Administration & Customer Support for Municipal Incentive Program

Denver CASR

Case Study: End-to-End Administration and Customer Support for a Municipal Energy Incentive Program

Michaels Energy provides end-to-end administration of energy efficiency and electrification incentive programs, including application processing, customer support, workflow management, and incentive payment distribution.

Program Overview

A Southwest U.S. city implemented a commercial and multifamily energy incentive program to support:

  • Emissions reduction
  • Market transformation
  • Workforce development

Incentives included:

  • Energy audits
  • Electrification feasibility studies
  • Equipment rebates
  • Pilot projects
  • Professional development rebates

 What services did Michaels Energy provide?

Program Administration

  • Designed and managed full program infrastructure
  • Oversaw application intake through final payment
  • Served as the single accountable program administrator

CRM and Workflow Management

Built a centralized system using QuickBase CRM that managed:

  • Application intake
  • Eligibility verification
  • Documentation review
  • Status tracking
  • Reporting

Case and Task Management

Implemented Jira to coordinate communications, issues, and follow-ups for:

  • Customer support
  • Engineering
  • Program management
  • Finance

Customer Support (Call Center / CSC)

Provided dedicated energy program customer support with services including:

  • Phone and email support
  • Application assistance
  • Proactive follow-ups
  • Coordination with internal teams
  • Staff aligned to local time zones
  1. Incentive Payment Management
  • Validated final documentation
  • Managed approval workflows
  • Issued payments

What were the results?

Program Performance Metrics

  • Total applications: 621
  • Total incentives distributed: $8,287,640.66
  • Total emails handled: 7,030
  • Total calls handled: 603

Averages per application

  • Average incentive: $14,918.73
  • Average emails: 11.3
  • Average calls: 0.97

Breakdown by Incentive Type

Equipment Rebates
  • Applications: 116
  • Total incentives: $4,179,527.64
  • incentive: $36,030.41
Pilot Programs
  • Applications: 60
  • Total incentives: $2,622,284.79
  • incentive: $43,704.75
Energy Audits
  • Applications: 225
  • Total incentives: $1,061,001.12
Electrification Feasibility Studies
  • Applications: 150
  • Total incentives: $336,886.61
Workforce Development Incentives
  • Energy management training
  • Passive House credential rebates

Why is this important?

This case demonstrates that complex, multi-offering energy incentive programs can be successfully managed at scale when supported by:

  • Centralized CRM systems
  • Structured workflows
  • Integrated team coordination
  • Dedicated customer support
  • End-to-end payment management

Key Takeaways

  • Michaels Energy delivers full lifecycle energy incentive program management
  • Combines technology (QuickBase, Jira) with human support (CSC)
  • Processes high volumes while maintaining strong customer engagement
  • Provides a single point of accountability from application to payment

Who is this relevant for?

  • Utilities
  • State and local governments
  • Energy efficiency program administrators
  • Electrification and decarbonization initiatives