Foodservice Rebate and Incentive Program

Commercial foodservice (CFS)—restaurants, institutional kitchens, corporate campus cafes, and catering businesses—operate on thin margins. Although utility costs are up to 20% of overhead, and one of the top controllable costs, few CFS operations participate in energy and water efficiency programs. CFS is a large, underserved segment for utility efficiency programs and represents substantial net energy savings. Restaurant Refresh offers eligible restaurants a free comprehensive gas, electric, and water facility assessment. Frontier Energy’s expert team recommends changes in behavior, education about maintaining existing equipment, and a list of equipment that can be upgraded to save energy. If the operator wants to invest in a comprehensive upgrade, Restaurant Refresh offers enhanced rebates and an innovative performance incentive. The program was among the first in California to use the normalized metered energy consumption (NMEC) calculation method to capture stranded energy savings potential from behavior change and facility upgrades.

Frontier Energy:

• Designed the program, including the implementation and operations manuals and QA/QC procedures.
• Received authorization to use the NMEC energy savings calculation method that captures stranded energy savings, even below the existing baseline, by comparing energy usage before and after upgrades.
• Determined eligibility of equipment and defined incentive/rebate levels.
• Created the rebate application.
• Established the template for facility assessments.
• Designed the marketing plan and customer targeting and created program marketing collateral.
• Conducted outreach to restaurants and commercial foodservice operations.
• Built enduring customer relationships that SCE leveraged for additional efficiency programs.