User guide

• Yes, CEDARS makes quarterly claim, budget filing, and monthly report data submitted by Program Administrators (PAs) available to public users for review. Please see the user guide questions below to learn how to find and download the publicly accessible data in CEDARS.

• Yes, public users may sign up for a log in to CEDARS; logged in users who are not affiliated with a PA or the CPUC are called community users to distinguish them from public users who use CEDARS without logging in.
• The community user account provides access to use the Cost Effectiveness Tool (CET) module in CEDARS. Aside from CET module access, community users have the same access as users who are not logged in.
• If you would like to sign up for a community user account, please register by clicking 'Register' in the top right corner of the page.
• In the appropriate fields, enter a username, email address, and password. Under 'Affiliation' select 'Community'.
• You will automatically receive an email from CEDARS with a link to confirm your email.
• After you confirm your email, your new community user account will be active.

Public users may access:

• PA budget filing data that has been submitted to the CPUC for review. These data include information about programs including program documents (Implementation Plans, Program Manuals, etc), cost effectiveness (savings, budgets, TRC, etc), and the filing appendices. See below for instructions for access and viewing each data type.
• Quarterly claim data that has been submitted to the CPUC. Detailed claim data, pertaining to program-sponsored installation of energy efficiency measures, may be downloaded via the Reports Module by clicking the Reports tab at the top of the screen. Otherwise, quarterly Claim summaries may be accessed via the Claims Module by clicking Claims at the top of the screen.
• Monthly reports submitted to the CPUC. Monthly reports provide a snapshot-in-time of program-level costs and savings. They are submitted and confirmed by the PAs each month, and there is an end-of-year true-up monthly report. Monthly reports were formerly submitted to EEStats, and legacy monthly reports can still be found there. Starting in 2017, MRs can be accessed via CEDARS by clicking on the Monthly Reports tab at the top of the screen.

• Click on the 'Programs' tab to view the program table.
• By default, you will see all PA's programs.To filter out programs or sort the order that the programs are listed in the table, click the 'Modify' button in the 'Filtering' or 'Sorting' boxes above the program table . A window will pop-up that allows you to 'Add filter task' on any of the program table fields or 'Add sort task' to specify the order that the programs are listed in the table. You may add as many sort and filter tasks as you like. Click 'Update list' to see the program table results that meet your criteria.
• By default, the program table shows only active programs; click on the 'Inactive Programs' selector at the top of the program table to see inactive programs. Click on the 'All Programs' selector if you wish to see both active and inactive programs.
• By default, the program table does not show the program flag fields; to expand the program table to show the flag fields, click the 'Show all fields in table' button at the top of the program table. You may then click 'Hide some fields in table' to return to the default table.
• You can download the program table by clicking 'Download Programs' in the Programs box header. You can download all program documents by clicking 'Download Program Documents' under the Programs box header.
• To view an individual program details, click on a program in the programs table. The individual program page provide supporting documents including implementation plans. You can view the program documents in CEDARS or download the documents to your local computer.

• From the Programs page, click on an individual program to view the detail page about that program. You may similarly get to program detail page from the Filing Dashboard by clicking a program record in the 'Programs in This Filing' table.
• Click 'Download Program Documents' to download all program documents in a single .zip file.
• Click 'View' next to any document to view the document or the redline file for that version. A new tab will open with the document; click download while viewing the document to save the document to your local computer.
• Click 'History' next to any program document to review the document version history, and view or download any version of the document, redline, or change summary.
• Review the table with the program cost effectiveness and savings summary for the program.

• Click on the 'Budget & Application Filings' tab. You will see a table with all of the current filings. Click on the filing for the PA you wish to view to go to that filing dashboard.
• On the filing dashboard the CE metrics are broken out by program in the 'Programs in This Filing' panel.

• Click on the 'Budget & Application Filings' tab.
• Select the PA you wish to download from the table.
• From the filing dashboard, click 'Download All Filing Documents' in the orange button in the left the panel on the page to download all documents for a filing as a .zip file.

• Click on the 'Programs' tab on the top menu.
• If you would like to filter the programs presented in the table or sort the results so they are presented in a custom order, click the 'Modify' button in either the Filter or Sorting panels above the program table. A window will pop-up that allows you to 'Add filter task' on any of the program table fields or 'Add sort task' to specify the order that the programs are listed in the table. You may add as many sort and filter tasks as you like. Click 'Update list' to see the program table results that meet your criteria.
• When you have the correct subset of programs, click 'Download Programs Data' and a .zip file containing the selected programs will download to your local computer.

• The CET is a database calculation engine that was developed outside of CEDARS; detailed information on the CET can be found on the CET website.
• The CET website includes a CET user guide which details some of the internal CET calculations, along with more in-depth documentation of inputs, outputs, and parameters.
• There is a Documentation Resources area on the CEDARS Filing Module Specification page. There you will find download links to the current year avoided costs and SQL Server database version of the CET.

• Yes, the CET emissions calculation was updated to correct under-counting of emissions. The issue was introduced in 2018, so all emissions data for ABAL Filings and Quarterly Claims back to 2018 have been corrected using the revised CET. Only emissions were updated by this CET code fix--there were no updates to savings, budgets, or cost effectiveness.

• Yes, Energy Division staff determined that the existing method of calculating the benefits for fuel substitution measures, where the new fuel costs were included as negative benefits in the numerator, was incorrect. Instead, staff interprets these as increased supply costs (in the denominator) and revised the formula in the CET on 12/19/2020. This CET change applies to 2020 Claims (and later) and 2021 Budget Filings (and later).

The gross measure costs have been a source of confusion historically. This confusion is due to two factors: 1) The field names for the unitized gross measure cost (1st and 2nd baseline) are misleading, as they don't truly represent 1st and 2nd baseline unitized gross measure costs and 2) The CET calculation itself is not widely understood and is not well-documented. This is especially confusing for early retirement/accelerated replacement (AR) measures. In the case of AR, while there are both UnitMeaCost1stBaseline and UnitMeaCost2ndBaseline fields, the CET simply uses the value for “UnitMeaCost2ndBaseline” as the effective measure cost. Please see the definitions below (also defined in the Metadata.csv in the SoT) for further details:

• UnitMeaCost1stBaseline: Incremental measure cost over Code/Std for single baseline measures. The Desktop CET called this field 'Gross Measure Cost'. Field not used for dual baseline CE calculations, except when calculating excess incentives (for single and dual baseline measures).
• UnitMeaCost2ndBaseline: NPV gross measure cost based on first and second baseline measure costs. The Desktop CET called this field 'Gross Measure Cost_ER', (where ER = early retirement, aka accelerated replacement). This is the only measure cost field used for dual baseline CE calculations, except UnitMeaCost1stBaseline is used to calculate excess incentives (for single and dual baseline measures).

Some CEI data are handled specially in the summaries of CE metrics, budget, and savings. As a rule, CEDARS uses the ExcludeFromCE_Flag in the Program table. However, in general, the special cases are:

• Codes and Standards Measures
  • Definition: Cost Effectiveness CEI measure table field DeliveryType = 'C&S'
  • Special handling: Use net savings in gross savings summaries
  • Display notes: For programs that are entirely C&S, you will notice the net savings equals the gross savings.
• Fuel Substitution Measures
  • CEDARS identifies fuel substitution measures using the MeasImpactType field. Values from the MeasImpactType value list ending with 'FuelSub' specify a fuel sub measure.
  • As specified in the validation_rules.csv, fuel substitution measures require one or both of UnitkWh1stBaseline OR UnitTherm1stBaseline to have positive values.
  • CEDARS only performs fuel sub special handling on energy savings (kWh and Therm). No special handling is performed on other output parameters (i.e. Budget, Cost Effectiveness).
  • Savings associated with fuel sub measures are converted to single fuel:
  • If Therm savings are positive, we convert to kWh and zero out Therms.
  • If kWh savings are positive and Therm savings are negative, we convert to Therms and zero out kWh
  • The following conversion factors are used:
  • 1 Therm = 29.3 kWh
  • 1 kWh = 0.03413 Therms
• Programs that are excluded from cost effectiveness summaries
  • Definition: Program ExcludeFromCE flag = True
  • Special handling: Data are excluded from CE metric summaries
  • Display notes: Excluded from CE programs will have blank CE metrics in the filing dashboard, have zero savings, have budget
• Programs that are excluded from budget summaries
  • Definition: Program Excluded_From_Budget_Flag = True
  • Special handling: Data are excluded from budget summaries
  • Filing Dashboard display notes: blank budget, have savings, have CE
  • Example: Programs being used to report ESPI payments or Labor Loaders

Also, please note that Non-Resource programs can be identified in the filing dashboard program summary table because they have zero CE and savings, but have budget. CEDARS does not perform any special handling of these data; the CEI data submitted by the PAs produces this pattern to the summary data.

Cost Effectiveness (CE) metrics (TRC, PAC, RIM) must be recalculated from raw CE outputs to produce any roll-up numbers; the equations are:

NMEC programs and/or measures fall into one of the following two categories:

Site-Level NMEC:

• Site-level NMEC claims will be reported in the Claim Yr_Qtr that measures are installed. Each site must have a persistent and unique ProjectID to associate with claims over multiple reporting years, and there is a one-to-one relationship between a project and a site. Site-level NMEC Claims are identified via the MeasImpactType field. In the post-M&V year’s annual report PAs will claim an update record for the project, referencing the original claim using the new field PriorYearClaimID. Generally, site-level NMEC claims will be reported like multi-year custom projects, with a few differences addressed below.
• Measure Categorization and Reporting
• Identification: MeasImpactType = Cust-NMEC-Site
• UseCategory: WhlBldg
• UseSubCategory: WBUpgrade
• TechGroup: WhlBldg
• TechType: WBldgImpSite
• Claimed Savings for Site-Level NMEC: PAs will claim the total estimated First Year savings for the site in the Claim Yr_Qtr of the project installation, applying the appropriate ex ante Gross Realization Rate and Net to Gross Ratio. PAs shall report a claim in the quarter that a project completes its performance period, using the PriorYearClaimID field to true-up actual costs and savings achievements. The true-up values will be the positive or negative difference between the original claim and post-M&V values for both costs and savings.
• Claimed Measure Costs, Incentives and Rebates for Site-Level NMEC: Full Gross Measure Costs are to be reported once, in the project’s installation quarter. In any future update records, Gross Measure Costs must be reported as zero to avoid double- counting. Rebates and Incentives must be reported in the quarter the payments were made, consistent with other Claims reporting. All future update records must reflect actual incentives paid. As with other multi-payment Custom projects, the PartialPaymentPercent field should be employed to reflect the estimated payment percentage each quarter, and the PartialPaymentFinal_Flag should be set to 1 when the incentives and rebates are finalized in the post-M&V period update record.
• Program Costs for Site-Level NMEC: Full Program Administration, Marketing, and Direct Implementation Non-Incentive (DINI) costs associated with a project should be reported in the installation quarter. In the future year(s), there should be a small percentage of DINI costs included to account for the M&V costs associated with calculation of final savings.

Population-Level NMEC:

• In the first year of implementation of a Population-level NMEC program, the program will have a single ClaimID/record updated quarterly with best-available current year program savings estimates. This record represents a running total best estimate of full-year savings for the entire customer population in the program as of the reporting Claim Yr_Qtr, and it may include updated estimates based on actual customer usage and improved model characteristics.As program participation increases over the course of that year best-available savings, costs, and actual incentives are updated quarterly using the same ClaimID. Each quarter’s claim overwrites the prior quarter to avoid double counting. To true-up first year program estimates with final post- M&V values, subsequent year Annual True-up reports (May 1st) must include a claim that provides the positive or negative difference between the post-M&V values and the original claim, which is referenced using the PriorYearClaimID. Each Annual True-up report will include multiple records: the current year program estimates, and a prior period’s post-M&V update.
• Measure Categorization and Reporting
• Identification: MeasImpactType = Cust-NMEC-Pop
• UseCategory: WhlBldg
• UseSubCategory: WBUpgrade
• TechGroup: WhlBldg
• TechType: WBldgImpSite
• Claimed Savings for Population-Level NMEC: PAs will claim the total estimated First Year savings for the population program in each Claim Yr_Qtr and apply the appropriate ex ante Gross Realization Rate and Net to Gross Ratio. Each quarter’s claim will overwrite the previous quarter to avoid double counting. Thus, each quarter reports total, best-available program estimated savings, not incremental savings. As previously mentioned, this record represents a running total best estimate of full-year savings for all the customers enrolled in the program as of the reporting Claim Yr_Qtr, and it may include updated estimates based on actual customer usage and improved model characteristics. Subsequent year claims shall reflect final post-M&V results for the year, reported as new update records using the PriorYearClaimID field, indicating the positive or negative difference between the post-M&V value and the original program claim for a given year.
• Claimed Measure Costs, Incentives and Rebates for Population-Level NMEC: As with Site-level NMEC Claims, full Gross Measure Costs should be reported with the installation estimates. In the future update records, Gross Measure Costs must be reported as zero to avoid double-counting, unless the records are being corrected. Rebates and Incentives paid to the customer or implementer at the time of project installation should be reported in the installation quarter, and all subsequent payments reported in the Claim Yr_Qtr paid. These incentive costs may be trued up to reflect the actual final incentives and rebates paid.
• Program Costs for Population-Level NMEC: Full program admin, marketing, and direct implementation non-incentive (DINI) costs should be reported in the installation year. In the future year(s), there is expected to be a small percentage of DINI costs included to account for the M&V costs associated with calculation of final savings.

These are the field mappings for CEDARS savings summaries to CET output fields:

Cedars	CET
Net kWh	FirstYearNetKWh
Net kW	FirstYearNetKW
Net therm	FirstYearNetThm
Gross kWh	FirstYearGrossKWh
Gross kW	FirstYearGrossKW
Gross therm	FirstYearGrossThm

Some CEI data are handled specially in the summaries of CE metrics, budget, and savings. As a rule, CEDARS uses the ExcludeFromCE_Flag in the Program table. However, in general, the special cases are:

• Codes and Standards Measures
  • Definition: Cost Effectiveness CEI measure table field DeliveryType = 'C&S'
  • Special handling: Use net savings in gross savings summaries
  • Display notes: For programs that are entirely C&S, you will notice the net savings equals the gross savings.
• Fuel Substitution Measures
  • CEDARS identifies fuel substitution measures using the MeasImpactType field. Values from the MeasImpactType value list ending with 'FuelSub' specify a fuel sub measure.
  • As specified in the validation_rules.csv, fuel substitution measures require one or both of UnitkWh1stBaseline OR UnitTherm1stBaseline to have positive values.
  • CEDARS only performs fuel sub special handling on energy savings (kWh and Therm). No special handling is performed on other output parameters (i.e. Budget, Cost Effectiveness).
  • Savings associated with fuel sub measures are converted to single fuel:
  • If Therm savings are positive, we convert to kWh and zero out Therms.
  • If kWh savings are positive and Therm savings are negative, we convert to Therms and zero out kWh
  • The following conversion factors are used:
  • 1 Therm = 29.3 kWh
  • 1 kWh = 0.03413 Therms
• Programs that are excluded from cost effectiveness summaries
  • Definition: Program ExcludeFromCE flag = True
  • Special handling: Data are excluded from CE metric summaries
  • Display notes: Excluded from CE programs will haveblank CE metrics in the filing dashboard, have zero savings, have budget
• Programs that are excluded from budget summaries
  • Definition: Program Excluded_From_Budget_Flag = True
  • Special handling: Data are excluded from budget summaries
  • Filing Dashboard display notes: blank budget, have savings, have CE
  • Example: Programs being used to report ESPI payments or Labor Loaders

Also, please note that Non-Resource programs can be identified in the filing dashboard program summary table because they have zero CE and savings, but have budget. CEDARS does not perform any special handling of these data; the CEI data submitted by the PAs produces this pattern to the summary data.

Cost Effectiveness (CE) metrics (TRC, PAC, RIM) must be recalculated from raw CE outputs to produce any roll-up numbers; the equations are:

• The TotalSystemBenefit and TotalSystemBenefitGross ($) fields have been added to the CET outputs, and TotalSystemBenefit has been added to the CET UI run summary tables. Included in the TSB are the new refrigerant benefit and cost fields, as well as the existing electric and gas benefit fields. The new gas infrastructure and the other benefits and costs are excluded from the TSB.
• ElecSupplyCost is calculated in the same manner as ElecBenefits based on kWh and kW additional load input fields, and is only applicable to fuel substitution measures which substitute electric usage in place of existing natural gas load.
• GasSupplyCost is calculated in the same manner as GasBenefits based on Therm additional load input fields, and is only applicable to fuel substitution measures which substitute natural gas usage in place of existing electric load.

Calculation details are detailed below.

• Net:
  TotalSystemBenefit = ​(ElecBen + GasBen + NumUnits * (NTGRkWh + MarketEffectsBenefits) * RefrigBens) - (ElecSupplyCost + GasSupplyCost + NumUnits * (NTGRkWh + MarketEffectsCosts) * UnitRefrigCosts)
• Gross:
  TotalSystemBenefitGross = ​(ElecBenGross + GasBenGross + NumUnits * RefrigBens) - (ElecSupplyCostGross + GasSupplyCostGross + NumUnits * UnitRefrigCosts)

The CET cost effectiveness equations have been updated to incorporate the new refrigerant, gas infrastructure, and miscellaneous benefits and costs fields. Calculation details are detailed below. TRCRatio = ( ElecBen + GasBen + OtherBen ) / TRCCost, where

• OtherBen = NumUnits * (NTGRkWh + MarketEffectsBenefits) * (UnitGasInfraBens + UnitRefrigBens + UnitMiscBens) and
• OtherCost = NumUnits * (NTGRkWh + MarketEffectsCosts) * (UnitRefrigCost + UnitMiscCost) and
• TRCCost =
  NumUnits * ( IncentiveToOthers + DILaborCost + DIMaterialCost + EndUserRebate ) / ( QuarterlyDiscountRateBase^ QuartersSinceStartOfFirstYear ) +
  NetParticipantCostPV +
  ElecSupplyCost +
  GasSupplyCost +
  OtherCost