Program: CalMTA

CalMTA Key Goals & Wins

The California Market Transformation Administrator (CalMTA) accelerates cost-effective energy efficiency and building decarbonization across California through market transformation, through the development of strategic interventions that remove market barriers and speed adoption of high-impact technologies and practices. In alignment with CPUC and State goals, CalMTA’s Market Transformation Initiatives (MTIs) also advance demand flexibility, workforce development, and equity, helping efficiency and non-energy benefits reach communities historically left out of clean energy investments. CalMTA is a CPUC program administered by Resource Innovations, with the Ortiz Group partnering as a lead equity and workforce education & training expert supporting the development of the CA market transformation portfolio.

  • Built a durable market transformation portfolio: advancing multiple MTIs through a structured, stage-gated process designed to manage risk, optimize resources, leverage existing efforts across the market and increase transparency from concept to deployment and market exit. 

  • Positioned energy efficiency + decarbonization as a scalable climate tool: aligning MTIs to deliver deep, long-term savings while supporting GHG reductions, grid flexibility, and other non-energy benefits (comfort, health, resilience). 

  • Operationalized a statewide approach: engaging supply-side (manufacturers, distributors, retailers, contractors) and demand-side (building owners, policy makers, CBOs) market actors to drive integrated and lasting market change. 

  • Moved from planning to deployment: Room Heat Pumps (RHP) became the first MTI approved to begin Phase III (deployment) in November 2025, with an implementation RFP closing at the end of January 2026. 

The Ortiz Group: Equity & Market Milestones

As a lead Equity Consultant and Workforce Education & Training (WE&T) expert, The Ortiz Group (TOG) ensures that an equity lens is applied to the MTI development and provides innovative and practical solutions that improve the low-income customer’s experience. TOG also brings WE&T expertise into MTI strategy and planning, so contractor readiness, training pathways, and job-quality considerations are integrated, especially where market barriers are workforce-related. TOG conducts outreach and recruitment with statewide workforce stakeholders to inform and support these results. Recruited and organized the formation of the inaugural CalMTA Equity Sounding Board, which is comprised of eight statewide equity aligned professionals who advocate for, or work within, ESJ communities who provide professional insight and feedback across the MTI portfolio and process

  • Influenced equity considerations for the RHP and IC MTI strategic interventions: Delivered continuous SME recommendations promoting the inclusion of 12 equity considerations tied to CalMTA’s strategic interventions between both the RHP and Induction Cooking MTIs, both of which were submitted via application to the CPUC 

  • Amplified Statewide Voices: TOG spearheaded the outreach, recruitment, and execution of high-impact ESJ Stakeholder Listening Sessions (2023 & 2024), successfully elevating local community perspectives to a statewide policy stage.

  • Driven Community-Based Innovation: TOG was pivotal in identifying and recruiting participants for three major MTI strategy tests, ensuring that market interventions are representative of contexts within Environmental and Social Justice (ESJ) communities.