Program Design

Our program design and evaluation work is rooted in the premise that the key to success is to understand the target market.  We focus on identifying key market actors in a region, assessing market barriers, and prioritizing market opportunities. Our consultants look for intersections between different markets – identifying opportunities for the businesses who will sell the required needed goods and services.  We design new programs with technical evolution in mind - from the emerging Smart Grid to the latest LED lighting products. Building on this kind of understanding, we develop the program elements required to meet the needs of all the program stakeholders efficiently and cost-effectively.

Our Solutions

We focus on ensuring that programs will be responsive to customers, and that services will be efficiently and effectively delivered.

  • We bring innovation and creativity to the design of program elements including: 
  • Identification of key target markets and market barriers;
  • Mapping of program strategies to overcome market barriers;
  • Approaches to leveraging other adjacent programs or initiatives;
  • Financial incentive structures that maximize savings per dollar;
  • Financing offers;
  • Marketing plans that differentiate between key market segments;
  • Savings protocols and estimates;
  • Goals and performance metrics;
  • Budgets – with detail necessary for program management and regulatory approval;
  • Processes for on-going quality assurance and quality control;
  • Evaluation plans that are integrated with program delivery;
  • Developing program incentive structures.

For more than 20 years, our group has been hired to design, enhance, and critique hundreds of energy programs (including electric, gas, unregulated fuels, customer-sited solar, wind and biomass). We have assisted clients with program design questions across the US, and in Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Carribbean. Through our daily interactions with existing programs, our consultants are continuously working with clients to create comprehensive programs that work.