Home Energy Services – Weatherization Realization Rate Assessment
On the heels of a second straight impact evaluation with low realization rates for the Home Energy Service program’s key measure – insulation – the Massachusetts Program Administrators turned to Cadeo for help. The program administrators wanted to know why the realization rates were consistently low and, most importantly, how to close the persistent gap between ex ante and ex post savings. Cadeo, which had led the previous HES impact evaluation as a subcontractor to Guidehouse, approached the challenge by diving deep.
We reviewed each vendor’s building simulation model, meet with their modeling team, and interviewed the assessors that use the tools in the field. We also surveyed participants to assess for snapback and undertook a comparative analysis of modeled and actual consumption to determine if the disparity was more acute for certain customer and/or building types. Collectively, these tasks provided insights into the contributors to the historical realization rate issues and allowed Cadeo to offer specific recommendations to improve future realization rates.
