An Eligible EE Program must have a business plan for implementing the program. The business plan is expected to have a global perspective on the borrower's energy efficiency plan. Therefore, energy efficiency upgrades should be identified in aggregate. The business plan must have the following elements:

Executive summary. The executive summary shall capture the overall objectives to be met by the Eligible EE Program and the timeframe in which they are expected to be achieved.

Organizational background. The background section shall include descriptions of the management team responsible for implementing the Eligible EE Program.

Marketing plan. The marketing section should identify the target Consumers, promotional activities to be pursued and target penetration rates by Consumer category and investment activity.

Operations plan. The operations plan shall include but is not limited to:

A list of the activities and investments to be implemented under the EE Program and the Btu savings goal targeted for each category;

An estimate of the dollar amount of investment by the utility for each category of activities and investments listed under paragraph (d)(1) of this section;

A staffing plan that identifies whether and how outsourced contractors or subcontractors will be used to deliver the program;

A description of the process for documenting and perfecting collateral arrangements for Ultimate Recipient loans, if applicable; and

The overall Btu savings to be accomplished over the life of the EE Program.

Financial plan. The financial plan shall include but is not limited to:

A schedule showing sources and uses of funds for the program;

An itemized budget for each activity and investment category listed in the operations plan;

An aggregate Cost effectiveness forecast;

Where applicable, provision for Ultimate Recipient loan loss reserves. These loan loss reserves will not be funded by RUS. Loan loss reserves are not required when a utility will not be relending RUS funds.

Identify expected Ultimate Recipient loan delinquency and default rates and report annually on deviations from the expected rates.

Risk analysis. The business plan shall include an evaluation of the financial and operational risk associated with the program, including an estimate of prospective Consumer loan losses consistent with the loan loss reserve to be established pursuant to paragraph (e)(4) of this section.

The borrowers are strongly encouraged to follow a bulletin or such other publication as RUS deems appropriate that contains and describes best practices for energy efficiency business plans. RUS will make this bulletin or publication publicly available and revise it from time-to-time as RUS deems it necessary.