in the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring process in 2002 have deterred attempts by Congress to encourage, support or require the use of ESPCs and UESCs by law as such measures will receive a cost “score” notwithstanding the fact that such contracts actually save money. The legislation just introduced encourages a change that would ensure that not only the costs of ESPCS and UESCs are counted when “scoring” legislation but also the savings.
Since inception, there have been approximately $4 billion in ESPC projects across the federal government, which have reportedly achieved over $13 billion in energy savings. Similarly, federal agencies have invested $2.3 billion in UESCs since 1995, covering nearly 2,000 projects. And there is an opportunity to do much more, notes ASE. A government-wide audit of about half of its facilities has uncovered at least $9 billion in additional savings that could be realized through such contracts within the next decade.
