EM&V Forum

 


The Council’s 2026 Evaluation, Measurement & Verification (EM&V) Forum:
Role of EM&V in Achieving Decarbonization and Affordability in California

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The EM&V Forum highlights research and evaluation concerns and findings across the energy efficiency, demand response, and DER communities by bringing together professionals from consulting, implementation, regulatory and utility organizations to explore critical topics that are essential for addressing California’s clean energy policies.

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Agenda*:

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 Welcome

Keynote – The Role of EM&V in Achieving Decarbonization and Affordability in California

In a fireside chat with Joe Desmond, Merrian Borgeson will discuss a range of topics including equity, energy affordability, decarbonization, and what NRDC is working to achieve in California.

Merrian Borgeson the Director of California Climate & Energy policy for NRDC, where she has worked for 12 years. Prior to joining NRDC, she worked as a team leader at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy financing. Merrian is a California native and has not strayed far from home. She did her undergraduate work at Stanford, and has graduate degrees in Energy & Resource and Business from UC Berkeley.

  • Merrian Borgeson, Director, California, Climate & Energy, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Session 1 – The Role of Cost-Effectiveness in Meeting California’s Energy Affordability Challenge: What’s Next After TSB?
California’s Standard Practice Manual (SPM) defines four cost-effectiveness tests: Total Resource Cost (TRC) for societal perspective, Program Administrator Cost (PAC) for utility perspective, Ratepayer Impact Measure (RIM) for ratepayers, and Participant Cost Test (PCT) for participants. The SPM does not specify weighting among these tests. Historically, PAC and TRC held equal importance until 2018, when emphasis shifted to TRC, which retained the utility cost of capital as its discount rate.

In 2019, fuel substitution policies prompted changes to the framework. By 2024, Total System Benefit (TSB) replaced energy savings as the primary metric, and the Societal Cost Test (SCT)—an expanded version of TRC—was introduced for reporting. Despite these changes, TRC remains the primary benchmark for cost-effectiveness.

Key questions include:

  • How has this policy evolution influenced measure portfolios?
  • What types of measures are being incentivized?
  • Are current incentives aligned with California’s broader energy efficiency goals?

Speakers:

Session 2 – Counting the Full Benefits: Emerging Approaches to Non-Energy Impacts
Non-energy impacts (NEIs) or non-energy benefits (NEBs) are increasingly recognized as essential to understanding the true value of demand-side programs, yet California still lacks consistent methods, shared assumptions, and a unified vision for how they should inform cost-effectiveness, accountability, and program design. Recent studies underway from the CEC, RENs, and statewide researchers illustrate both the promise and the complexity of quantifying benefits that have historically been overlooked or treated qualitatively.

This session will explore these questions through the lens of current research efforts across utilities, RENs, and state agencies, all aiming to build a more holistic view of program impacts, including:

  • How NEBs are being used across current studies and what level of rigor is needed, including whether benefits should be monetized or communicated through multiple types of information and the trade-offs of each approach.
  • How emerging methodologies and tools can support broader integration of NEBs into EM&V and portfolio planning, and what shared infrastructure or collaborative processes may be needed to advance more consistent and rigorous benefit values.
  • What challenges may hinder alignment and progress, including differing scopes, baseline assumptions, and stakeholder priorities, and whether these risks could fragment the field before consensus is reached.

Speakers:

  • Ali Ahmad, EM&V Energy Efficiency Conservation Senior, SoCalGas
  • Steve Campbell, Senior Analyst, Innovation Strategy, Peninsula Clean Energy
  • Lujuana Medina, Environmental Initiatives Division Manager, County of Los Angeles and SoCalREN
  • Leigh Michael, Principal Consultant, Illume, an E Source Company
  • Moderator: Casey Dailey, Director, Energy & Environmental Programs, Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) and I-REN

60 Minute Lunch Break 

Session 3 – Navigating the Future: The Role of NMEC in California

NMEC is a developing approach for energy efficiency in California, offering broad coverage through site-level and population programs, market access, and encouragement as the preferred method where feasible. However, its novelty, complexity, and differences from other program tracks make consensus on its future challenging.

  • Is NMEC delivering on its promise of flexibility, deeper retrofits, accurate savings estimates, and reduced evaluator involvement? 
  • Or is it being unfairly tasked with solving all traditional EE issues despite its limited baseline and potential accuracy concerns?

We will examine these questions, drawing on three years of implementation and evaluation experience while keeping the broader EE context in view.

Speakers:

Session 4 — Continuous Improvement of Custom Project Review: One Year Later
Stakeholders are collaborating through the CPUC’s Continuous Improvement Initiative, the Cal TF Custom Initiative, and various PA efforts to streamline review cycles, clarify requirements, and strengthen alignment. This session will provide progress updates, share data-driven insights, and outline remaining challenges and future directions, including methods for tracking and measuring impact.

Speakers:

  • Arlis Reynolds, Director of Strategic Initiatives Future Energy Enterprises, representing Cal TF
  • Leanne Hoadley, Supervisor Planning and Forecasting, CPUC Energy Division
  • Wayne Chi, Custom Engineering Supervisor, SoCalGas
  • Glen LaPalme, Engineering Manager, TRC Companies, Inc.
  • Moderator:  Amit Kanungo, Vice President, Energy Systems, DNV

30 Minute Networking Break

Session 5 – Don’t Tell Me It Didn’t Happen: Evaluating Demand Response for a Grid-Responsive Future
New IOU Business Plans will likely call for more integration of programs – energy efficiency programs that better leverage IDSM opportunities and DR-readiness. California has several established approaches to measuring performance of DR, but several of these have known deficiencies, and new approaches have been tested in recent years. CAISO is now actively reviewing performance evaluation methodologies as part of its Demand and Distributed Energy Market Integration (DDEMI) initiative, looking at ways to improve and streamline promising baseline methodologies that are currently underutilized. As California shifts toward a more integrated, grid-responsive future, how will traditional evaluation frameworks need to change in parallel?

Speakers will explore questions connected to measuring performance in event-based and market-integrated DR programs,

  • How can control groups be used to provide more effective DR performance measurement?
  • What lessons in baseline approaches can be learned from the CEC’s Demand Side Grid Program?
  • Where can advanced statistical analysis techniques support measurement from DERs?

Speakers:

Session 6 – I Don’t Want to Wait a Year for an Evaluation: Real-Time Evaluation Approaches from Across the Country
Real-time evaluation models, such as those demonstrated by TECH, integrate evaluators into program implementation to provide immediate, actionable feedback. These approaches—often referred to as embedded or continuous evaluation—are gaining traction nationwide for their ability to enhance program performance in real time. This panel will examine leading practices, required data protocols, and organizational changes that enable timely evaluation. The discussion will focus on identifying suitable applications, avoiding common pitfalls, and exploring how this approach could transform California’s evaluation framework.

Speakers:

Closing Remarks

Networking Reception

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