Johnson Consulting Group hosts International Delegation

Johnson Consulting Group hosted a delegation of five special visitors from Japan in Washington D.C. last week.  The focus of this study mission was to follow up on the work Katherine presented at the eceee conference in France on the evaluation results of on-bill-financing programs.  To review Katherine's presentation at eceee, please click here.

Dr. Chiharu Murakoshi of the Jyukankyo Reserach Institute was intrigued by the findings from this paper he heard in June and subsequently worked with Johnson Consulting Group to arrange meetings with the two utilities featured in this paper: Midwest Energy in Kansas and Hawaiian Electric Company in Hawaii. Other members of this two-week study mission to the US included::

• Dr. Hidetoshi NAKAGAMI, Ph.D.: President, Jyukankyo Research Institute
• Dr. Chiharu MURAKOSHI, Ph.D.: Vice President, Jyukankyo Research Institute
• Mr. Yoshiaki SHIBATA: Executive Researcher, Jyukankyo Research Institute
• Mr. Kenji YAMAMOTO: Deputy General Manager, Residential Sales Department, Tokyo Gas Co.,Ltd.
• Mr. Toshiya OKAMURA: Team Manager, Energy Conservation & New Energy Sales Promotion Section, Tokyo Gas Co.,Ltd.
• Ms. Kaori Oota: Interpreter

On Wednesday, November 4, the delegation met with Katherine at the Edison Electric Institute offices in Washington D.C. for a briefing on the current status of on-the-bill financing programs in the US. She also provided additional details about the Midwest Energy and HECO's tarrifed programs.

Two members of this delegation, Dr. Murakoshi and Mr. Yamamoto, then accompanied Katherine to Hays Kansas to meet with senior executives at Midwest Energy. The Japanese delegation was joined in Kansas by Katherine's nephew, Jasper Lee, who acted as our Japanese interpreter and Katherine's sister, Carolyn. We all enjoyed the wonderful hospitality (and delicious Kansas prime rib!).

The delegation will also visit with officials from the Energy Efficiency Institute who developed the Pay-As-You-Save concept, representatives from United Illuminating, Sempra, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories before concluding their visit in Honolulu with HECO staff.

It was our great honor to host this delegation and to provide them with information about this innovative financing program in the US. We also want to thank our generous friends and clients for their hospitality to our Japanese visitors including: Becky Harsh and Gail Croom, Edison Electric Institute; Michael Volker, Pat Parke, and Earnie Lehman, Midwest Energy, and Dr. George Willoughby and Wade Shimoda, HECO.

To see pictures of this recent visit, click here.