pay for performance Archives

Mar 22

P4P’s Incompatibility with DEI

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

When I first heard the term “value proposition” years ago, I thought, what the heck does this obtuse phrase mean? In this context, value is a measure of desirability, and proposition means proposal. Google tells us that value proposition is “an innovation, service, or feature intended to make a company or product attractive to customers.” Oh, you mean selling point: “a feature of a product for sale that makes it attractive to customers.” Wikipedia adds another term, “In marketing, the unique selling proposition, also called the unique selling point or the unique value proposition in the business model canvas, is...

Mar 10

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THE Successful Model for Pay for Performance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Livin' it Up in Hotel California I’ve written about pay for performance (P4P) programs no less than six times in this blog. I’ll start with a recap of those posts and move the ball forward once again. We’re well within field goal range! In Tooling Pay for Performance, I wrote that energy models and dashboards with regression models showing savings performance or lack thereof provide the following Leatherman-like benefits. It provides leverage with visual evidence, so customer stakeholders do more and climb higher. It’s a vise-grip to maintain what was accomplished. It’s a hammer to “persuade” folks. It’s a screwdriver...

Feb 18

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Stifling Impacts of Jurassic Evaluation Dogma

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

If efficiency programs were telephones, the evaluation community would still be using wall-mounted analog dial-ups rather than the iPhone. Yes, I’m going to tell you why programs are designed to be evaluated and not to be effective, part 2, herein. The following is the list of flaws in demand-side management theory, as presented last week. Efficiency must cost more than inefficiency Building energy codes are sacrosanct Efficiency has to be the primary factor in customer decision making Customers must “get their money back” The unfamiliar get fifty cents on the dollar Immortality is fantasy Last week we covered the first...

Feb 11

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Stop Conforming to Waste

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 4 Comments

Two weeks ago, I wrote that efficiency programs are designed to be evaluated. They are not designed to be effective. That quote, or paraphrase, came from the great Val Jensen, Exelon’s Senior VP of Strategy and Policy, as spoken at AESP’s 2019 Annual Conference. Val is great because he is genuine, authentic, and tells it like it is, at least as far as a utility spokesperson can take it. I’d love to hear him if we could remove his utility filter. That would be fantastic. There would be sufficient material for thousands of Rants. Like many things with which I...

Feb 04

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P2P – Proven to Perform – Program Design

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

This post rolls out better ideas for pay for performance (P4P) programs you read about in the last two posts here and here. But first, I will set the stage from the perspective of the program implementation contractor. Perhaps it is best depicted with a scene from the cartoonish 1977 Clint Eastwood flick, The Gauntlet. I think a bit of cooperative teamwork is needed to make P4P approaches work – and they can work well! Punk There is another issue with third-party P4P concepts, and staying with the Clint theme, it goes like this: “Go ahead, punk. Make my day.”...

Jan 28

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Prospects for Peril in Pay for Performance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 2 Comments

This week, we are continuing the discussion from last week’s Pay 4 Performance Sequel post. There is a sequel to the sequel? Last week’s sequel referenced the first attempts at P4P programs, which were delivered around the turn of the century in response to the utility deregulation craze. This post takes us a few steps further. More Issues to Slay This post describes why the Energy Service Company (ESCO) model failed and the differences between Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and modern-day program implementation contractors. Early P4P programs were designed for ESCOs, while today’s are targeted for implementers. The differences pose...

Jan 21

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Pay 4-Performance Sequel

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 3 Comments

For some strange reason, I’ve learned a lot about pay for performance in recent weeks. To spare tongues everywhere, let’s call it P4P. P4P efficiency programs are on the move once again. It is interesting to note that the last time P4P was the rage was during the deregulation gambit, almost 20 years ago. Like denim preferences, what goes around comes around with efficiency fads. The Original One of the most popular programs during the prior faddy P4P era was called a “Standard Offer” program. What marketing genius(es) coined that brand? I like metaphors, but I can’t think of any...

Oct 01

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Slick Willy Sutton is Paid for Performance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

In the past couple of months, Energy Rant introduced pay-for-performance[1] (P4P)trends in our industry. See Tectonic Power and Pace, and Tooling Pay for Performance. It reminds me of the overused engineering adage: we provide services that are fast, cheap, and good. Pick two. In the case of P4P, “performance” may include goal achievement, cost-effectiveness, fairness, equity, or a host of other criteria. Pick two. I think most people in our industry would consider P4P to include meeting program goals and cost-effectiveness targets. In other words, we, as the buyer, will pay you, as provider, a bonus for exceeding savings goals...

Sep 10

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Tooling Pay for Performance

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 3 Comments

A blog post from OpenEE with a title M&V Adjustments Create a Bias Towards Savings Inflation[1] is a good troll for a guy like me – a cynic who can’t stop writing the Rant even when I tried to quit a dozen times. Anyone with a pulse needs a relief valve, and the Rant does the job for me. Products designed to reduce stress, like stress balls or foam bricks, would never work. For instance, if I want to get even with a computer, do I want to grab one of these things and start squeezing? No. I want to...

Aug 27

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Efficiency – With Tectonic Power and Pace

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

I am no mountaineer, but without looking, I know the Himalayan range is growing taller. How do I remember this? Because the earth’s crust is made up of tectonic plates that are always moving. The edge of tectonic plates forms fault lines for earthquakes. Did you know, that at some point, coastal California will be neighbors with Alaska? It’s true. A hell of a lot of earthquakes will happen in between, giving “bumpy ride” new meaning. In Southern Asia, the plate that India sits on is slamming into Asian landmass, thrusting Everest higher, adding roughly 2.4 inches per year to...

P4P’s Incompatibility with DEI

THE Successful Model for Pay for Performance

Stifling Impacts of Jurassic Evaluation Dogma

Stop Conforming to Waste

P2P – Proven to Perform – Program Design

Prospects for Peril in Pay for Performance

Pay 4-Performance Sequel

Slick Willy Sutton is Paid for Performance

Tooling Pay for Performance

Efficiency – With Tectonic Power and Pace

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