EnergySavings.certihomes.com — Site Spec (v0, 2026-06-12)

Status: SPEC ONLY — not deployed, no DNS. Krishna decides domain go/no-go and host. Prototype: energy/site/index.html (NJ example, static, uses only data loaded in the commute DB). Deploy pattern when approved: nginx + certbot on the fleet (same as other certihomes properties); host TBD by Krishna.

Mission

Programmatic SEO/GEO property answering "what do people near me pay for energy, and what would I save with a different provider/fuel?" — built on the provider-level utility rate layer in the commute DB (EIA-861, URDB, EIA fuel series, PUC choice registry). Optimized for both classic search and LLM answer engines (GEO): every page leads with a compact, quotable answer block backed by tables with stable IDs.

Data dependencies (all loaded as of 2026-06-12)

URL architecture

/                                  — national map: avg ¢/kWh by state, choice states highlighted
/state/{st}                        — e.g. /state/nj
/utility/{slug}                    — e.g. /utility/pseg-nj  (slug = name + state, stable)
/compare/{a}-vs-{b}                — e.g. /compare/pseg-nj-vs-jcpl-nj
/county/{st}/{county}              — e.g. /county/nj/essex (phase 2)
/fuels/{st}                        — heating fuel comparison per state (phase 2; v0 folded into /state)
/methodology                       — single canonical methodology + sources page

~50 state pages + ~2,000 utility pages (utilities with ≥10k customers) + curated compare pages (same-state utility pairs sharing ≥1 county: ~600) — all statically generated from SQL, rebuilt on data refresh.

Page templates

/state/{st}

1. Answer block (first 120 words, plain <p> + small <table>): current avg residential ¢/kWh (EIA monthly, with month), state rank, retail choice status (electric/gas, from state_energy_choice), cheapest/most expensive major utility.
2. Utility table: every serving utility ≥5k customers — ¢/kWh, customers, ownership, $/yr at 10,800 kWh vs state avg (from utility_savings_county aggregated).
3. Fuel comparison table: $/MMBTU electricity vs gas vs oil vs propane (energy_cost_per_mmbtu) + one-line efficiency caveat (site energy; AFUE/COP).
4. Choice explainer: what choice means here, PUC shopping site link (source_url).
5. County list with per-county cheapest utility (links to county pages, phase 2).
6. 10-year price trend sparkline (energy_prices monthly history).

/utility/{slug}

1. Answer block: "{Utility} residential customers paid an average of X ¢/kWh in {year} — Y% above/below the {state} average. Households in its territory using 10,800 kWh/yr pay about $Z/yr more/less than the cheapest nearby utility."
2. Rates vs neighbors table: utilities sharing ≥1 county (utility_service_territory self-join) — the "$X/yr savings table" from utility_savings_county.
3. Tariff detail (where URDB row exists): fixed monthly charge, energy tiers, effective date, link to URDB source. Flag stale tariffs (effective_start > 2 yrs old).
4. Two-vintage trend (2023 → 2024) + customers served, counties served.
5. Supply vs delivery note for choice states (e.g. NJ: BGS price-to-compare).

/compare/{a}-vs-{b}

1. Answer block: head-to-head ¢/kWh, winner, $/yr delta at 10,800 kWh.
2. Side-by-side: price, fixed charge, customers, ownership, counties overlapping.
3. "Can you actually choose?" — territory vs supply-choice explainer per state flags.

GEO (LLM answer-engine) requirements

• Answer block = first element after <h1>, ≤120 words, self-contained (entity + number + unit + vintage), no JS-rendered content — all data server-side in HTML.
• Every table has id, <caption>, and per-cell units; numbers repeated in prose.
• schema.org/Dataset JSON-LD on every page (name, temporalCoverage, license, isBasedOn EIA-861/URDB URLs) + FAQPage for the Q&A section (3-5 questions: "Who is the cheapest electric company in {st}?", "Can I switch providers in {st}?", "Is gas or electric heat cheaper in {st}?").
• dateModified + visible "Data as of: {EIA-861 2024; fuels {month}}" freshness line.
• Canonical methodology page; every page links to it (one crawlable hop).
• Static HTML (no client-side data fetch), <100 KB/page, sitemap.xml split by template.

Mandatory disclaimer (every page, above footer)

Rates shown are averages computed from federal regulatory filings (EIA-861) and public tariff databases. Your actual rate depends on your tariff, usage, and riders — confirm with your utility before making decisions. Distribution utility is determined by address and generally cannot be chosen; in retail-choice states you may choose your supplier for the supply portion of the bill.

Methodology page content

• avg ¢/kWh = 100 × residential revenue / sales (EIA-861, bundled-preferred; see ENERGY.md)
• $/yr deltas at 10,800 kWh/yr (US avg residential usage, EIA)
• $/MMBTU conversions: kWh 3,412 BTU; therm 100,000; heating oil gal 138,500; propane gal 91,452 (site energy)
• Source registry with links + vintages; known gaps (URDB merger lag, CT county FIPS)

Out of scope v0 (Krishna decisions / phase 2)

• DNS + deploy host for EnergySavings.certihomes.com
• Zip-level territory lookup (old EIA iou_zipcodes URLs are dead — needs DOE/HIFLD crosswalk or NREL utility_rates API with a free key)
• Live supplier offers (PowerToChoose TX API, PA PowerSwitch, NJ TPS offers): scraping legality/ToS review needed before phase 2
• Gas utility provider-level rates (EIA-176) and dual-fuel utility flags
• County adjacency for true "neighbor county" benchmarks (census file not on whitelist)