The CPA Energy Team

• The Energy Team is a Clean Power Alliance initiative designed to provide personalized energy solutions regarding energy efficiency, electrification, resiliency, and home hardening upgrades to help residential and small business customers make informed decisions.

• The Energy Team provides free virtual energy assessments and customized electrification plans to help guide customer decisions about what upgrades to pursue and how to maximize cost savings from local, state, and federal rebates. Energy Team was recently expanded to include opportunities for resiliency and home hardening as an option to add to the electrification plan.

• To get started, fill out our Welcome Form and then schedule a time to talk to an Energy Team member.

• This form will help our Energy Team determine if you are eligible for the service and identify the best way to provide support for your electrification projects.

• All information you share in the Welcome Form, with Energy Team members, and on the virtual energy assessment, will remain confidential with CPA and its partner, CLEAResult.

• Though you do not have to fill out a Welcome Form to receive support from the Energy Team, this will be the quickest way to get customized support.

• Personalized technical assistance
• Virtual energy assessments and custom electrification plans
• Links to contractor-finding tools and reviews of bids and proposals
• Assistance finding eligible rebates and tax credits
• Referrals to Clean Power Alliance programs and other offerings

Residential and small business customers of CPA 

9:00am – 5:00pm Monday – Friday except for federal holidays

Yes, our information is unbiased and focused solely on providing the best options for you to make energy decisions. We aim to offer objective information based on your individual circumstances. Clean Power Alliance is a not for profit and does not receive any incentives from our recommendations.

• To determine if you are a CPA customer, go to page 5 of your electricity bill. There, under “Supply/Generation”, you will see Clean Power Alliance listed if you are a CPA customer.

• You can find a detailed explanation of your bill on the Understanding Your Bill page of the CPA website.

• You can also call the Energy Team at (866) 982-3080, and provide your Customer Account number to determine if you are a CPA customer.

• All aspects of this service are offered at no charge for eligible CPA customers.

• Any upgrade projects you choose to undertake will be agreements between you and the contractor you select and will have associated costs.

CPA has partnered with CLEAResult to provide the Energy Team service and online comparison tools. CLEAResult provides energy efficiency, energy transition, and sustainability solutions across North America.

The easiest way to get started is by telling us a little bit about you and your needs in our Welcome Form. An Energy Team member will get back to you regarding next steps to begin creating a custom plan for achieving your electrification goals.

If you have work already in progress or recently completed a project, the Energy Team service can provide impartial guidance about working with your contractor, help answer technical or work quality questions, and determine whether you may be eligible for rebates or tax credits.

• Energy Team’s Virtual Energy Assessment is a no-charge offering where one of our advisors uses the camera on your smartphone to guide you through an evaluation of your home or small business to identify electrification and resiliency opportunities. We'll also be looking for energy efficiency opportunities and determining your electrical panel’s capacity for existing and future upgrades. After the assessment is completed, you’ll receive a custom plan that can help you make decisions about the next steps to electrify your home or small business.
• Many home hardening measures like building envelop and ventilation upgrades overlap with efficiency and electrification. Therefore, Energy Team offers a Virtual Home Hardening Assessment to customers while they get a Virtual Energy Assessment to maximize the benefits of any upgrades. Energy Team is committed to helping you save energy and reduce fire risk at the same time.
  
  
• The Virtual Home Hardening Assessment is a no-charge offering using the camera on your smartphone to guide you through an evaluation of your home to identify fire hardening opportunities. After the assessment is completed, you’ll receive a custom plan that can help you make decisions about the next steps to electrify and prepare your home for fire hazards.
  
  
• Customers can expect a Virtual Energy and Home Hardening Assessment to take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Please note, the assessment’s duration depends on the size of your home or business, equipment locations, and accessibility.
  
  
• To prepare for your Virtual Energy or Home Hardening Assessment, please:
  
  
  • Have your cell phone ready for the appointment. If possible, please connect it to a Wi-Fi network.
  • Check to make sure you know where all major equipment and appliances are located, and that they are accessible (e.g., furnace, air conditioner, water heater, clothes dryer, refrigerator(s) and freezer(s), cooking equipment, etc.)
  • Ensure access to your main electrical panel is clear and unobstructed.
  • Find a copy of your most recent utility bill (optional)
  • The Virtual Energy and Home Hardening Assessments are performed through your phone’s internet browser. No unique applications need to be installed; however, the browser will need to access your phone’s camera, microphone, and speaker.

Virtual Home Hardening Assessments are available for CPA customers and are primarily applicable for existing single-family homes and 2-4 unit buildings.

• Home hardening is the term used to describe vegetation management compliance and building materials used to resist the intrusion of flames or embers projected by a wildland fire. Home Hardening considers the relationship between your home and its exposure to nearby combustible features such as vegetation, vehicles, accessory buildings, or even miscellaneous structures like a fence.
  
  
• See CAL FIRE’s Home Hardening page for more information.
  
  
• Home hardening measures can pair well with electrification upgrades. Contractors who install new hot water heaters and appliances may also be able to install fire retardant materials on your roof or walls, and determine the best landscaping options to reduce flammable materials around your home.

• Information on projects to reduce damage during a wildfire and to support resiliency during grid outages.
• Time savings by getting a home assessment for electrification and fire risk at once. Many building envelope and HVAC measures support both energy efficiency and home hardening.
• Virtual Home Hardening Assessment and a custom resiliency plan
• Learn more about:
  • Landscape vegetation management and defensible space
  • Organic matter management
  • Building shell hardening
  • Ember intrusion defense
  • Safety and housekeeping / storage best practices
  • Wildfire sprinkler systems
  • Fire escape planning & inspection routines
  • And more!

• The USGBC defines resilience as the “ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and successfully adapt to adverse events.” This includes design planning for natural disasters, healthy siting for healthy vegetation, soils and aquatic systems, maintaining the project site to reduce fire risks, and preparing for catastrophic events and grid power outages.
• Energy efficiency, electrification, distributed power generation, battery storage, and home hardening all help your home become more resilient to wildfires and other climate-related risks.

• Visit CAL FIRE’s website to see if your home or business is in a fire hazard severity zone.
• If you are already considering electrification upgrades, you may also want to consider home hardening measures at the same time.
• California’s wildfire building code went into effect in 2008, homes built before 2008 may want to consider an evaluation of fire risk.
• Homes built before the implementation of the first statewide building code in 1981 may be at higher risk of fires.

There are numerous benefits to choosing to go electric, including:

• • Making your home or small business more efficient
  • Helping to reduce your energy usage and energy bill, particularly when switching to an electric heat pump water heater or furnace.
  • Improving indoor air quality
  • Lowering greenhouse gas emissions

The Energy Team can help you find contractors and compare bids, but the decision of who does the work on your home or business is up to you. We always recommend working with a licensed contractor and that you receive multiple bids.

The Energy Team has links to contractor-finding tools from the Switch Is On. The Switch Is On is used by TECH Clean California and utility rebate programs throughout the state to help residents find local contractors with electric upgrade experience. Energy Team members are available to help you review differences between multiple contractor bids.

You can stay updated by subscribing to our CPA newsletter, following us on social media, or regularly visiting our website for the latest news and information.

For any additional questions or concerns, please contact our support team through our website’s Welcome Form or by phone. We’re here to help!

• For more information on CPA programs for residential customers, go to: https://cleanpoweralliance.org/programs/#residential-customers-en
• For more information on programs for commercial customers, go to:  https://cleanpoweralliance.org/programs/#commercial-customers-en
• You can also ask our Energy Team, and they will be happy to tell you more about these programs!