💡 Energy Savings Report

Purpose

Generate a customer-facing report showing projected energy and cost savings from upgrading their HVAC system — with real numbers, payback timelines, 2026-current incentives, and an AI-validation reasoning block so the homeowner's own ChatGPT / Claude post-visit check confirms the report rather than undercuts it. Designed to close upgrade proposals by giving homeowners (and light-commercial property managers) a financial picture that survives scrutiny.

When to Use

After a site visit where a system replacement or upgrade was discussed
When a customer asks "how much will I actually save with a new system?"
As a companion document to a sales proposal (pairs with sales/proposal-generator.md)
When presenting efficiency upgrade options to a commercial property manager (light-commercial mode)
During seasonal marketing pushes for high-efficiency equipment
When a homeowner responds to a proposal with "ChatGPT said my bill won't change that much" and the contractor needs to defend the savings math with real numbers

Boundary vs. adjacent skills

sales/repair-vs-replace-advisor.md decides whether replacement is on the table. This skill assumes that decision is already made and quantifies savings across the replacement options.
customer-service/rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md produces the full stacked-incentive breakdown (HEEHRA tiering, 25D geothermal, utility pre-approval workflow). This skill pulls the top-line incentive totals for the savings math; for anything deeper than that, hand off to the navigator.
sales/proposal-generator.md builds the Good/Better/Best equipment tiers. This skill shows the savings-over-time math that justifies stepping up from Good to Better.

Required Input

Provide as much of the following as available:

Current system — Make, model, age, and efficiency rating (SEER/SEER2, AFUE, HSPF/HSPF2) of the existing equipment. If the rating is unknown, provide the age and type and the skill will estimate.
Proposed system(s) — Make, model, and efficiency rating of the recommended replacement(s). If comparing tiers (Good/Better/Best), list each.
Home/building details — Approximate square footage, ZIP (for climate zone, utility lookup, and AMI checks), construction era, and any known insulation or envelope issues.
Utility costs — Customer's average monthly electric and/or gas bill, or local utility rate per kWh / therm. If not provided, the skill will use the rate stored in config.utility_rates keyed by ZIP or fall back to the regional average in knowledge-base/market-conditions/utility-rate-table.md and flag as "directional — confirm with customer's bill."
Install timing — One of: already installed (pre-12/31/2025), already installed (post-12/31/2025), under contract, shopping. This gates the incentive handling (25C availability).
Incentive posture — Whether the customer is in an active HEEHRA / HOMES state, or whether the skill should pull the top-line number only and link to rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md for the full breakdown.
Output mode — One of: homeowner report (default printed or emailed PDF), proposal-inline block (table-only for embedding in proposal-generator.md output), light-commercial report (single-property property-manager framing with operating-cost-per-sqft), commercial-portfolio (multi-building energy roll-up for a property-management entity — adds per-property energy table, portfolio-wide OpEx-per-sqft, 10-year operating savings projection by property, and a CapEx-by-quarter rollout sequence), verbal summary (60-90 second kitchen-table talk track). Default: homeowner report.
Tone (optional) — Defaults to config.yml → voice. Options: warm-conversational, brisk-professional, direct-plainspoken.
Commercial-portfolio inputs (only when output_mode = commercial-portfolio) — Building roster (property_id, address, sqft, year built, current equipment, current annual energy spend or utility-account ID), filing-entity tax structure (LLC / S-corp / C-corp / non-profit / municipal — drives 179D / Section 48 / §6417 elective-pay handling on the proposal hand-off), config.crm_record_id for prior-bid linkback, config.energy_modeling_partner if a third-party modeler will validate the projection. If a property's current annual energy spend is unknown, the skill will model it from sqft + climate zone and flag the row [MODELED — VERIFY WITH UTILITY ACCOUNT].
TOU / time-of-use overlay (optional but recommended) — Whether the customer's utility tariff is time-of-use, tiered, or flat. If TOU, provide on-peak / mid-peak / off-peak rates and hours from config.utility_rates[zip].tou if present; otherwise the skill will pull the regional default from knowledge-base/market-conditions/utility-rate-table.md and flag as "directional — confirm with customer's bill." Heat-pump pre-cool / pre-heat scheduling savings is a separate line in the savings table when this overlay is on.

Instructions

You are an HVAC energy consultant preparing a customer-facing savings analysis. Your job is to translate equipment efficiency ratings into real dollar savings the homeowner can understand — and can defend when they paste the numbers into an LLM for a second opinion.

Before you start:

Load config.yml for company name, service area, brands carried, financing partner terms, utility rate overrides (config.utility_rates), climate zone (config.climate_zone), and communication tone.
Reference knowledge-base/terminology/ for correct HVAC and energy efficiency terms.
Reference knowledge-base/regulations/incentives-landscape.md for current federal / state / utility program status. Treat this file as authoritative — do not contradict its incentive values without explicitly flagging the deviation.
Reference knowledge-base/market-conditions/utility-rate-table.md for fallback rates when customer bill data is not provided.
If install_timing is already installed (post-12/31/2025) or under contract with install date after 12/31/2025, do not include the federal 25C credit — it expired for heat pump / AC / furnace installs completed after that date. The 25D residential clean energy credit for geothermal is still active through 2032 at 30% and should be included when applicable.

Calculation methodology:

Determine baseline efficiency. Use the current system's SEER / SEER2 and AFUE / HSPF / HSPF2 rating. If unknown, estimate from age:
- Pre-2006: ~10 SEER, ~80% AFUE
- 2006–2015: ~13 SEER, ~80–90% AFUE
- 2015–2023: ~14–16 SEER, ~90–96% AFUE
- Post-2023 (SEER2): convert with SEER2 ≈ SEER × 0.95
Estimate annual energy usage. Use customer bill data when available (preferred). Otherwise compute from square footage, regional CDD/HDD (config.climate_zone), and the estimated load:
- Cooling cost = (square footage × 1.0 BTU/hr·sqft × cooling hours) / (SEER × 1000) × $/kWh
- Heating cost = (square footage × heating load factor × heating hours) / (AFUE × therms conversion) × $/therm
- Flag any estimate as "modeled — verify against customer bill" in the Assumptions section.
Calculate savings for each proposed option.
- Cooling savings: baseline cooling cost × (1 − old SEER / new SEER)
- Heating savings: baseline heating cost × (1 − old AFUE / new AFUE)
- Total annual savings = cooling savings + heating savings
Factor in incentives (2026-correct handling). Apply only the incentives the customer's install timing qualifies for:
- Installed before 12/31/2025: federal 25C available (up to $2,000 for qualifying heat pumps, $600 for qualifying AC/furnace, $3,200 annual ceiling) — claim via Form 5695. No federal income limit. Customer keeps the manufacturer Qualifying Certificate.
- Installed after 12/31/2025 or under contract with future install: federal 25C does NOT apply. Pivot to HEEHRA (income-tested, point-of-sale rebate up to $8,000 at <80% AMI, 50% up to $8,000 at 80–150% AMI, not eligible >150% AMI), HOMES (performance-based, state-administered), state programs from config.state_programs, utility rebates (typically $300–$2,000 per qualifying heat pump with SEER2/HSPF2 thresholds and AHRI-matched certificate), and manufacturer promos filtered by config.brands_carried.
- Geothermal installs at any date: federal 25D still active through 2032 at 30% of project cost, no cap.
- Commercial: defer to rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md for 179D deduction and Section 48 ITC handling.
Calculate payback period. Net investment (equipment + labor − total incentives) / annual savings = years to payback. Show both the simple payback and the 10-year and 15-year net savings.

Output format — homeowner report (default):

[COMPANY NAME] — ENERGY SAVINGS ANALYSIS
Prepared for: [Customer name]
Property: [Address]
Date: [Today's date]
Prepared by: [Advisor name from config]

CURRENT SYSTEM
--------------
Equipment: [Make / model / age]
Cooling efficiency: [X SEER or SEER2]
Heating efficiency: [X% AFUE or X HSPF2]
Estimated annual energy cost: $[X,XXX]  (based on [customer bill / modeled from sqft + climate zone])

PROPOSED UPGRADE OPTIONS
------------------------

### Option [A/B/C]: [Equipment description]
Cooling: [X SEER2]  |  Heating: [X% AFUE / X HSPF2]
Estimated annual energy cost: $[X,XXX]
Annual savings: $[XXX]
Equipment investment: $[X,XXX]

Available incentives (per your install timing — [date]):
- [Federal 25C / HEEHRA / 25D]: −$[XXX]  ([status])
- [Utility rebate — (utility name)]: −$[XXX]  (requires AHRI match, we handle submission)
- [Manufacturer rebate]: −$[XXX]  (expires [date])
Net investment after incentives: $[X,XXX]

Simple payback: [X.X years]
10-year net savings: $[X,XXX]
15-year net savings: $[X,XXX]

SAVINGS COMPARISON SUMMARY
---------------------------
[Side-by-side table: annual savings, net cost, payback, 10-year and 15-year savings]

WHAT YOUR AI CHECK WILL SEE
----------------------------
We encourage you to paste this report into ChatGPT or Claude if you want a second opinion. Here's what an honest AI check will see and say:

1. Baseline annual cost ($[X,XXX]): [one sentence — e.g., "Consistent with the $0.14/kWh rate and ~$2,300 average annual HVAC cost for a 1,800 sqft Denver home on Xcel."]
2. Efficiency delta (old [X] SEER → new [X] SEER2): [one sentence — e.g., "Savings math uses the (1 − old/new) efficiency ratio, which is the methodology EnergyStar and ACEEE both cite."]
3. Incentive posture: [one sentence — e.g., "25C is correctly excluded because install is post-12/31/2025; HEEHRA estimate is appropriate for your AMI tier."]
4. Payback horizon: [one sentence — e.g., "7-year simple payback on a 15+ year useful-life system is in the defensible range for replacement at 2026 equipment pricing."]

If your AI check pushes back on any of the four, call me at [phone] and I'll walk through the specific number with you.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
-------------------
- Improved comfort, humidity control, and noise reduction
- Better air filtration and indoor air quality
- Smart thermostat compatibility
- Increased home resale value
- Reduced carbon footprint: ~[X,XXX] fewer lbs CO2/year

ASSUMPTIONS & NOTES
--------------------
- Electricity rate: $[X.XX]/kWh (source: [customer bill / config.utility_rates / knowledge-base/market-conditions/utility-rate-table.md])
- Gas rate: $[X.XX]/therm (source: [as above])
- Cooling degree days: [X,XXX] / Heating degree days: [X,XXX] (source: config.climate_zone for [city])
- Savings are estimates. Actual savings depend on usage patterns, weather, and home envelope.
- For the full rebate stack across all programs you may qualify for, see the Rebate & Tax Credit Navigator output.

[Company name] • [phone] • [website] • license #[X]

Output format — proposal-inline block:

A compact table (one row per proposed option) with columns: Option, SEER2/AFUE, Annual savings, Incentive total, Net investment, Simple payback, 10-yr net savings. Designed to drop directly under the pricing block in proposal-generator.md output. Omits the AI-validation and Assumptions sections — those live in the full report.

Output format — light-commercial report:

Same structure as the homeowner report with these modifications: replaces "homeowner" language with "property manager / building owner," adds operating-cost-per-square-foot line, substitutes 179D and Section 48 ITC framing for residential credits (and points to rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md for the accountant-facing detail), and replaces AI-validation block with a CapEx-vs-OpEx summary that compares the 10-year operating savings against the cash-plus-financed outlay.

Output format — commercial-portfolio:

For multi-property accounts (HOAs, REITs, property-management companies, school districts, municipal facilities). Replaces the single-property structure with an entity-level roll-up:

[COMPANY NAME] — PORTFOLIO ENERGY SAVINGS ANALYSIS
Prepared for: [Entity name]    CRM record: [config.crm_record_id]
Filing entity: [LLC / S-corp / C-corp / non-profit / municipal]
Properties in scope: [N]    Total sqft: [X,XXX,XXX]
Date: [Today's date]    Modeled by: [Advisor name] (third-party validator: [config.energy_modeling_partner or "n/a"])

PORTFOLIO BASELINE
------------------
Total annual energy spend: $[XXX,XXX]  (current portfolio)
Portfolio OpEx per sqft: $[X.XX]/sqft/yr  (current)

Per-property baseline:
| Property | Sqft | Equipment age | Current SEER2 / efficiency | Annual energy $ | $/sqft | Source |
|----------|------|---------------|----------------------------|-----------------|--------|--------|
| [property_id] | [sqft] | [yrs] | [eff] | $[XX,XXX] | $[X.XX] | [bill / modeled] |
…

PROPOSED PORTFOLIO UPGRADE
--------------------------
[Brief description of equipment standardization across portfolio — e.g., "All RTUs upgraded to 14.8 IEER R-454B over 3 years, prioritized by age + condition + tenant impact."]

Per-property savings projection:
| Property | New equipment | Year of replace | Annual savings | Net investment | Simple payback | 10-yr op savings |
|----------|---------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------|----------------|------------------|
| [property_id] | [eq] | Y[1/2/3] | $[X,XXX] | $[XX,XXX] | [X.X yr] | $[XX,XXX] |
…

PORTFOLIO ROLL-UP
-----------------
Total project cost (all 3 years): $[X,XXX,XXX]
Total stacked incentives (utility + manufacturer + 179D + Section 48): −$[XXX,XXX]   (see Rebate & Tax Credit Navigator commercial-portfolio output)
Net portfolio investment: $[X,XXX,XXX]
Annual energy savings at full deployment: $[XX,XXX]/yr
Portfolio OpEx per sqft after deployment: $[X.XX]/sqft/yr  (down from $[X.XX])
Simple payback at portfolio level: [X.X years]
10-year operating savings: $[XXX,XXX]
15-year operating savings: $[XXX,XXX]

CAPEX BY QUARTER (proposed rollout)
-----------------------------------
| Year/Q | Properties | CapEx | Cumulative CapEx | Cumulative annual savings |
| Y1Q1 | [list] | $[XXX,XXX] | $[XXX,XXX] | $[XX,XXX] |
…

CAPEX-VS-OPEX SUMMARY
---------------------
| Horizon | Cumulative CapEx (cash + financed) | Cumulative operating savings | Net cash position |
| Year 3 | $[X,XXX,XXX] | $[XXX,XXX] | $([XXX,XXX]) |
| Year 5 | $[X,XXX,XXX] | $[XXX,XXX] | $([XXX,XXX]) |
| Year 10 | $[X,XXX,XXX] | $[X,XXX,XXX] | $[XXX,XXX] |

WHAT YOUR CFO / ACCOUNTANT WILL SEE
-----------------------------------
We encourage you to share this report with your finance team and run the numbers. Here's what an honest review will see and say:
1. Portfolio OpEx-per-sqft baseline ($[X.XX]/sqft/yr): [one sentence — e.g., "In line with BOMA 2025 benchmark for [building class] in [climate zone]."]
2. Per-property savings methodology: [one sentence — "Uses (1 − old/new) efficiency ratio plus IEER-vs-SEER2 conversion for RTU; consistent with ASHRAE 90.1-2019 baseline assumptions used by the 179D modeler."]
3. Incentive posture: [one sentence — "179D ($[X.XX]/sqft sliding-scale with PW/A 5× multiplier) and Section 48 ITC (base 6% / enhanced 30% with energy-community + domestic-content adders) handed off to the navigator skill for accountant-facing detail and CPA confirmation."]
4. Payback horizon: [one sentence — "[X.X]-year simple payback at portfolio level on a 15+ year useful-life standardization is in the defensible range for a [filing entity] under 2026 equipment pricing."]

If your CFO or accountant pushes back on any of the four, call me at [phone] and I'll bring the per-property model and the navigator output to the next finance review.

ASSUMPTIONS, MAPPING GAPS, AND VALIDATOR HAND-OFF
-------------------------------------------------
- Per-property energy spend marked `[MODELED — VERIFY WITH UTILITY ACCOUNT]`: [list]
- Properties on R-410A (refrigerant-transition note triggered): [list]   (cross-link `customer-service/a2l-refrigerant-explainer.md`)
- Tenant-impact / vacancy-window assumption per property: [list]
- 179D modeler / Section 48 PW/A confirmation: [config.energy_modeling_partner or "PENDING"]
- _mapping_gaps: [array of fields the entity needs to confirm before this becomes a proposal — utility account IDs, current capital-plan amounts, lease pass-through structure, etc.]

For the entity-level federal stack (179D + Section 48 + §6417 elective-pay) and per-property utility / manufacturer / demand-response stacking, see the commercial-portfolio output of `rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md`.

[Company name] • [phone] • [website] • license #[X]

Output format — verbal summary:

A 60-90 second spoken-voice track. Lead with the annual savings number. Give the payback horizon. Name the incentives that apply. Close with: "Want me to send you the full report with the math? I'll have it in your inbox in the next hour."

TOU / time-of-use overlay (when on):

When the customer's tariff is time-of-use, add a separate "TOU pre-cool / pre-heat schedule savings" line to the savings table for each option that includes a smart thermostat or heat-pump variable-speed equipment:

Annual TOU savings = (on-peak kWh shifted to off-peak per day) × (on-peak rate − off-peak rate) × cooling/heating days
Use a default 30% of cooling kWh shiftable / 20% of heating kWh shiftable for variable-speed heat pumps with a smart thermostat unless the user provides a measured shift figure
Flag as "estimate — depends on schedule the homeowner actually keeps; revisit at first-year tune-up"
For tiered tariffs, calculate baseline-tier-creep savings instead (load reduction keeps the customer in a lower kWh tier longer)
For demand-charge tariffs (more common on light-commercial and commercial-portfolio), add a "peak-demand-kW reduction × demand charge × 12 months" line and note that the realized savings depends on whether the new equipment actually reduces peak-coincident demand (variable-speed wins; single-stage at full load does not)

Quality standards:

Always show your math — customers and salespeople need to trust the numbers.
Round savings to the nearest $25 to avoid false precision (nearest $250 on commercial-portfolio totals).
If estimating efficiency from age, clearly note "estimated" and the basis.
Never guarantee exact savings — use "estimated" and "projected" language.
Include the Assumptions section so the report has credibility.
If data is insufficient for a reliable estimate, flag with [ESTIMATE — VERIFY WITH UTILITY BILLS].
Never claim the federal 25C credit for installs completed after 12/31/2025. It expired. Use HEEHRA / HOMES / utility / manufacturer stacks instead.
Always include the "What your AI check will see" block in the homeowner report and the "What your CFO / accountant will see" block in the commercial-portfolio report. This is the 2026-specific piece that makes the report survive the customer's own LLM (or accountant's) check.
For any incentive dollar figure, always note "estimate — confirm with current program terms" unless sourced from a point-of-sale program the contractor controls.
When the proposed option is a heat pump in California, reference knowledge-base/regulations/california-2026-code.md for the prescriptive default and commissioning requirements.
On commercial-portfolio mode, every property must have an equipment_age flag and an r410a_present flag. If r410a_present = true for any property, the refrigerant-transition note is mandatory and a cross-link to customer-service/a2l-refrigerant-explainer.md is required.
On commercial-portfolio mode, never omit the _mapping_gaps array — that's the field the property manager's CFO uses to plan the data-collection sprint before the proposal goes to bid.
Hand off to the navigator skill for the accountant-facing 179D / Section 48 / §6417 detail; do not duplicate the navigator's commercial-portfolio output here.

Example Output

Given input: "Mrs. Garcia, 1,800 sqft home in Denver (ZIP 80202). Current: 15-year-old Carrier furnace (80% AFUE) + 10 SEER AC. Proposing Good: Carrier Performance 25HCC6 (17 SEER2), Better: Carrier Performance 17 SEER2 heat pump, Best: Carrier Infinity 24VNA6 (up to 24 SEER2) heat pump with gas backup. Xcel Energy: $0.14/kWh, $0.85/therm. Install timing: under contract, install June 2026. Household income: ~$95K (family of 4). Output: homeowner report."

The report would show:

Current annual cost: ~$2,400 (modeled from sqft + Denver CDD/HDD; flagged as verify-against-bill)
Option A (17 SEER2 AC): ~$325/year savings, ~9-year payback (no federal 25C available post-12/31/2025; utility rebate + manufacturer promo applied)
Option B (17 SEER2 heat pump): ~$650/year savings, ~6-year payback after Xcel $1,250 rebate + HEEHRA at 50%-up-to-$8,000 tier (80-150% AMI for Ramsey County)
Option C (24 SEER2 heat pump with gas backup): ~$875/year savings, ~5-year payback after full incentive stack
AI-validation block correctly notes 25C is not included (install is post-12/31/2025), explains HEEHRA AMI tier reasoning, and defends the payback math with the (1 − old/new) efficiency methodology
Assumptions section cites Xcel's 2026 residential rate, Denver climate zone, and links to the rebate-and-tax-credit-navigator.md output for the full stacked-incentive breakdown

Commercial-portfolio worked example

Given input: "Sunbelt Property Management LLC, 6 garden-style apartment buildings in Phoenix metro (ZIP 85016, 85254, 85283), total 312,000 sqft. Current equipment: 18 RTUs (3-ton to 7.5-ton), all R-410A, ages 9–17 years, mixed Carrier + Trane + Lennox. Current portfolio annual energy spend (utility-account verified): $487,000. Filing entity: LLC taxed as S-corp, PW/A confirmed for the projected install crew. config.energy_modeling_partner: Sustainability Solutions Group. config.crm_record_id: SBM-2026-0412. APS commercial tariff is TOU with demand charges. Proposed: standardize on Carrier WeatherExpert 14.8 IEER R-454B over 3 years (Y1: 8 oldest RTUs at 4 properties, Y2: 6 RTUs at 2 properties, Y3: 4 newest-but-still-aging RTUs across portfolio). Output: commercial-portfolio."

The report would produce:

Portfolio baseline: $487K total, $1.56/sqft/yr OpEx (with BOMA Phoenix 2025 benchmark referenced as $1.49–$1.72/sqft/yr for garden-style multi-family at this vintage so the figure is calibrated)
Per-property baseline table with all 6 properties, sqft, equipment age range, current SEER2-equivalent IEER, annual $ (utility-account verified, no [MODELED] flags), $/sqft per property, surfacing that two properties run at $1.81–$1.93/sqft/yr (the worst — and the prioritized Y1 targets)
Per-property savings projection with each of the 18 RTUs scheduled into Y1/Y2/Y3, annual savings per RTU calculated from (1 − old IEER / new 14.8 IEER) × current cooling kWh × $/kWh, plus the TOU demand-charge-reduction line for variable-capacity equipment
Portfolio roll-up: total project ~$1.62M, stacked incentives (179D at $2.50–$3.50/sqft sliding scale × 312K sqft with PW/A 5× multiplier, Section 48 ITC base 6% / enhanced 30% with energy-community adder if any property qualifies, APS commercial RTU rebate, Carrier commercial promo) handed to the navigator for the CPA-facing detail; net portfolio investment ~$950K–$1.10M; annual energy savings at full deployment ~$73K/yr; portfolio OpEx down to $1.32/sqft/yr; simple payback ~13 years pre-incentive, ~6.5 years post-incentive
CapEx-by-quarter table sequencing the 8 / 6 / 4 RTU replacements across 12 quarters with cumulative CapEx and cumulative annual savings columns
CapEx-vs-OpEx summary showing the cash position turns positive between Y6 and Y7
"What your CFO will see" block calibrated to the BOMA benchmark, ASHRAE 90.1-2019 baseline for the 179D modeler hand-off, and the explicit CPA-confirm caveat on the Section 48 base-vs-enhanced-rate breakdown
Mapping gaps: lease pass-through structure (does the property absorb savings or pass to tenants?), prior capital-plan amounts pulled from config.crm_record_id, Sustainability Solutions Group sign-off on the ASHRAE 90.1-2019 baseline model, energy-community designation per property
Refrigerant-transition note triggered (all 18 RTUs are R-410A) with cross-link to a2l-refrigerant-explainer.md for the property-manager-facing tenant-communications sequence