New Report Shows Electric Utility Energy Efficiency Budgets Jumped 60% Over Past Two Years

A new report by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE), published in collaboration with the Institute for Electric Efficiency and the American Gas Association, shows that electric utility energy efficiency budgets grew by 60 percent over the past two years, reaching $4 billion in 2009 – up from $2.5 billion in 2007. The 2009 CEE Annual Report and Efficiency Program Report also found that electric utilities and other electric efficiency organizations saved approximately 96 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2008 (the latest data available). This is enough to power almost 7.4 million U.S. homes for one year. In terms of environmental impact, these savings avoided the generation of more than 58 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2008.

Lisa Wood, IEE Executive Director, said, ―The jump in electric utility budgets for energy efficiency is very impressive, especially a $1.2 billion increase from 2008 to 2009. Behind this trend toward bigger energy efficiency budgets is the progress that electric utilities and state regulators are making in turning energy efficiency into a sustainable and scalable business for utilities. About half the states now have either a method to compensate the utility for the sales it loses as a result of encouraging energy efficiency, or some form of financial incentive that puts energy efficiency on par with other investments made by the utility, or both.

"These factors enable electric utilities to aggressively reach all electricity consumers–from small residentials to large industrials–with their energy efficiency programs. And, as the CEE report confirms, this can produce significant energy savings."

The CEE comprises energy efficiency program administrators from virtually all of the electric utilities in the United States and many in Canada, as well as other energy efficiency administrators. Note that the budget statistics mentioned in this new release refer just to U.S. electric utilities. For more information on the Consortium for Energy Efficiency’s report, please click here. To download a copy of this press release in PDF, please click here.