Participant outcomes in residential Pay As You Save® programs
Abstract
In this report, we review the energy and financial outcomes for households participating in several programs based on successive versions of the Pay As You Save® (PAYS®) system. PAYS® programs offer non-debt financing for energy efficiency (and sometimes other technologies) in residential buildings and collect repayment through a tariff attached to the home's utility meter that is designed to be offset by project savings. We collected and analyzed project financial data from five PAYS® programs and analyzed the electricity and gas usage impacts of one program (Midwest Energy) using weather-normalized methods applied to metered energy consumption data. We also calculated customer bill changes for participants in the Midwest program. This analysis will enable interested jurisdictions to make a better-informed appraisal of PAYS® as a potential program solution for consumers by helping set expectations for the outcomes such programs might achieve. We also identify considerations for program design elements that might better enable PAYS® at scale.