The cost of upgrading electrical panels is often a barrier to home electrification projects, but the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has found a less expensive alternative, a SMUD planner said during a workshop hosted by the California Energy Commission.

Scott Blunk, a strategic business planner with SMUD, said installing a device called a simple switch allows two devices to be wired together, such as an induction range and an EV charger. One of the devices is given priority, so that if the induction range is turned on, for example, EV charging is turned off.

SMUD has so far installed about 25 simple switches, which cost around $250 each. In contrast, a panel upgrade costs $4,725 on average and can run to $9,000 or more, Blunk said.

“That’s an incredible barrier for us to overcome,” he said.

Blunk gave a presentation Monday during a workshop hosted by the CEC. The commission held a series of three workshops on building decarbonization this week as part of its process for developing the 2021 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR).

Blunk said that SMUD has set a goal of 100% building electrification by 2045, with electrification for low-income customers by 2040. The district has committed $1 billion to its goal.

“We’ve talked so much about new construction at the CEC and other places, and we’re making great strides there,” Blunk said. “But we really need to … look at what we can do to emphasize existing buildings.”

Calculating Savings

Another workshop speaker, Ryan Gardner with Rincon Consultants, discussed a building electrification strategy that his firm developed for the city of Berkeley. The project focused on low-rise residential buildings. Rincon worked with the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Ecology Center, a local nonprofit, on the strategy.

Gardner said electrification challenges included the age of the buildings, which were mostly built before 1963, as well as poor sealing and insulation and the presence of asbestos.

In addition, the city’s mild climate means not much energy is used for heating and cooling.

“This is probably one of the harder places to do this work,” Gardner said.

The group ran a cost analysis for installing economy or mid-tier electric appliances in homes. For economy appliances, energy bills went up unless a solar system was added to the project, the analysis found. For mid-tier appliances, energy bill savings were only about $5 a year unless solar was added.

The project also included a public outreach component that led to the development of “equity guardrails” for building electrification, Gardner said. Those included providing financial assistance so that building improvements are available to all residents and taking steps to prevent resident displacement as a result of rising rents that may follow improvements.

Gardner listed several steps that could help make building electrification cost-effective in Berkeley, including reducing costs for electrical panel upgrades and establishing utility rates “that reflect our priorities.”

Bundling Upgrades

In another presentation, Stephanie Chen, senior policy counsel with Marin Clean Energy (MCE), discussed the agency’s Low Income Family and Tenants (LIFT) program. MCE is a community choice aggregator serving Marin, Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties.

LIFT, which is available to low-income multi-family properties, offers electrification of HVAC systems and water heating as well as energy efficiency upgrades.

Chen said LIFT works in concert with other programs, including Healthy Homes and programs offered by BayREN, a nine-county collaboration focused on energy efficiency. The idea is to combine as many upgrades as possible into a single project for a multi-family property. That way, tenant benefits are maximized while disruption is limited.

And to ease strain on property owners, Chen said, it’s “absolutely critical” to provide one point of contact for the projects, while coordinating the programs behind the scenes.

Chen said that electrification provided through the LIFT program has been “more popular than we had even anticipated.” Improving health and safety for tenants seems to be the main motivating factor for property owners, even more than the environmental benefits of the projects, she said.

A big selling point has been the ability to provide air conditioning when a furnace is replaced with a heat pump.

“That has proven to be a really compelling health and comfort benefit, especially with the recent record-breaking summers we’ve had,” Chen said.

Chen said MCE generally approaches property owners, rather than tenants, to ask if they’re interested in participating in the electrification programs. But after a project is completed, MCE works with tenants to train them on using new equipment such as heat pumps. Tenant education also focuses on ways to reduce energy bills through steps such as being aware of time-of-use rates.

MCE also surveys tenants after a project is finished to get their feedback on the upgrades, Chen said. Many residents comment that their new equipment is quieter, is better at maintaining a comfortable temperature and has improved indoor air quality.

Chen said one take-home message from the LIFT program is that building electrification has multiple benefits.

“We don’t necessarily need to convince customers to care about emissions … in order to convince them to make the switch,” she said. “We can message the benefits of electrification around improved quality of life, and we know that on the back end, the emissions reductions will follow.”