The IES program is operated by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA or the Authority) with Strategen as Program Administrator and support from the Innovation Advisory Council (IAC). The IAC is comprised of a diverse and representative set of clean energy stakeholders in Connecticut. The IAC does not have formal decision-making responsibilities but provides recommendations and guidance to the Authority through key stages of the IES program cycle.
Applicant proposals that are similar to the existing EDC program inventory are not eligible to participate in the IES program.
Phase 1 concept proposals may be submitted via the online portal submission form in the Apply Now page. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a more detailed proposal in Phase 2.
Interested applicants can submit a Phase 1 Application starting January 31, 2023, up until March 1, 2023. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a more detailed proposal in Phase 2, currently estimated to be open from May 1, 2023, until June 15, 2023.
Interested applicants can contact Eversource at innovativetechnologies@eversource.com and United Illuminating (UI) at innovativetechnologies@uinet.com. Please see the EDC Implementation Plan for insight into the EDC’s’ program details and priorities.
Applicants should visit the Connecticut Secretary of State website at business.ct.gov to Register their Business and determine if any Business Registration Forms & Fees are needed for their organization. Applicants do not need to be fully registered when submitting their Phase 1 Concept Proposal, but must do so in order to be eligible for IES Program funding in Phase 3.
In the event that the IES Program does not receive sufficient proposals in Phase 1, there may be an opportunity to submit initial applications after the Phase 1 deadline. However, we discourage parties from waiting, as there is no guarantee that late proposals will be considered. Interested applicants will have a chance to submit or re-submit updated proposals in the IES program’s second cycle, likely to commence in 2024.
Underserved Communities may include low-to-moderate income customers, customers in environmental justice communities defined pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-20a,26 and/or customers in distressed municipalities as defined by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. Here is a map of Environmental Justice Communities, and a list of Distressed Municipalities for reference.
Project submissions will only be evaluated during an active IES Program cycle and are not accepted on a rolling basis. Phase 1 Applications are due by March 1, 2023, and will be subsequently evaluated.
Applicants will receive an email response with information on the selection status of their idea, estimated by May 1, 2023.
We recognize that a respondent may wish to include information in its application that the respondent considers proprietary, a trade secret, or confidential to the respondent. If any response or information (initial or supplemental) provided to the IES Program includes information considered proprietary, a trade secret or confidential, please identify such information by clearly marking “CONFIDENTIAL” on both the top and bottom of each page that contains such information. We will deem any such designated information as confidential with the express understanding that, subject to any legally mandated disclosure requirements, such designated information will be held in confidence and will not be disclosed or used for any purpose other than the review and evaluation of an application. IES program stakeholders – the Program Administrator (Strategen), PURA staff, and IAC members – do not take equity in any ideas, data, or proprietary information shared in applicant proposals. In order to receive funding during Phase 3, applicants will be required to abide by the IES Terms of Use and sign the Standard Form Agreement, which will provided to applicants ahead of Phase 3.
The IES Program will not be directly facilitating the development of collaborative partnerships but will offer a pitch event for select Phase 1 applicants to interact with the EDCs and potentially conduct outreach to form partnerships. Collaborative partnerships should be developed directly by the Innovator and the EDC and reflected in IES Program applications.
No. However, we encourage applicants to attend the IES Program informational session prior to submitting a project idea to ensure they have complied with the program requirements.
The types of projects that fall under the IES Program should generally fit within the cycle’s key themes and comply with the following project eligibility criteria:
- Customer benefit and protection: Projects must demonstrate a reasonable prospect of providing clear benefits to consumers, whether through long-term economic efficiencies, improvement in cost performance, enhancements to service, or other forms of benefits.
- Relevance: The project must relate to the delivery of electricity services in Connecticut.
- Innovation: The project must involve testing a new product, program, tariff, service, or business model that is not widely used in Connecticut and is conducive to scaling, replication, or serving as a potential model for others to adopt or deploy. An inventory of existing programs can be found here.
- Readiness: The applicant must demonstrate their preparation and readiness for testing their innovation in a live environment. Testing plans must be well developed and have clear objectives and measures. The tools and resources required to enable pilot testing must be in place.
- True regulatory barrier (to access temporary exemption): For projects seeking temporary relief from a regulatory requirement, applicants must articulate the regulatory requirement(s) that may be at issue for the project moving forward, and propose specific modifications to the requirement(s) that would allow the project to move forward.
Projects that do not comply with the IES Program eligibility criteria or do not fit within the key themes are considered out of scope. Additionally, any project that is eligible to participate in other state programs will not be considered in scope for the IES program.
The first IES program cycle has a budget of $25 million for the first year with a limit of $5 million available for any single pilot initiative. The $5 million maximum potential award to any pilot project is a lifetime cap. The receipt of this funding will be subject to the achievement of key project milestones, which will be determined ahead of project deployment, collaboratively by the applicant and the Authority.
Upon final project selection, innovators will be provided with approximately 12 to 18 months to launch projects and collect data on project performance. Following project deployment, innovators will be required to develop and submit a final report discussing project performance and lessons learned. Successful projects that demonstrate readiness to scale following the assessment phase will be invited to submit the appropriate regulatory application to do so.
The IES program includes participation from Connecticut’s two investor-owned EDCs: The Connecticut Light and Power Company d/b/a Eversource Energy (Eversource) and The United Illuminating Company (UI).
Innovators are expected to independently form partnerships with EDCs for collaborative projects. The IES Program will not be directly facilitating the development of collaborative partnerships but will offer a pitch event for select Phase 1 applicants to interact with the EDCs and potentially conduct outreach to form partnerships.
Applicants who have questions not answered on the program website can feel free to contact PURA or Strategen, the Program Administrator, via the email address on the Contact Us page.