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5 Tips for streamlining your Energy Savings for Business Program application

March 6, 2021 – Since the launch of Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Energy Savings for Business (ESB) Program last month, the agency says it has had over 1400 applicants and contractors register, with “a diverse range of applications”.

The ESB program is designed to help Alberta businesses make investments in energy-saving technologies, while getting skilled technicians and tradespeople working.

The application review process is designed to ensure funds are dispersed as quickly as possible while respecting program rules. To make the submission process more efficient, ERA offers these 5 Tips on how to successfully submit an application:

1. Submit complete applications for quicker approvals

Make sure all required information and documents have been submitted with your application, including spec sheets, measure cost breakdowns by equipment, labour and design costs, and other supporting materials specific to the measures you select.

2. Split applications for a quicker review

To streamline your review, ERA recommends splitting up your work across different contractors and technologies, and submitting individual applications. This allows the applications to proceed without being held up by unrelated technologies (e.g. waiting for a motor & drives project incentive while you wait for the CHP project to be completed).

You can have multiple applications for one facility, but an application can only be assigned to one facility, and measures must only be installed within that facility.

3. Create a second account when using internal resources

If your business can complete a project using internal expertise, an external contractor is not required. However, all ESB projects must have an Eligible Contractor assigned in the Program Portal to be eligible for the program.

As such, participants wishing to complete the project internally can register a second account as an “Eligible Contractor” and assign themselves to the project. With this approach, the following conditions apply:

• The Contractor Code of Conduct and all associated requirements to be an Eligible Contractor must be accepted and adhered to,

• Costs associated with labour completed internally will not be considered as eligible expenses, and

• Any eligible costs not supported by third-party invoices or proof of payment will be set equal to the fair market value, as determined by ERA.

4. Use technologies that are best suited for your project

ERA supports a range of emissions-reduction technologies, and the ESB program is intended to be brand neutral. However, products must meet efficiency standards, and there may be additional technical requirements to ensure safe, high-quality products. Not necessarily every make, model or brand will be accepted.

ERA recommends speaking with a local contractor to understand the range of products that will be best suited for your specific project and circumstances that will meet minimum technology requirements. To see the full list of supported technologies, refer to ERA’s Measures List (PDF below).

ESB-Program-Measure-List-Updated-Feb-24

5. Wait to receive the next steps from the ESB team

Applications are reviewed as quickly as possible, says ERA. The ESB team will email the applicant within 2-5 days after submission to confirm the review has begun. When an application is deemed incomplete, the review team will send an email requesting the missing information.

Due to the current volume of applications, reviews may take up to 10 business days once all the required information has been received.

Available resources

Emissions Reduction Alberta encourages you to visit the Program Resources page for a host of program documents. This page will continue to expand as ERA releases additional support documents, including recordings of past webinars.

Additional reading… $55 million for Alberta’s tradespeople up for grabs through ERA (February 2021).