Specifications include, but are not limited to: The primary responsibility of the Independent Auditor will be to verify the savings achieved by the EEUs in the years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, and to verify the cost-effectiveness of EEU programs as provided in Section 209(f)(12) and as further described below. The Department has analyzed the EEUs’ savings claims for 2017 through 2019 through a process referred to as the “savings claims verification process,” which is separate and distinct from the independent audit required by Section 209(f)(12). The 2020 savings claims for Efficiency Vermont and VGS will be verified by the Department in July/August 2021 and will be made available to the Independent Auditor via ePUC, the Commission’s electronic case management system. The Independent Auditor will review the procedures and methods used by the Department in this “savings claims verification process” and provide an assessment of each of the EEUs’ energy and capacity savings for the period January 1, 2017, through December 31, 2019, as well as for 2020. The Independent Auditor shall provide advice for improving the current processes, including recommended alternative process and the pros and cons of the different approaches. At a minimum, the Independent Auditor will perform an independent review of: • The cost-effectiveness of each of the EEUs’ programs, including Efficiency Vermont’s, BED’s, and VGS’s; • The reported energy and capacity savings achieved by Efficiency Vermont, BED, and VGS; • The Technical Reference Manual (which is a basis for the EEUs’ savings claims) and the process for managing and updating it; • The database and other information compiled by each EEU that are used to develop and track savings claims and project costs; • The procedures and methods used in the Department’s savings claims verification process; and • Any other relevant information, including information developed through the Department’s programmatic evaluation, when appropriate. The Independent Auditor will also report on the cost-effectiveness of each of the EEUs’ programs in three categories: (1) residential programs, (2) commercial and industrial programs, and (3) all programs combined. The Independent Auditor will use at least three methods to assess the programs’ cost-effectiveness, including: a) The “utility test,” which will include all of Efficiency Vermont’s, BED’s, and VGS’s operating costs (including all administrative and information technology costs), the costs of EEU incentives, the costs of the Department’s monitoring and evaluation activities, and the costs of the EEU Fund Fiscal Agent; b) The “total resource cost test,” which will include all the cost categories covered under the utility test plus participant costs, third-party costs, and other resource benefits; and c) The “Vermont societal test,” which will include all the cost categories covered under the total resource cost test plus a risk adjustment and environmental adjustment, consistent with Vermont practice. For each of the tests, actual costs for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 will be used where available and appropriate. The Independent Auditor will work with Commission staff to determine the amount of costs to be used for items for which actual figures are either not available or not appropriate because they are linked to the end of the three-year performance period (such as Efficiency Vermont’s performance incentives and the Department’s evaluation costs)4. A pro rata share methodology will be developed for this category of costs.