The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) is helping agencies improve facility operations, upgrade infrastructure, and save taxpayer dollars by offering training and partnership opportunities with their serving utility and energy service company (ESCO) that explore contracting options, including utility energy service contracts (UESCs). Ideal for any size project, a UESC is a limited–source contract between a federal agency and serving utility for energy management and demand–reduction services.
To enter into a UESC, federal staff, utility representatives, and ESCOs must understand the UESC process, legal parameters, contracting requirements, financing options, and other aspects of these agreements. This newly developed webinar will help ESCOs better understand the UESC project process and the important role they play on the UESC project team. Participants will also learn about the resources and UESC project assistance available from FEMP. Best practices will be shared as well as guidance on how to best support their utility partner.
Instructor
Karen Thomas, Senior Program Leader, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Read Bio
Karen Thomas is the national laboratory lead for the Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) Utility Energy Services Contract (UESC) program. She is an expert advisor in supporting federal agency development of UESC projects. Karen developed curriculum and leads instruction of the internationally accredited UESC training courses for Federal agencies and regulated utilities. She works with utilities to build new partnerships and grow the number of utilities offering UESC programs. Before coming to NREL in 1994, she spent 16 years designing distribution systems and serving as a rate analyst at a large investor–owned utility. Karen holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from Morgan State University and pursued her M.B.A. at Howard University.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this training, attendees will:
- Be familiar with the basics of the UESC project process;
- Able to identify the authorizing legislation for developing UESCs;
- Able to Define roles and responsibilities for ESCOs, agencies and utilities; and
- Able to find the FEMP resources—tools, templates, training, and expertise—available for developing a UESC.
