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D. homes where the owners are just not interested enough to deal with the 

 bureaucratic requirements of existing programs. 



These bureaucratic requirements can discourage all but the most diligent 

 homeowners. BPA, typical for utility programs, requires each resident to initiate 

 contact with the utility, to arrange to meet the utility auditor, to decide whether to 

 proceed in the face of costs that the utility program does not cover (or the need 

 to incur substantial debt), to arrange to meet several bidding contractors, to 

 evaluate their bids (and their reliability), to arrange to meet the selected 

 contractor(s) when the work is to be done, and to arrange to meet the utility 

 Inspector With increasing numbers of households in which all adults work 

 during the day, it becomes more difficult to accomodate the necessary 5 

 sepaate visits to the home (even if only two contractors bid). 



The SESCO approach is one-stop: The auditors and inspectors accompany the 

 crews doing the work. There is usually only one visit to each house. If 

 metering data later shows low savings, another visit remedies the problem. 



The existing BPA weatherization program does not assure a comprehensive 

 range of measures or ensure that all needed measures are installed. Because 

 the home owner must pay a substantial share of the cost, the BPA program 

 allows the home owner to cut costs by not installing all needed measures. The 

 SESCO project now underway in Salem, Oregon, is providing more 

 comprehensive treatments than the BPA program, partly because the 

 homeowner faces no cost and partly because SESCO offers measures not in 

 the BPA program at all. 



BPA disregards large opportunities for cost-effective conservation in the majority 

 of dwellings throughout the Region. Through last year, BPA had treated only 

 about 35% of the electric heat single-family residences built before 1983 in BPA- 

 served areas. But that group represents only about 40% of the total dwellings. 

 BPA has no substantive conservation program to offer to customers without 

 electric space heat (apart from distributing showerheads), even though such 

 houses consume electricity for lighting and sometimes water heating. In effect, 

 Bonneville's residential program has not affected about 85% of the homes. The 

 only contact those 85% have with BPA conservation programs is what they see 

 on television and what they pay In their utility bills. 



TESTIMONY OF RICHARD ESTEVES Page 15 



