Last week the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) agreed to set aside up to $27 million for electric utilities as an incentive to develop cost-effective programs to assist consumers in improving energy efficiency and reduce anticipated increases in consumer electricity bills.
At current trends, by 2015 electric energy usage in New York is estimated to be 11% higher than current levels. These factors, combined with expected fuel price increases and supply uncertainty, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make it necessary to create energy efficiency programs and quickly find ways to reduce energy use, the Commission said in a release.
“The unprecedented rise in energy prices we have seen in recent months is a call-to- action for utilities to find ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown. “By creating these utility incentives, the Commission is providing a valuable incentive for utilities to find ways to improve energy efficiency, which is the most cost-effective, and most immediate, way to reduce the burden of rising energy and environmental costs on residential and business customers.”
The goal of the incentive program is to reduce consumption by up to 693,951 megawatt-hours (MWhs) annually, representing a portion of the Commission’s share of the statewide goal to reduce electricity consumption by 15% by 2015.
The totality of the energy efficiency programs are expected to provide more than $4 billion in benefits to customers through 2015. In addition, it is anticipated that thousands of energy efficiency jobs will be created to support the new energy efficiency programs–retrofitting outdated, inefficient residential, commercial and industrial properties, installing new energy efficient equipment, and informing the public about the new opportunities for savings on energy bills.
The incentives are based upon the size of reduction goals set by the commission for each utility’s service territory. They range from $1.16 million for RG&E to $9.92 million for Con Edison.
Failure to substantially meet the goals will subject the utilities to a similarly sized negative financial adjustment.
An additional $5 million is being made available as an incentive for meeting demand reduction goals in New York City.
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