Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Independent Evaluation

As the state of California continues to be a leader in setting aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction policies, significant technology advancements must be achieved to ensure such ambitious reductions, and all energy programs will be increasingly relied upon to support the state’s aggressive energy goals. The Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), a research, development and demonstration program that funds a broad portfolio of energy innovations, has a substantial budget (nearly $1 billion in project funding through 2017) that can be tapped to support critical energy innovations and advance progress towards California’s greenhouse gas goals, and related energy policies that address grid infrastructure, distributed energy resources, clean energy jobs and disadvantaged communities. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established and oversees EPIC, which is administered by the California Energy Commission, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison.

In 2016-2017, a team led by Evergreen Economics conducted a comprehensive evaluation of EPIC to identify opportunities to improve program management and effectiveness. Specific objectives were to:

• Determine if EPIC is being implemented in a manner consistent with the program objectives, requirements and intent of the CPUC and the California legislature;
• Assess the extent to which EPIC supports key energy policies and public research code sections;
• Identify best practices in research administration;
• Assess the extent to which EPIC is on track, thus far, in meeting its objectives to provide ratepayer benefits, advance energy innovation and support California’s energy policy goals; and
• Provide recommendations for improvements to program requirements and practices.

The Evergreen team employed a theory-driven evaluation framework within which we assessed EPIC’s effectiveness, guided by a series of logic models that we developed to support the theory-based research design. We developed performance metrics for each activity, output and outcome to assess the extent to which major activities of EPIC have been and are being successfully implemented and whether these activities had led to or are likely to lead to expected short-, mid- and long-term outcomes. We also assessed the extent to which the projects are aligned with EPIC’s objectives. Research activities included review of program documents and data and in-depth telephone interviews with program administrators, project managers, contractors and stakeholders. Evergreen also conducted a best practices assessment that included a literature review and in-depth telephone interviews, as well as a network analysis.

Evergreen found that the administrators of EPIC were in compliance with program requirements. We identified areas where the administrators were technically compliant but could better fulfill the spirit or intent of the requirements, as well as other cases where the minimum requirements are not sufficient to ensure best-in-class program administration. The evaluation results were intended to support and inform the CPUC’s consideration of EPIC within the administrators’ 2018-2020 Investment Plan application filing, which was initiated in the spring of 2017.