CREST: Comprehensive Refrigeration Energy Savings and Training Program

Cut Operation Costs • Boost Internal Capacity • Access Sustainability Support and Incentives

Paid for by the public purpose surcharge on your electricity bills*

Whether you’re a grocery store, cold storage facility, lab, or datacenter, efficient HVAC and refrigeration systems are critical to customer satisfaction and profitability.

Complex, intensive refrigeration and HVAC systems are the backbone of many businesses. Keeping the fans and cooling systems running while hitting sustainability targets, reducing costs, supporting your team, and navigating external pressures and internal resource constraints is a heavy load.

That’s where CREST comes in.

CREST is your one-stop-shop to find and implement energy-saving and emissions-reducing opportunities with the cash incentives to make capital pursuits viable.

Our energy experts will be with you the whole way, visiting your site to identify energy efficiency, cost saving, and emissions reduction opportunities. We’ll connect your opportunities to utility incentives and rebates and walk you through the whole compensation process.

Continuous energy improvement takes building internal expertise, and we’re here to help make that happen too.

As part of your whole building energy efficiency journey, invite your refrigeration operators and technicians to virtual training sessions to learn the energy fundamentals of the systems they operate, plus:

Learn about common low-cost energy efficiency opportunities

Build relationships with other operators

Earn professional development hour (PDH) credits

What’s in it for me?

Cut Operation Costs.

Access tailored, technical support to implement energy efficiency projects, navigate utility financial incentives for energy savings, and connect with vendors to receive equipment rebates.

Pursue Energy Efficiency Your Way

Implement projects that provide the most benefit to your facility – large, custom retrofits, smaller rebate projects, or whole-facility energy process optimization – it’s all on the table.

Boost Your Capacity

Build long-term operational resilience through no-cost training for your engineering, operations, and maintenance staff.

Be the Leading Edge.

Stand out among your competitors for taking real, effective action on climate change through pursuing electrification and low global warming-potential refrigerant changeout projects, offset by meaningful financial incentives.

Let Data do the Talking.

Leverage energy management software to track progress and communicate financial and sustainability results to leadership.

More resilience. More results.

Your customers and your CFO will thank you.

And the best part? CREST is funded through the Public Purpose Program (PPP) charge already on your utility bill. That means you can access expert support, training, and energy management tools at no added cost.

Ready to start implementing no-regret projects?

FAQs

What does CREST stand for?

Comprehensive Refrigeration Energy Savings and Training.

How is the program funded?

When you pay your utility bill, you’re paying into the Public Purpose Program, which funds energy efficiency programs. When you participate in CREST, it’s at no additional cost – you’re just taking advantage of money you’ve already invested.

Who is eligible?

Commercial businesses with intensive refrigeration or HVAC processes that use at least 1 million kWh annually and are current customers of Southern California Edison, including:

Warehousing and storage
Scientific research and development
Computing, data, and web hosting
Wholesalers of perishable goods
Testing laboratories and services
Supermarkets and grocery
Supercenters

What is the deemed project pathway?

Deemed rebate projects provide quick cash support for common energy saving projects. Approved projects are eligible for rebates based on pre-defined criteria such as type of equipment, size of equipment, climate zone, etc.

Once you enroll in the program, you purchase the equipment, making sure it meets the rebate requirements. Then, submit a project application with invoices, we’ll review it and verify your savings, and get your signature on the verified savings. After that, you’ll get a rebate check in the mail.

The CREST program offers several different deemed rebate projects. Contact us for the full list and the rebate dollar amounts available.

What is the custom project pathway?

A custom project is a pre-approved upgrade, retrofit, or new installation. Customized incentive dollars are determined by energy project savings. Typically much larger in scope than a deemed or prescriptive project, custom projects can include a wide range of facility, equipment, and project types.

To complete a custom project, a CREST program engineer will conduct a no-cost site audit to identify projects and help you submit a project application to your utility. After you install the project, we will verify the savings and submit a final report. You’ll get an incentive check in the mail.

For custom projects, we provide incentives up to $0.28/kWh for verified savings.

What is the NMEC project pathway?

Normalized Metered Energy Consumption (NMEC) is a whole building measurement and verification (M&V) approach that allows us to comprehensively measure, track, and incentivize savings delivered at your energy meter. NMEC is used to calculate energy savings from energy efficiency projects by comparing the site’s energy use before and after project installation. “Normalization” means that energy use for both periods is statistically adjusted to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison. The difference between the baseline and the reporting periods is used to calculate energy savings. This whole building approach reduces the complexity of multi-system energy efficiency projects and captures actual energy savings based on metered data. You will be paid incentives for the energy you save, even for setpoint adjustments, tune-ups, or other behavioral and operational improvements.

The NMEC process:

A CREST program engineer will conduct a no-cost site audit to identify eligible projects and collect the details needed to establish your baseline energy use, the estimated cost and energy savings, and other necessary data.
Before proceeding with any projects, your CREST engineer will work with you to complete an application to your utility, which needs to be approved before you proceed with any projects.
After utility and CPUC approval, your CREST engineer will visit your site and conduct a retro-commissioning event to implement the operational and behavioral projects and pay you a one-time incentive for completing that milestone. From there, you have 12 months to purchase and install the other identified projects using your preferred vendors.
After the projects are installed and commissioned, your CREST engineer will document the project costs and energy savings. You’ll also receive a 50% down payment on your energy-saving incentives based on the expected utility incentive.
After the projects have been installed, you’ll collect energy data on the projects for the next 12 months, which we’ll then use to complete a final savings report.
After that 12-month period, you will receive the rest of your incentive check based on the final utility-verified project costs and energy savings.

CREST offers three types of incentives for NMEC projects:

Low-/no-cost behavioral, retro-commissioning, or operational adjustments: $0.06/kWh
Capital projects: up to $0.30/kWh
Natural gas only projects: up to $1.50/therm

Does CREST offer support for emissions reduction goals and projects?

Yes. The CREST program provides incentives for electrification or fuel switching projects—projects that replace natural gas equipment with an electric alternative as well as incentives for refrigeration retrofit projects that replace high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants with low GWP refrigerants.

For both project types, our engineers will help you through the project identification, project application, and savings verification processes.

For electrification projects, CREST offers incentives up to $10/therm of avoided natural gas use. For refrigerant change-out projects, CREST offers incentives up to $225 per pound of avoided carbon emissions. Contact us to learn more.

What other programs are available to me?

You may also be eligible to participate in other current program offerings. The table below shows the different benefits and eligibility requirements.

Program Name	Who it’s for	What you get
SPARKe strategic energy management (SEM)	Commercial and industrial companies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and use at least 2 million kWh annually are eligible to participate.	You will receive two years of one-on-one electrical energy efficiency coaching tailored to your specific operations, the opportunity to participate in action-based workshops with a cohort of industry peers, energy-saving project identification and implementation support, and financial incentives for implemented projects all designed to improve your bottom line and reduce your energy waste.
Industrial Savings Training and Rebates (I-STAR)	Industrial food processing facilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties (NAICS codes 311-312 (Food Processing)) are eligible to participate.	You can access technical and financial support to implement various types of natural gas energy-saving projects, including deemed, custom capital, and behavioral, retrocommissioning, and operational (BRO) projects. I-STAR prioritizes system, process, and controls optimization, with a specific focus on complex thermal systems such as boilers, ovens, furnaces, water heaters, air heaters, oxidizers, and the industrial processes they serve.
Innovations to Industrials (ITI) SEM	Industrial companies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and use at least 250,000 therms annually are eligible to participate.	You will receive two years of one-on-one natural gas energy efficiency coaching tailored to your specific operations, the opportunity to participate in action-based workshops with a cohort of industry peers, energy-saving project identification and implementation support, and financial incentives for implemented projects all designed to improve your bottom line and reduce your energy waste.

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact us.

What is Gazebo™?

Participants in CREST will get access to Gazebo, an energy management software platform designed to increase energy savings. Gazebo provides a hub to document projects, track progress, visualize savings, and report results. Rather than battling Excel versioning issues, Gazebo provides a single source of truth to ensure your savings projects stick.

CREST workshop calendar

Join us for monthly energy efficiency training sessions designed for refrigeration and HVAC systems in the grocery, cold storage, and superstore industries. Check back for final training dates and registration information.

Date	Industry Focus	Registration Link
Week of Nov. 17	Grocery	TDB
Week of Dec. 15	Grocery	TDB
January 2026	Cold Storage	TDB
February 2026	Grocery	TDB
March 2026	Grocery	TDB
April 2026	Superstores	TDB
May 2026	Cold Storage	TDB
June 2026	Grocery	TDB
July 2026	Grocery	TDB
August 2026	Cold Storage	TDB
September 2026	Grocery	TDB