The VCx® program targets low and no cost operational and maintenance (O&M) measures in traditionally hard to reach customer segments. Customer AMI data is ingested, organized, and analyzed to find opportunities for energy savings. Trained energy advisors then reach out to sites, explaining the opportunity and helping them with implementation, all virtually. To simplify program implementation and reduce administrative costs for utilities, research was conducted to understand VCx’s applicability as a prescriptive measure, Virtual AMI Driven Commissioning, using a deemed savings value. Reviews of 836 projects across 16 utilities through 2022 & 2023 present simple, percentage savings calculations that can be applied to a facility’s weather normalized, annual baseline consumption to produce weather normalized, annual kWh and peak kW savings values. The analysis splits percentage savings by building size, building type, and change type, and finds the savings to be consistent across all three. 104 of the projects within this sample came from the PSE service territory and represent a total of 6,306,691 kWh of claimed savings, as reported in PSE’s 2022-2023 Biennial Conservation Report. This equates to an average savings of 61 MWh per project. This measure applies to non-residential operational and maintenance (O&M) energy savings opportunities identified via statistical analysis of customer interval meter data. To qualify for this measure, the savings opportunities must be identified via statistical identification of the appropriate target population. Individual models are created for the population of non-residential customer meters and the target population is identified by screening the population for goodness-of-fit of models based on hourly AMI data. The goodness-of-fit criteria are developed using accepted industry-wide methods that conform to IPMVP or other industry protocols and documents. The method is described in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Site-Level Normalized Metered Energy Consumption Technical Guidance document. Energy advisors perform an in-depth analysis and screening of interval AMI data and associated customer account information to identify opportunities. Examples of sites flagged for intervention are those with a low overall load factor (suggesting significant variance in energy usage patterns), customers whose interval level data displays a lot of variability in energy usage profiles for the same periods of day or from one day to the next, and sites that have participated in other utility DSM programs, among other factors. Once prospective individual accounts have been screened, the Energy Advisor will contact the customer to introduce the program, review whether the identified opportunity is legitimate based on information regarding their business operations, hours of operation, equipment or building information, and discuss suggested energy conservation measures (ECM) to achieve potential savings. Post-implementation, for all sites each site’s pre- and post-implementation AMI data is reviewed to monitor and ensure continued implementation of the changes for the duration of the relevant program year. This is done in tandem with automated modeling processes that evaluate projects throughout the week and flag issues with expected implementation through automated alerts. This measure was developed to be applicable to the following program types: Retrofit (RF). If applied to other program types, the measure savings should be verified. Power TakeOff is an energy efficiency program implementer and operates the company’s Virtual Commissioning® (VCx®) program across the US in approximately 30 investor-owned utility operating companies. VCx is currently operating as a deemed savings program in Arizona and a Virtual AMI Driven Commissioning measure has been incorporated into the final Illinois TRM 14.0 that was delivered on October 1, 2025 to the Illinois Commerce Commission for review and approval.
