Explainer: why energy efficiency programmes underperform their models

Audit-based savings estimates assume the recommended measure is implemented as specified, maintained, and operated at the modelled duty cycle. In practice, all three assumptions decay.

Measurement and verification protocols exist to catch this, but they are frequently descoped as a cost item — leaving programmes unable to distinguish an underperforming measure from an unimplemented one.1

The fix is procedural: fund M&V as a fixed proportion of programme budget, and publish the metered results, including the disappointing ones.