Distributed Energy Solutions Program Specialist

Recruitment notice: Platte River Power Authority does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies or fee-based placement services. No agency emails, calls, or solicitations to staff are accepted without a valid agreement. Any unsolicited resume submitted to staff will be considered property of Platte River Power Authority and with no obligation to pay any referral fees.

Job summary

Distributed Energy Solutions program specialists support the development, implementation and continual improvement of distributed energy solutions (DESs) and customer programs through collaboration and coordination between the organization and its owner communities to provide benefits to all customers and to support achievement of Resource Diversification Policy and strategic initiatives.

This role provides support to commercial customer energy program guidance and technical areas. Programs and services include energy efficiency (EE), demand response (DR), distributed generation and storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging and building electrification (BE). Daily tasks may include processing rebate applications, tracking projects, maintaining service provider agreements, collaboration with the local contractor network, and responding to customer inquiries and requests.

This job posting closes no later than October 31 at 5:00 pm.

Work environment and hours

This position works a typical Monday through Friday schedule in a general office environment and may be eligible for hybrid workdays. The successful candidate should reside within a commutable distance within Northern Colorado. Performing this work requires occasional physical effort to lift and carry light objects and is primarily sedentary; minimal walking or standing is required on an as-needed basis.

This is a highly interactive role with emphasis on excellent communication, customer service, accuracy, and attention to detail skills and abilities. The DES program specialist is required to coordinate and attend roughly five evening/weekend events within Platte River’s owner communities per calendar year.

Essential duties and responsibilities

- Models the mission, vision, values, and culture of the organization

- Performs administrative and technical work that supports the research, development, implementation and continuous improvement of DES programs and services for the owner communities focus on a high level of responsive customer service

- Identifies and completes DES projects through collaboration with owner community staff, their customers and contractors/service providers

- Collaborate with Platte River staff and its owner communities' utility staff to support the development of DES programs while considering input from internal departments.

- Follows established program documentation and procedures to carry out essential functions; contributes to the development and upkeep of program documentation, procedures, and applications.

- Reviews program and rebate applications and associated documents to ensure completeness, accuracy, and eligibility relative to DES program procedures, rules, and requirements

- Reviews program and rebate applications and works to resolve issues as needed, and supports the program manager and/or the DES engineer on more complex or custom projects; recommends approval of requests for payment in accordance with program procedures, rules, and requirements

- Performs project site inspections that support the review of rebate applications and requests for payment; provides information and reporting quality control matters; prepares and tracks information used to verify customer and contractor performance

- Accurately enters and reports on data critical to tracking project status such as the status of projects submittals reviewed, payments made, project site inspections performed, and contractor feedback

- Supports the supervisor and program manager to ensure program design and implementation are done in coordination with other internal departments as well as with owner community staff

- Identifies and supports continuous program improvement opportunities based on observations and interactions with customers, contractors, owner community staff and supervisor

- Responsible for ongoing communications and interaction with local and regional contractors and service providers; communicates and shares program participation requirements and rules and elevates problems or concerns related to compliance to supervisor as necessary

- Oversees and accurately maintains service provider database and participation agreements

- Coordinates event logistics for service provider training events and customer information events

Other functions

- Occasionally works weekends or evenings for events, typically less than 5 per year outside traditional work hours

- Performs other duties as assigned

Knowledge, skills, and abilities

- Effective verbal and written communication skills

- Ability to gain basic understanding of distributed energy solution technologies, evaluation methods and information sources

- Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills

- Ability to foster effective working relationships with others

- Good mathematical and quantitative ability

- Excellent customer service skills

- Highly organized, attentive to detail and ability to maintain accuracy while multi-tasking

- Thorough knowledge of Excel and Microsoft Office suite

- Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality

- General knowledge and basic understanding of at least one DER type or technology, such as distributed solar, distributed storage, demand response, load flexibility, EV charge management, building electrification, or energy efficiency

- General understanding of utility energy efficiency program methods

Qualifications

Required criteria

- Associate degree or equivalent combination of experience and education

- 3 years of work experience in customer service, administration, technical support, or directly related field involving regular reporting or analytics of spreadsheets, databases, or other information systems

- Valid driver's license and ability to maintain driver eligibility according to Platte River policy

Pay

This position is a non-exempt role; salaries are paid bi-weekly and are annualized below for reference. Factors that may be used to determine actual salary include specific skills, years of experience, education, and certifications.

- Hiring range: $87,196 to $104,656

- Full range: $87,196 to $122,117