Frequently Asked Questions
Beneficial electrification programs have become a new avenue for electric utilities and their many stakeholders to identify solutions that benefit customers, local communities, and the environment given expanding technologies and new policies. With a global energy transition taking place, using beneficial electrification as a guide can become standard for how wise decisions are made from the residential to the industrial sector.
What is “beneficial electrification” and why does it matter?
“Beneficial electrification” is the application of electricity to end-uses where doing so will satisfy at least one of the following conditions, without adversely affecting the others:
Saves money
Benefits the environment
Improves quality of life
Fosters grid resilience
What is the Beneficial Electrification Toolkit and who should use it?
The Toolkit is a complete one-stop-shop for all aspects of beneficial electrification. While readable by a wide audience, the Toolkit was designed for rural electric utilities to develop beneficial electrification programs for their customers. The Toolkit includes more than 30 pages of researched content on a wide range of sectors, technologies, and incentives. It also includes a variety of resources including helpful conceptual and technical explainers, real-world case studies, scientific articles, and program funding announcements which will help guide users in creating their own electrification program.
The authors of the Toolkit acknowledge that beneficial electrification opportunities and needs range widely across the country and between individual utilities. Please feel free to contact the Team to learn more about our individualized no-cost assistance.
How can rural electric utilities with limited resources get started and set up an effective beneficial electrification program for their customers?
The Toolkit includes extensive discussion about preliminary program design and implementation best practices. Some good first steps that the Toolkit supports include identifying the demand for different opportunities for beneficial electrification in your service territory.
What are your customers’ needs? Do residential customers have a high energy burden? Are your commercial and industrial customers looking to grow and cut down on energy costs? Establishing a baseline of support and interest in real-world circumstances will give a program the legs it needs to get out the door.
Keep in mind that developing a program requires assembling a team, setting realistic goals, managing new funds, and evaluating programmatic impact. Are there people on staff who have the capacity to help guide a new program? If this is the first program of its kind for the utility, setting achievable goals will help you determine what new resources or capabilities are necessary to be successful. If similar programs already exist, pursuing a funding opportunity for beneficial electrification could be a source of additional benefits to the utility as well as customers..
Deploying a program requires additional marketing and critical engagement with contractors. How are these functions currently managed? Is there room for growth? If so, adding a beneficial electrification program could make a lot of sense and allow a utility to grow its outreach to contractors and community networks.
Read more on our pages about program planning and program deployment.
Are there any sources of funding that provide rural electric utilities with new resources for beneficial electrification programs?
The Toolkit provides actionable advice about identifying and securing funding to help develop and implement beneficial electrification programs. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture offers zero-interest loans to rural electric utilities through the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP). The Toolkit includes case studies about utilities that have successfully secured RESP loans to establish inclusive on-bill financing programs to help customers manage the upfront costs of beneficial electrification projects and quickly realize savings from lower monthly energy bills.
Other potential sources of funding include state and local green banks and community development finance institutions (CDFIs). The Toolkit also includes information about non-utility incentives like rebates and tax credits available to customers that utility programs can effectively leverage.
Visit our Program Funding page to become familiar with many of the options available.
How often is the Beneficial Electrification Toolkit updated?
The Toolkit is updated throughout the year with new content that reflects programmatic, funding, and technological updates across multiple sectors. If you have any questions about a specific program or development, please contact us for answers and additional resources. We look forward to hearing from you!