ENERGY STAR Homes Market
Transformation Program

Announcement

The 2011 ENERGY STAR program will be available starting February 28, 2011:
New participants must register in the 2011 database; returning users may use previous years' login information. Eligible homes must have met at least one of the following criteria: (1) HERS Index of 85 or lower (2) Energy Star certified on or after Jan. 1, 2011.

Builders and Raters participating in Texas New Mexico Power Company's (TNMP's) ENERGY STAR program produced over 500 home certificates within our service area in 2010. TNMP encourages raters and builders to continue increasing their level of program support.

Description

TNMP's ENERGY STAR program works with builders to improve the energy efficiency of new homes through the use of advanced building materials and techniques. TNMP is continuing its ENERGY STAR program in 2011 for builders and raters who are participating in the Oncor and CenterPoint Energy ENERGY STAR New Homes program. The approach will be very similar to the 2010 program in that only those builders and raters that have applied to, and are accepted into, Oncor's or CenterPoint's programs can participate in the TNMP program.

Eligibility

In addition to builder eligibility as established by a CenterPoint or Oncor contract, the builder or rater must produce a copy of the REM/Rate file and TNMP must be able to certify the location of the home in TNMP's service area (for a list of eligible zip codes to participate in TNMP's ENERGY STAR Homes Program please visit the following URL:
http://www.tnmpefficiency.com/energystar/Zipcodes.pdf
TNMP serves many communities in the northern part of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, as well as between Houston and Galveston.

To be eligible for payment, homes must:

Program Pricing

TNMP will provide incentives directly to the builders and raters of these homes. There is no limit on the number of homes that can be submitted for payment by any one builder until funds are exhausted. TNMP will award incentives in order of receipt. If errors or inconsistencies are found during the analysis of the REM/Rate data provided by the rater, those homes will be excluded from the submitted invoice. TNMP will decide based on the nature of the error or inconsistency whether the rater will be able to correct the data and resubmit in a future invoice. Once funds are exhausted, TNMP will close the program for the remainder of the year, and TNMP reserves the right to discontinue the program at any time. TNMP will endeavor to provide reasonable notice, in accordance with the rationale for any changes (such as PUCT orders).

Reporting

To receive your incentives, please do the following:

1. Provide the requested information for each eligible home. TNMP's data should be submitted using online reporting tool available at TNMP's website (www.tnmpefficiency.com). Look for the "Register/Login" link under the Energy Star Home section. All requested information must be provided.

2. Rater must provide a REM/Rate file for all homes submitted for payment. Raters will have the capability to upload the REM/Rate file directly to the online tracking system. If a home's HERS Index is greater than 85, the rater must upload the ENERGY STAR certificate to the online tracking system in order for the home as proof of eligibility.

After this information has been submitted, TNMP and Frontier Associates will verify each home's eligibility and issue payment.

Invoices will be batched for processing every month at the end of the month. If an invoice is not submitted before the end of the final day of the month (submission times in CST), then that invoice will be included in the next month's invoice batch. Any invoices submitted after December 31, 2011 will not be eligible for payment.

For more information, please contact Margaret Marchant of Frontier Associates at (512) 372-8778 x100 or (mmarchant@frontierassoc.com) or Stefani Case of TNMP at (469) 484-8590 or Stefani.Case@tnmp.com.