ENERGY TRUST MISSION: To change how Oregonians produce and use energy by investing in efficient technologies and renewable resources that save dollars and protect the environment.

Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc., began operation in March 2002, charged by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) with investing in cost-effective energy conservation, helping to pay the above-market costs of renewable energy resources, and encouraging energy market transformation in Oregon.

Energy Trust funds come from a 1999 energy restructuring law, which required Oregon’s two largest investor-owned utilities to collect a three percent “public purposes charge” from their customers. The law also dedicated a separate portion of the public-purpose funding to energy conservation efforts in low-income housing energy assistance and K-12 schools.

The law authorized the OPUC to direct these funds to a non-governmental entity for investment. Energy Trust was organized as a nonprofit organization for this purpose. Energy Trust organized as a nonprofit corporation and entered into a November 2001 grant agreement with the OPUC to guide Energy Trust’s electric energy work. The grant agreement was developed with extensive input from key stakeholders and interested parties, and has been amended several times since 2001.

In addition to its work under the 1999 energy restructuring law, the Energy Trust administers gas conservation programs for residential and commercial customers of NW Natural (starting in 2003) and Cascade Natural Gas Corporation (starting July, 2006), and select programs for residential customers of Avista Corporation (September, 2006) in Oregon.

As part of its oversight of Energy Trust, the OPUC has adopted performance measures against which to benchmark Energy Trust’s performance. For 2007, these measures are:

• Save at least 20 average megawatts of electricity, computed on a three-year rolling average basis at a levelized cost of no more than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour
• Save at least 700,000 therms of gas, computed on a three-year rolling average basis at a levelized cost of no more than 40 cents per therm
• Achieve 9 MWa of new renewable resource development through Energy Trust's Utility-Scale Program, computed on a three-year rolling average, by funding projects consistent with each utility's acknowledged Integrated Resource Plan
• Secure at least 3MWa of new renewable resources, computed on a three-year rolling average, from a variety of small-scale projects
• Earn an unqualified audit opinion
• Keep administrative and program support costs below 11 percent of annual revenues
• Maintain a reasonable level of customer satisfaction, as measured by surveys, and maintain statistics on complaints
• Report the benefit/cost ratio for conservation acquisition programs based on the utility system perspective and societal perspective; report any significant mid-year changes in benefit/cost performance

Download a copy of the OPUC performance measures. Updated 2007 Gas Performance Measures.

Energy Trust has its own board of directors, which has adopted the following 10-year (2002-2012) goals:

• Save 300 average megawatts of electricity
• Save 19,000,000 therms of gas
• Help meet 10% of Oregon’s generation needs with renewable energy
• Bring energy-saving and renewable energy opportunities to consumers who historically have been underserved
• Help businesses promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy to succeed and thrive
• Encourage Oregonians to integrate energy efficiency and renewable energy into their daily lives