PECI lands $18.8 M contract for California jobs

PECI has won an $18.8 million contract from the California Energy Commission to manage an "EnergySmart Jobs" program that will create more than 200 California jobs.

Portland-based PECI, an energy efficiency program specialist, said the contract will also create three jobs in Portland.

The program will launch in August, with PECI providing energy efficiency training and hiring contractor and energy surveyor positions throughout California to implement efficiency upgrades on commercial buildings. The program will focus on regions within California with lots of opportunity for efficiency savings and high unemployment.

"The EnergySmart Jobs Program will create long-term jobs and make a significant impact in generating energy savings within commercial refrigeration industries, helping to spur statewide sustainable change,” said Phil Welker, executive director of PECI, formerly called Portland Energy Conservation Inc., in a press release.

The 18-month program is paid for with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding and is slated to deliver $13.9 million in initial energy savings for electricity rate payers during the first year and a half.

In addition to working with the Energy Commission on the EnergySmart Jobs Program, PECI is partnering with private contractors, utilities, manufacturers, and the California Conservation Corps, which has committed to supply trainees.

PECI currently has 28 employees in California. In all, PECI has 331 employees, 258 of them at the company's Portland headquarters.