Q:I have recently been given a project in Romania to propose EPC, shared savings. However, what I have noticed in their bills is that the monetary value per kWh changes every month, both in baseline and reporting years (vary between 400 to 200) In such a scenario, how do we come to a conclusion on cost savings? are IPMVP and CMVP valid in Romania? Do we have any examples in IPMVP that discuss such scenarios?

A: The first step in this project should have been to fix the energy rate between the building owner (the client) and the firm (the ESCO) that will implement the project. The electricity tariff structure must be analyzed to determine why energy rate was changing so much, and defining a contractual tarif structure accepted by all stakeholders.

In the case the project is already in reporting period, as it can be understand by the question, It still is possible to come to an agreement between the owner and the ESCO fixing the electricity rate or a tariff structure.

If that first option is not possible, using the effective monthly energy rate may be a suitable option. No doubt it was know at project initiation that there was a huge variation of monthly energy rate.

It is never too late to come to an agreement between each stakeholders. However, depending of the owner (private or public corporation), there could be legal regulations for adjudication. Those may prevents from applying a significant modification to the Energy Performance Contract as energy rate modification is.
Regulations should be carefully analyzed before attempting to implement a solution.