When regulatory policy, state energy policy and legislation align to drive energy efficiency, the results can be dramatic.
“Everything is coming together to support energy efficiency,” said Lynda Ziegler, Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Southern California Edison, at CEE’s January Program Meeting.
“The convergence of policy issues is giving us this opportunity. Building codes, standards and energy efficiency measures are really producing results. It’s tremendous.”
According to a chart Ziegler used in her presentation, the average American accounted for about 12,000 kWh of energy usage in 2005; the average California resident consumed around 7,000 kWh that year. And while overall U.S. per capita energy consumption has steadily increased for the past five decades, per capita consumption in California has remained level since the mid-’70s.
California’s four investor-owned utilities have been funded for $800 million to run energy-efficiency programs (and evaluation of these programs) from 2006-08. The projected savings are more than 300 billion kWh with impacts of 800 MW.
“We’re projecting that ratepayer investment in energy efficiency will be capable of avoiding the construction of three 500 MW power plants over the next three years,” Ziegler said.
One of the keys to success, noted Ziegler, is passing energy-efficiency legislation. “Institutionalizing the policy around efficiency has been successful here in California,” she said. “The way to get policy really embedded is through legislation. Regulators come and they go. What you need is legislation that supports energy efficiency.”
Southern California Edison has also heavily marketed energy-efficiency programs to its customers, developing promotional materials in several different languages and conducting community outreach. In addition, SCE will be piloting 5,000 “smart meters” this year. This equipment allows customers to save money by reducing energy consumption during peak demand periods.
“The smart meters empower our customers,” Ziegler said. “The meters show customers when and how they’re using energy, and how they can save.”
Pending the results of the pilot program, SCE plans to begin changing out meters in 2008, with the goal of replacing all meters by 2012.
[ back to top ]
