Utilities Summary
Policies and programs that address customer end uses of energy are critical for achieving greater energy efficiency within the electric and natural gas utility sectors. States use ratepayer funds to administer programs that advance the deployment of energy efficiency in numerous sectors, including residential and commercial buildings, industry, and public institutions. States use different models to administer ratepayer funds, allowing utilities to run programs, utilizing a third-party, or blending these models.Alabama currently offers only very limited energy efficiency options. Alabama’s regulators have not encouraged nor required the state’s sole investor-owned utility (IOU), Alabama Power, to pursue energy efficiency, and as a result, the utility has yet to implement a comprehensive set of programs. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its distribution utilities in northern Alabama, which are not subject to state regulation, also implement minimal programs. Overall, Alabama Power and the cooperative utilities approach energy efficiency very skeptically. The utilities invest far more on load management programs than energy efficiency programs.
Electric utility service in Alabama is provided by one jurisdictional company (Alabama Power Company) and a number of non-jurisdictional entities including TVA, distribution cooperatives, and municipal systems. Alabama’s regulator, the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC), encourages Alabama Power to pursue energy efficiency programs, but a cost-effectiveness requirement results in Alabama Power having fewer offerings than are seen in many other states.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2022
Historically, there have been very few utility-sector energy efficiency programs in Alaska. Most program activity is through the state government and Alaska Energy Authority.
In 2010, House Bill 306 established Alaska's state energy policy, which included an aggressive renewable electricity goal, as well as a goal to reduce per capita electricity use in the state by 15% by 2020. This goal has not yet been translated into specific requirements for utilities to achieve specific savings levels and therefore is not yet considered an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS).
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2022
Arizona historically has been a leader in utility-sector energy efficiency. In 2010, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) ordered that all investor-owned utilities must achieve 22% cumulative savings by 2020 (including a 2% credit for peak reductions from demand response). Regulated rural electric cooperatives were required to meet 75% of this standard. Energy savings targets were extended in a 2022 ACC Order that acknowledged and modified integrated resource plans (IRPs) of Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Tucson Electric Power (TEP), and UNS Electric (UNSE). These requirements call for APS and TEP to achieve at least 1.3% annual energy efficiency savings over the next three-year planning period and to report these savings in their 2023 Integrated Resource Plan.
Arizona’s two largest investor-owned electric utilities, APS and TEP, operate a variety of demand-side management (DSM) programs applicable to a range of customers. Programs are administered by each utility and funding varies by utility. Utilities submit program plans to the ACC and commission approval is required before implementation. Arizona’s second largest electric utility, the Salt River Project (SRP), is a public utility and also offers a comprehensive range of efficiency programs. The utility’s board approves SRP’s funding for demand-side management.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2022
Utility-sector energy efficiency initiatives in Arkansas have increased significantly since 2007, when the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) approved Rules for Conservation and Energy Efficiency Programs requiring electric and gas utilities to propose and administer energy efficiency programs. In 2010, the APSC further established the importance of energy efficiency as a resource by adopting an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) for both electricity and natural gas, guidelines for efficiency program cost recovery and a shareholder performance incentive, and new guidelines for utility resource planning, which include provisions for demand-side resources.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
For further reading, in March 2011, as part of the State Clean Energy Resource Project, ACEEE completed the report Advancing Energy Efficiency in Arkansas: Opportunities for a Clean Energy Economy.
Last reviewed: April 2022
California is a long-time leading state for its utility-sector customer energy efficiency programs, which date back to the 1970s and have grown and evolved substantially over four decades. Investor-owned utilities administer energy efficiency programs with oversight by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which establishes key policies and guidelines, sets program goals, and approves spending levels. The state's publicly-owned utilities (POUs) also administer customer programs. All of the investor-owned electric and gas utilities in California have decoupling, which has been in place for many years and is an integral part of California's "big, bold" energy efficiency initiative. Utilities may also earn performance incentives for energy efficiency efforts.
In October 2015, California enacted SB 350, calling on state agencies and utilities to work together to double cumulative efficiency savings by 2030. In August 2019, the CPUC adopted updated 10-year efficiency goals for the state's major electric and gas IOUs. Over the first five years (2020-2025) targets translate to roughly 1.6% gross electric savings and 0.6% gross gas savings, including codes & standards supportive efforts (link).
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: August 2020
Colorado’s utilities administer a growing portfolio of energy efficiency programs with oversight by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The state enacted legislation in 2007 requiring the PUC to establish energy savings goals for gas and electric utilities (thereby creating an EERS) and to give investor-owned utilities a financial incentive for implementing cost-effective efficiency programs. Both Xcel Energy, and Black Hills Energy have expanded their demand-side management (DSM) programs in recent years. The utilities file DSM plans annually, and are working toward the most recent EERS targets which have ramped up to 1.68% in 2020.
HB 1227, signed in June 2017, extends electric efficiency programs to 2028 and requires the commission to set goals of at least 5% peak demand reduction and 5% energy savings by 2028 for demand-side management programs implemented during 2019 through 2028 when compared to a 2018 baseline.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: November 2024
Connecticut is a leading state in delivering nationally-recognized and award-winning energy efficiency programs to all customer sectors. In 1998, the state created a long-term funding mechanism and required electric utilities to provide energy efficiency programs. Since 2005, the natural gas utilities have also offered significant energy and cost-saving programs to customer sectors statewide.
The Connecticut Energy Efficiency Board’s (EEB) 15 appointed members are drawn from private and public entities and represent a cross section of energy consumers, including: residents, business, non-profits, communities, and municipalities. The EEB is responsible for approving the electric and natural gas distribution companies’ three-year plans. The state’s energy efficiency programs and services, which are marketed under the statewide brand—Energize ConnecticutSM, are provided by Eversource, United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas, and Southern Connecticut Gas. The utilities administer the programs and utilize a robust, highly-skilled green workforce to implement them.
In 2007, the Connecticut legislature enacted Public Act 07-242, An Act Concerning Electricity and Energy Efficiency, which called for the utilities to pursue “all cost-effective energy efficiency” as their first priority resource. Additionally, the Act required the utilities to establish new regulatory mechanisms, such as electric and natural gas decoupling. This legislation envisioned energy efficiency as the focal point for statewide energy policy. In 2011, Public Act 11-80, An Act Concerning the Establishment of the Department of Energy Environmental Protection and Planning for Connecticut’s Energy Future, created the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), laid the groundwork for pursuing all cost-effective energy efficiency, and required DEEP to prepare a Comprehensive Energy Strategy for Connecticut every three years. In 2022, DEEP will issue the 2022 Comprehensive Energy Strategy, last updated in 2018.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: December 2022
Delaware has made advances toward strengthening its energy efficiency programs, establishing the nonprofit Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) to operate programs to deliver comprehensive end-user efficiency and customer-sited renewable energy services. SEU operates as “Energize Delaware.” Since 2006, Delaware law has required electricity providers to engage in integrated resource planning (IRP). In 2009, Delaware approved an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) that set goals for consumption and peak demand for electricity and natural gas utilities. The goals are 15% electricity consumption and peak demand savings and 10% natural gas consumption savings by 2015. However, rules outlining how these goals are to be met are still pending.
In 2014, the state legislature passed SB 150, an amendment calling for expansion of cost-effective electric and natural gas utility programs and allowing utilities to deliver these programs and recover costs through rates. SB 150 created the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC), which established voluntary energy savings targets (electric and gas), similar to the EERS. The incremental energy efficiency targets are incremental annual savings as a percent of forecasted sales.
2016/2017 targets: 0.4% electric, 0.2% natural gas
2018 targets: 0.7% electric, 0.3% natural gas
2019 targets: 1.0% electric, 0.5% natural gas
2020-2022 target: 0.7% electric, 0.5% natural gas
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: September 2020
The District of Columbia has had customer energy efficiency programs funded by a systems benefits charge and administered by the District of Columbia Energy Office since a 2005 decision by the DC Public Service Commission. This fund, the Reliable Energy Trust Fund, was created as a result of the District's 1999 Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection Act. The fund has supported a variety of programs and services since it was established in 2005. Initial funding in 2006 was about $8 million.
In 2008, the District of Columbia enacted the Clean and Affordable Energy Act, which eliminated the Reliable Energy Trust Fund and replaced it with the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund. This fund is administered by DC's third-party "Sustainable Energy Utility" (DCSEU). Under the contract between the District Department of the Environment and the SEU, the SEU can earn performance incentives for surpassing benchmarks and can be financially penalized for failing to meet the required performance benchmarks. In April 2017, DCSEU moved to a five-year operational contract, which allows for larger, longer projects, and higher cumulative savings targets over the five years.
Responsibility for the implementation of energy efficiency programs was transferred from PEPCO to DCSEU in 2011. The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2022
The Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (FEECA) (366.82(1)(a), Florida Statutes) applies to all investor-owned electric utilities, plus electric municipal utilities and cooperatives whose 1993 annual sales to end-use customers is equal to or exceeded 2,000 GWh. It also applies to natural gas utilities whose annual sales volume is equal to or exceeds 100 million therms. This act requires each utility to implement cost-effective energy-efficiency programs and to conduct energy audits. It also includes improving the efficiency of generation, transmission and distribution systems.
FEECA also established the authority for the Florida Public Service Commission to set targets for energy and peak demand savings and to require each affected utility to develop and implement energy efficiency programs.The Public Service Commission must revisit the goals at least every five years, and did so in 2019. By Order No. PSC-2019-0509-FOF-EG, the Commission declined to set new goals, voting to continue (through 2024) the goals that were approved in Order No. PSC-2014-0696-FOF-EG
The Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) reviews and approves utilities’ energy efficiency plans. According to FEECA, the FPSC may allow investor-owned utilities to earn an additional return on equity of up to 50 basis points for saving 20 percent or more of their annual load-growth via energy efficiency. No utilities have yet requested the additional return. The FPSC may also assess penalties if utilities do not meet the goals.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: June 2020
Georgia’s Integrated Resource Planning law, O.C.G.A. § 46-3A-2, approved in the early 1990s, requires the state’s regulated electric utilities to file integrated resource plans (IRPs) with the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) every three years. The IRPs must take into account any present and projected reductions in the demand for energy that may result from measures to improve energy efficiency in the industrial, commercial, residential, and energy-producing sectors of the state. To encourage utilities to use demand-side resources, Georgia statute O.C.G.A. § 46-3A-9 allows utilities to recover costs and an additional sum for commission-approved demand-side management programs. Natural gas utilities are not required to file IRPs or offer energy efficiency programs.
Georgia Power, cooperative utilities, and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) offer energy efficiency programs. The GPSC regulates Georgia Power, but not the other electric utilities. To date, levels of spending and associated energy efficiency program activity have been relatively low.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: May 2022
Hawaii has increased their utility-sector energy efficiency program offerings in recent years. The Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), the largest investor-owned utility in the state, has offered energy efficiency programs since the mid-1990s. In July 2009, Hawaii consolidated the energy efficiency programs of most of its electric utilities into a single program operated by a third-party contractor, Leidos. Hawaii has two major electric utility companies—HECO and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC). HECO’s customers support the energy efficiency programs through a public benefits charge and KIUC operates its customer energy efficiency programs independently. Hawaii uses very little natural gas, and does not have any natural gas energy efficiency programs.
Hawaii is collaborating with the United States Department of Energy to achieve the goal of supplying 70% of the state’s energy needs through renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by 2030. Hawaii’s public utilities commission has also adopted an energy efficiency portfolio standard (Docket No. 2010-0037) with a goal of achieving 4,300 GWh of energy savings by 2030.
Hawaii has decoupling in place and offers energy efficiency shareholder incentives for electric utilities.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last updated: August 2018
Idaho's investor-owned utilities administer energy efficiency programs with oversight from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Energy efficiency programs are supported and supplemented by regional organizations, including the Bonneville Power Administration, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Idaho has not restructured its electric utility industry, and there is no legislation requiring funding for energy efficiency programs.
In 2001, the PUC ordered Idaho Power to file a comprehensive DSM plan and to implement programs. In 2002, the PUC created an energy efficiency rider to fund these programs. In 2006, the PUC required PacifiCorp (via operating companies in Idaho, Utah Power and Light and Rocky Mountain Power) to file and implement a comprehensive DSM plan. The state uses an integrated resource planning process.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2019
The Illinois General Assembly passed a law in 2007 that requires the state’s electric utilities and state energy office to provide customer energy efficiency programs and to meet energy savings goals. The legislation set an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) that began at 0.2% of electricity sales per year in 2008 and increases in steps up to 2.0% of sales per year by 2015.
In late 2016, Illinois passed the Future Energy Jobs Bill (SB 2814), raising overall utility energy efficiency targets to require ComEd and Ameren to achieve cumulative 21.5% and 16% reductions in energy use, respectively, by 2030.
Illinois established a natural gas EERS in 2009 with a goal of providing 8.6% cumulative savings by 2020. The state is pilot-testing a natural gas decoupling program. Illinois does not provide shareholder incentives tied to energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
From 2007 to 2014, Indiana had been expanding customer energy efficiency programs. Both electric and natural gas utilities administered programs for their customers as a result of regulatory orders and other decisions by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Through 2013, the electric utilities offered a portfolio of core programs, organized and coordinated as Energizing Indiana, as a statewide, common platform. However, in 2014, the state legislature voted to disband Energizing Indiana programs. Prior to the rollback of the state's energy efficiency resource standard (EERS), growth of these programs had been steady, although overall spending on programs was still modest in comparison to leading Midwestern states.
SEA 412 (Senate Enrolled Act 412), signed into law by Governor Pence in 2015, requires utilities to seek approval of new energy efficiency plans at least once every three years and requires EM&V procedures to be included in an electricity supplier's energy efficiency plan.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables on the left.
Last updated: October 2018
Iowa's utilities administer energy efficiency programs under a regulated structure with oversight by the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) and significant input from the Office of Consumer Advocate. Iowa Code 476.6.16 mandates that electric and natural gas utilities that are required to be rate-regulated (investor-owned utilities or IOUs) must offer cost-effective energy efficiency programs. Energy efficiency plans filed by municipal utilities and electric cooperatives include voluntary goals. The utilities recover program costs of the plans approved by the IUB through tariff riders on customer bills.
Iowa's utilities have long records of funding and providing comprehensive portfolios of energy efficiency programs to all major customer categories: residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural. Funding levels have been strong throughout the years, with a notable decrease in the late 1990s as the state considered restructuring proposals. Since the early 2000s, the state has renewed and increased its commitment to energy efficiency programs. However, in July 2018, utilities filed new plans with savings 25-50% lower than in the prior period and a bill signed on May 4, 2018 allows customers to request an exemption from electric energy efficiency plans if the electric utility's RIM test is less than one.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2022
While there are no requirements for utilities to offer customer energy efficiency programs, the Kansas Corporation Commission encourages and collaborates with individual utilities on a case-by-case basis to provide customer programs. Most of the state’s utilities do offer some customer energy efficiency programs, although budgets and services available through such programs are not as expansive and comprehensive as other states. The programs primarily offer financing or rebates for energy-efficiency improvements.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Kentucky's 2007 Energy Act recommended that utilities examine specific issues regarding energy efficiency and related programs, and in 2008, Kentucky released its first statewide energy plan, proposing to use efficiency measures to offset at least 18% of the state’s projected energy demand in 2025. For years, energy efficiency programs were optional, but legislation in 2010—HB 240, which reenacts a bill that passed in 2008—allows the KPSC to create requirements for demand-side management programs.
However, in 2018 a public service commission order eliminated all of Kentucky Power’s demand-side management funding with the exception of low-income programs, reducing the DSM budget from $6 million to $2 million. The state’s other utilities have also made substantial reductions in similar programs. Since then, statewide levels of electric savings have fallen to just a fraction of those reported in previous years.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last updated: September 2019
Louisiana’s investor-owned electric utilities began offering energy efficiency programs for electricity customers in 2014. Entergy New Orleans, which is regulated by the City of New Orleans, has been offering a portfolio of energy efficiency programs called Energy Smart since 2011. The Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), which regulates all other investor-owned utilities (IOUs), approved final energy efficiency rules in 2013, which create a framework for voluntary quick-start energy efficiency programs (Docket R-31106). In early 2014, the electric utilities filed plans for quick-start energy efficiency programs, and they began rolling out the programs in November 2014. Gas utilities chose not to file quick-start programs. Next, the LPSC will work on the more comprehensive Phase Two energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables (below).
For more information see the ACEEE May 2013 report Louisiana’s 2030 Energy Efficiency Roadmap: Saving Energy, Lowering Bills, and Creating Jobs.
In 2010, the independent Efficiency Maine, managed by a stakeholder board, assumed responsibility for administering energy efficiency and alternative energy programs across all utility territories in Maine. The Legislature directed the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) to provide oversight of Efficiency Maine’s administration as well as approve its three-year strategic plans and budgets. Legislation enacted in 2013 requires the utilities to fund Efficiency Maine’s budgets at a level sufficient to procure all electric and natural gas efficiency that is cost-effective, reliable, and achievable.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: September 2020
Although Maryland’s utilities ran energy efficiency and demand-response programs in the 1980s and early 1990s, most of these efforts were discontinued when the state removed regulations during utility restructuring in the late 1990s. This changed when the legislature enacted the EmPower Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008, creating an EERS that sets a statewide goal of reducing per capita electricity use by 15% by 2015 with targeted reductions of 5% by 2011 (Order 82344). Since then, electric utilities have significantly expanded their energy efficiency program portfolios. More recent goals set by the PSC require utilities to ramp up savings by 0.2% per year to reach 2% incremental savings (Order No. 87082). In 2017, the legislature passed SB 184, which codified the 2% energy savings goal into law through 2023.
Utilities must file their energy efficiency program plans with the Public Service Commission, which then must approve the plans. The PSC has allowed some utilities to decouple their profits from their sales. Utilities do not have an option to earn shareholder performance incentives, although cost recovery amortized over multiple years may include a return.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
In February 2008, as part of the State Clean Energy Resource Project, ACEEE completed the report Energy Efficiency: The First Fuel for a Clean Energy Future; Resources for Meeting Maryland's Electricity Needs. In 2017, ACEEE published a report on the benefits of Maryland's Energy Efficiency programs.
Last Updated: July 2018
Massachusetts is a leading state with a long, successful record of implementing energy efficiency programs for all customer sectors. The state created an aggressive funding mechanism and required electric utilities to provide energy efficiency programs during its restructuring of the industry in 1997. The natural gas utilities in the state have offered energy efficiency programs to customers since the late 1980s.
In 2008, the governor signed Chapter 169 of the Acts of 2008, An Act Relative to Green Communities. The new law altered the approval process and timeline for electric and natural gas utility energy efficiency plans and required the utilities to file the plans every three years. The law required the state’s regulatory authority, the Department of Public Utilities, to ensure that energy efficiency programs “are delivered in a cost-effective manner capturing all available efficiency opportunities, minimizing administrative costs to the fullest extent practicable, and utilizing competitive procurement processes to the fullest extent practicable.” In addition, the law directed the DPU to appoint and convene an Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC), whose members play a key role in designing, approving, and monitoring the energy efficiency programs of Massachusetts' investor-owned utilities. The EEAC’s primary mandate is achieving the goals outlined in the Green Communities Act and developing a long-term vision, including recommendations concerning studies and research to achieve the goals of acquiring all cost-effective efficiency that is less than the cost of generation, and maximizing economic and environmental benefits that can be realized through increased energy efficiency.
Ten years after the Green Communities Act was signed, the governor signed Chapter 227 of the Acts of 2018, An Act to Advance Clean Energy. This law positioned Massachusetts's energy efficiency programs to address current challenges related to climate and technology changes by decreasing dependence on fossil fuels and actively managing energy loads in real-time.
Legislation enacted in 2021 went further to strengthen the state’s climate goals. S.9, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy, adopted a new 2050 net-zero emissions target, with incremental five-year targets and subsector performance goals. The law also realigns efficiency with decarbonization targets, establishing specific GHG savings goals for Mass Save efficiency programs, which has resulted in a stronger emphasis on electrification measures and building retrofits.
Massachusetts has decoupling in place for all of its gas and electric utilities. Shareholder incentives are in place for electric and gas utilities. The shareholder incentive provides performance incentives for IOUs to earn a return (depending on PA performance against planned metrics) on the 3-year plan spending for meeting program goals.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2022
Michigan's energy efficiency efforts have seen strong growth and revival since 2008 legislation establishing an energy efficiency resource standard. Prior to that, Michigan had a history of fairly aggressive energy efficiency programs until 1995, when demand-side management and integrated resource planning were discontinued during the move toward electric restructuring. Michigan had essentially no utility-sector energy efficiency programs from 1996 to 2008.
Public Act 295 of 2008 (enrolled SB 213) brought energy efficiency programs back to Michigan in the form of an EERS that requires all electric providers (other than alternative electric suppliers) and all rate-regulated natural gas utilities to file energy waste reduction programs with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC or Commission). Public Act 295 offers multiple options for providers of energy efficiency program administration, including administration by the provider, joint administration with other providers, administration by a state agency, or administration by a competitively-selected nonprofit organization.
PA 341 and PA 342, passed in December 2016, carries forward current 1% electric and 0.75% natural gas efficiency targets. The legislation also removes a cap on spending and allows for higher financial performance incentives for exceeding mandated 1% targets. Recent IRPs approved for DTE and Consumers have targeted electric savings ramping up to 2% by 2021, significantly above the statutory minimum (link).
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: August 2020
Minnesota has a long record of customer energy efficiency programs offered by both investor-owned and publicly-owned utilities. Minnesota has achieved significant savings from these programs, which have been in place in various forms for well over two decades. These programs and efforts have remained steadfast in Minnesota without any of the interruption or upheavals that occurred in other states that restructured their electric utility industries.
In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007, setting up the state's first EERS with energy-saving goals for utilities of 1.5% of retail sales each year. In 2021, the state enacted the Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) Act, that strengthened the EERS and expanded the scope of energy-saving measures that can count toward efficiency goals. The new law increased the 1.5% electric savings goal for IOU programs to 1.75%, though it maintains the lower goal for consumer-owned municipal and cooperative utilities. The law also increases the overarching statewide energy savings goal from 1.5% to 2.5% of annual retail sales of electricity and natural gas, which encompasses savings from a wide range of policies in addition to utility programs. These include savings from building energy codes, appliance standards, rate design, and other efforts.
Minnesota allows utilities to earn performance incentives for energy efficiency programs. Minnesota’s regulated utilities are required to file integrated resource plans with the Public Utilities Commission. The plans identify the potential resources the utilities intend to use to meet consumer needs in future years, including significant energy efficiency and conservation savings.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued energy efficiency rules in July 2013 (Docket No. 2010-AD-2) that laid out a framework requiring investor-owned utilities to implement “Quick Start” energy efficiency programs. The rule also laid out criteria for program cost-benefit tests, cost recovery, and evaluation, monitoring, and verification (EM&V).
The PSC issued revised energy efficiency rules in November 2019 (Docket No. 2018-UA-064) that lay out a framework requiring all jurisdictional, rate regulated gas and electric utilities to implement a Demand Side Management ("DSM") Portfolio for customers that is designed to achieve cost-effective energy and/or demand savings. DSM offerings provide opportunities for customers of all types to adopt energy efficiancy and demand savings measures to increase control and provide greater opportunities to reduce their energy consumption. DMS includes energy conservation, energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed energy resources. The rule also lays out criteria for program cost recovery and evaluation, monitoring, and verification (EM&V).
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last updated: July 2020
Missouri began a major transformation in the scope and role of utility-sector energy efficiency programs in 2009 when the state enacted SB 376, the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act (MEEIA). Among its many provisions, it requires Missouri’s investor-owned electric utilities to capture all cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities. After some delays in the implementation of MEEIA, one of the state’s largest utilities launched a full suite of customer programs beginning in 2012, and the state’s other largest utility filed a 3-year program plan as required by MEEIA in 2013. In early 2016, the Commission approved MEEIA Cycle 2 DSM programs and DSIMs for Ameren Missouri, KCP&L, and KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Company.
Prior to the developments of the past 10 years, Missouri has historically had limited energy efficiency programs for utility customers. While fundamental rules have been in place since the early 1990s for integrated resource planning (IRP) and demand-side management (DSM), such rules had not yielded significant levels of utility spending on DSM programs. MEEIA and related commission orders have led to a rapid and large increase in utility energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2019
Customer energy efficiency programs in Montana are provided by utilities or in selected cases by a state agency. NorthWestern Energy is the state's largest utility and provider of electricity to 90% of the state population. Programs receive funding from a universal system benefits charge, established in 1999, paid by all customers of competitive electricity providers and cooperative utilities (see Mont. Admin. R. 42.29.101 et seq.). The Montana Public Service Commission oversees the programs. The Montana Department of Revenue ensures all of the money is spent on qualifying programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Nebraska's 162 electric utilities are all publicly owned. There is utility-sector energy efficiency activity statewide. Omaha Public Power District, Nebraska Public Power District, and Lincoln Electric System account for the majority of utility program spending and efforts; other energy efficiency activities are at 84 other utilities. The Nebraska Energy Office administers a loan program for energy efficiency improvements using federal and trust funds.
There are 16 publicly-owned and four investor-owned natural gas utilities in Nebraska. Nebraska’s natural gas utilities do not offer energy efficiency programs at this time.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last updated: July 2018
Nevada's two investor-owned electric utilities, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power, administer customer energy efficiency programs that are funded by rate adjustments noted on customer bills. Both utilities are subsidiaries of NV Energy; since 2008, they have done business under the NV Energy brand. Nevada's renewable energy portfolio standard allows energy efficiency to be used in partial fulfillment of its portfolio requirements. Nevada utilities can recover lost revenues that result from successfully conducting energy efficiency programs.
The levels of funding and program services have grown rapidly since Nevada reestablished requirements for energy efficiency programs provided by the state's investor-owned electric utilities, as well as integrated resource planning. These utilities aggressively pursued energy efficiency and grew their portfolio until they achieved saving of 1.5% of sales in 2009. Since then their savings have dropped to half that amount. Nevada’s publicly-owned utilities also provide some energy efficiency programs to their customers.
In June 2017, SB 150 was signed into law directing the PUCN to establish annual energy savings goals for NV Energy and to establish performance-based incentives that an electric utility can recover if it exceeds those goals.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
New Hampshire's electric distribution utilities and gas utilities jointly develop and offer their customers energy efficiency programs under a statewide umbrella program, NHSaves. Utilities can earn performance incentives based on successful implementation of their programs and meeting performance goals. The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission reviews and approves program plans and budgets submitted by the utilities.
The electric programs are funded via a system benefits charge included in customer rates. Additional funding for New Hampshire’s electric energy efficiency programs is provided via the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The legislation governing RGGI requires that the first dollar from the sale of greenhouse gas allowances is to go to fund electric energy efficiency programs. In addition to funding via a System Benefits Charge (SBC) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), electric energy efficiency programs are also funded via ISO-NE Forward Capacity Market (FCM) Revenues. New Hampshire natural gas energy efficiency programs are funded via the Local Distribution Adjustment Clause (LDAC).
In August 2016, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission approved a settlement agreement establishing a statewide EERS targeting overall cumulative savings of 3.1% of electric sales and 2.25% of gas sales by 2020.
In February 2022, HB549 was approved that establishes the systems benefit charge rate and local distribution adjustment clause to be used to establish the budgets for the electric utility and gas utility energy efficiency programs starting in 2022.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2022
Since 2003, the Office of Clean Energy within the Board of Public Utilities has administered the New Jersey Clean Energy Program, which has offered statewide customer energy efficiency programs.
In May 2018, New Jersey adopted an EERS when the governor signed clean energy bill A3723, which requires that electric and gas utilities achieve a minimum of 2% electric and 0.75% annual gas savings of the average annual usage in the prior three years, within five years of implementation of their energy efficiency and peak demand reduction programs, and until such time as all cost-effective energy efficiency is achieved in each utility territory.
The NJBPU has adopted utility and state savings targets and quantitative performance indicators (QPIs) based on a 2023 New Jersey BPU Goal Setting Study applicable for Triennium 2 (January 2025 through June 2027). The Board has established a triennial review process ahead of each utility filing cycle, which reviews and establishes for the next five program years: targets for utility and state annual energy use reductions, metrics, weighing structure of metrics, cost recovery mechanisms, performance incentive and penalty structure, cost to achieve ranges, and program administration and design.
Following many months of work by stakeholders, the commission, and staff, the Board of Public Utilities produced a June 2020 Order setting ambitious goals to ramp up annual electric savings to 2.15% and gas savings to 1.1%, exceeding goals first set out in the state's Clean Energy Act. The Order also transitions the utilities to a more central role in program delivery, establishes a performance-based recovery mechanism to encourage utilities to maximize customer savings, and strengthens stakeholder engagement processes with added focus on equity and workforce development.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
New Mexico has three investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs), three natural gas utilities, and seventeen customer-owned rural electric distribution cooperatives. The 2005 Efficient Use of Energy Act requires the electric IOUs and gas utilities to acquire cost-effective and achievable energy efficiency (EE) and load management resources available in their territories (NMSA 1978, §62-17-5(G)). Electric IOUs must spend 3% of customer bills, while the gas utilities shall not spend more than 3% of total annual revenues. Currently, the three electric IOUs and the largest gas utility, New Mexico Gas, choose to recover program costs and a proposed profit incentive through a tariff rider with an annual reconciliation mechanism. These four utilities offer a variety of energy efficiency programs, including programs targeted at low-income customers and multi-family housing.
Electric IOUs have a statutory goal of saving 8% of 2005 retails sales through their EE programs by calendar year 2020, which was updated by HB 291 in 2019 to call for 5% savings relative to 2020 retail sales between 2021-2025. The three electric IOUs, Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS), and El Paso Electric (EPE), are all on target to meet current savings goal.
The rural electric distribution cooperatives are only required to examine the potential for offering cost-effective programs to reduce energy consumption or peak electricity demand (NMSA 1978, §62-17-11(A)). Each cooperative's governing body will approve any slate of programs.
Last reviewed: June 2022
New York is a leading state on utility-sector energy efficiency programs. New York’s energy efficiency programs are the result of New York Public Service Commission (PSC) cases dating back to 1996. Customers pay a non-bypassable system benefits charge (SBC) on their utility bills, and the SBC is applied to all customer bills whether they receive service from a local utility or from a competitive supplier. The charge supports a comprehensive set of energy efficiency programs for residential, multifamily, low-income, and commercial/industrial customers, as well as research and development efforts in both the Commission’s Technology & Market Development (T&MD) and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (EEPS) programs. In addition to the programs authorized by the Commission, two public power authorities not under the Commission’s jurisdiction, the New York Power Authority and the Long Island Power Authority, also offer energy efficiency programs to their customers.
New York set a statewide 2025 target of 185 TBtu of end-use savings across fuels (see New Efficiency, New York report), including a sub-target for annual electricity savings to reach 3% of investor-owned utility electric sales by 2025. The PSC established specific incremental annual energy savings targets for each utility for 2019 and 2020 and adopted an overall increase in the energy savings goal across the investor-owned utilities through 2025, more than doubling utility energy efficiency savings targets over the 2019-2025 period relative to historic levels.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
North Carolina utilities have expanded energy efficiency programs in recent years. However, their levels of investment and performance still remain below the national average. Utility efficiency programs are likely to continue expanding given the recent efforts by utilities and stakeholders. In 2011, the newly-merged Duke Energy Progress (formed by two operating companies, Duke Energy Carolinas and Progress Energy Carolinas) reached a South Carolina PSC-approved settlement agreement with clean energy groups that, among other things, sets an annual energy efficiency savings target of 1% of retail sales starting in 2015 and a 7% cumulative target from 2014 to 2018. Achievement of the target will require successful development, regulatory approval, and implementation of energy efficiency programs. North Carolina also allows energy efficiency to count toward its statewide renewable and efficiency standard. On February 29, 2008, the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) issued final rules implementing legislation passed in August 2007 that created North Carolina’s renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standard (REPS). The energy efficiency portion of the REPS energy savings targets increased to 0.75% of prior-year sales in 2012, rising to 5% of prior-year sales in 2021.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
For further reading, in March 2010, as part of the State Clean Energy Resource Project, ACEEE completed the report North Carolina's Energy Future: Electricity, Water, and Transportation Efficiency.
Last reviewed: July 2019
While the PSC does not require utilities to implement energy efficiency programs, regulated utilities are required to meet their power needs through least-cost planning, which includes the consideration of Demand-Side Management (DSM) programs. North Dakota’s utilities run a limited set of programs in order to meet resource needs. However, efficiency program budgets and the associated energy savings have been below the national average.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last Updated: July 2017
Up until 2020, Ohio’s investor-owned utilities have historically administered energy efficiency programs under a regulated structure with oversight by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). In 2008, the state passed a law establishing an EERS with energy savings goals for electric utilities and allowing for cost recovery and decoupling. Rules for implementing the law were published by the PUCO in July 2009.
However, since that time energy efficiency efforts in Ohio have faced repeated legislative attacks that have weakened and jeopardized programs. These have included SB 310, passed in 2014, that temporarily froze the EERS for two years in 2015 and 2016, and included an industrial opt-out for large electric energy customers. Most recently, HB 6, a nuclear subsidy bill passed in 2019, dealt a disastrous and lethal blow to energy efficiency in the state, effectively eliminating most all programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Oklahoma utilities offer a growing portfolio of energy efficiency programs, but their levels of investment and performance remain below the national average. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) established rules for electric and natural gas efficiency programs following a series of stakeholder collaborative meetings in 2008, and utilities subsequently filed three-year program plans. Rules were again updated in 2018. The state’s major gas utilities, Oklahoma Natural Gas and CenterPoint, also administer energy efficiency programs. The state’s IOUs may recover lost revenues and earn an incentive for implementing successful energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Oregon is a leading state in energy efficiency, with programs dating back to the 1980s. Oregon energy utilities were first required to offer residential weatherization assistance to their customers by the 1981 Residential Energy Conservation Act. In 1989, the Oregon Public Utility Commission’s (OPUC’s) Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) Order No. 89-507 required the utilities to consider energy efficiency as a resource when developing plans.
Oregon's 1999 restructuring law, SB 1149, established a public purpose charge to support electric energy efficiency, renewable energy, and low-income programs. The public purpose charge is equal to 1.5% of the total revenues collected by the utilities.
The Energy Trust of Oregon (ETO), a nonprofit organization established by the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) in 2002, administers most of the statewide energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Portland General Electric implements revenue per customer. In its first ever long-range strategic plan, the Energy Trust of Oregon laid out energy savings goals between 2010 and 2014 of 256 average megawatts (2,242.6 GWh) of electricity and 22.5 million annual therms of natural gas. In its second long-range strategic plan, Energy Trust laid out energy savings goals for the years 2015 through 2019 of 240 average megawatts (2,102 GWh) and 24 million annual therms of natural gas. These goals include savings from market transformation programs.
NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas adopted public purpose funding for natural gas energy efficiency programs and decoupling mechanisms in Order Nos. 02-634 and 06-191, respectively. Avista Utilities’ natural gas programs are funded through deferred accounts. The ETO administers the majority of the statewide natural gas energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2022
Pennsylvania utilities have significantly expanded energy efficiency program offerings in recent years since the enactment of the state’s EERS in 2008 (Act 129), with oversight by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Pennsylvania Act 129 required each of the seven major electric distribution companies (EDCs) to procure cost-effective energy efficiency and to develop energy efficiency and conservation plans to reduce electricity consumption by a minimum 1% by 2011, increasing to a total of 3% by 2013, and to reduce peak demand by 4.5% by 2013. In August 2012, the Pennsylvania PUC issued an implementation order for Phase II of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Program, establishing electricity savings targets for each EDC over the 3-year period from FY2014-2016. The targets amounted to an average of 2.3% cumulative savings over the 3-year period; no incremental annual targets were established. Phase III targets set 5-year cumulative targets of 5,710,487 MWh, equivalent to about 0.77% incremental savings per year through 2021.
On June 11, 2015, the Commission adopted additional incremental reductions in consumption for a Phase III of the Act 129 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program. Phase III began on June 1, 2016, and will end on May 31, 2021. Phase III requires a cumulative average savings of approximately 3.7% (range of 2.6% to 5.0%) from EE and also includes a DR requirement with average annual savings of 425 MW. (See pages 35 and 57 of the implementation order, Docket #M 2014-2424864, for details on DR and EE, respectively).
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
For further reading, in May 2009, as part of the State Clean Energy Resource Project, ACEEE completed the report Potential for Energy Efficiency, Demand Response, and Onsite Solar Energy in Pennsylvania.
Rhode Island has consistently achieved high levels of energy savings through its energy efficiency programs and has some of the most aggressive energy savings targets in the country. One investor-owned utility, Narragansett Electric (a National Grid Company), administers and operates a portfolio of energy efficiency programs for its customers, which account for 99% of statewide sales of electricity. A public utility, Pascoag Utility District, also operates programs. The Rhode Island legislature unanimously passed sweeping legislation in 2006, which, among other things, established the state's energy efficiency resource standard (EERS). The Comprehensive Energy Conservation, Efficiency and Affordability Act of 2006 requires utilities to acquire all cost-effective energy efficiency. The act also establishes requirements for strategic long-term planning and purchasing of least-cost supply and demand resources and three-year energy saving targets. Enacted in 2010, House Bill 8082 authorizes revenue decoupling for electric and natural gas utilities and requires utilities to submit proposals to implement these policies.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Along with other states in the Southeast, South Carolina has made progress on utility-sector energy efficiency efforts over the past few years. The levels of energy efficiency program spending and associated energy savings, however, are still below the national average. The state's three investor-owned utilities, Duke Energy, Progress Energy Carolinas (which has merged with Duke Energy), and South Carolina Gas and Electric, all administer energy efficiency programs. South Carolina's cooperative utilities also administer some energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
South Dakota’s regulated investor-owned utilities have been implementing ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs since the mid-2000s, but the levels of efficiency program spending and associated energy savings have been lower than the national average and have not increased significantly. These programs do include a lost revenue adjustment mechanism that is calculated as a certain percentage of actual energy efficiency spending or approved energy efficiency program budgets, whichever is lesser. Many non-regulated utilities (e.g. municipals and cooperatives) in South Dakota also have energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest publicly-owned electric utility in the country, is the primary electricity provider in Tennessee. As a publicly-owned utility, TVA is governed by a board of directors. While past energy efficiency efforts have been modest, TVA has ramped up energy efficiency programs for electricity customers across all sectors in recent years. Nonetheless, Tennessee falls below the national average for efficiency spending and realized savings.
The Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) is the state agency charged with the setting of rates and service standards for privately-owned telephone, natural gas, electric, and water utilities.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Since 1999, Texas law has required electric utilities to meet energy efficiency goals, which became the nation's first EERS. In 2010, the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) increased the goals from 20% of electric demand growth to 25% growth in demand in 2012 and 30% in 2013 and beyond, and later adopted S.B. 1125, which will eventually require utilities to meet EERS targets based on peak demand rather than growth in demand. While the goals have increased modestly in recent years, they are still far below most other EERS policies, and as a result, utility energy efficiency program investments and savings in Texas are below the national average.
To meet the efficiency goals, utilities administer incentive programs, which retail electric providers and energy efficiency service providers implement. Programs are typically funded through the utilities’ tariff or base rate. Utilities submit plans for the forthcoming year and reports on energy and capacity savings from the previous year to the PUCT. The PUCT approves the plans. Utilities receive performance bonuses based on their energy savings.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
In 2007, as part of its State Clean Energy Resource Project, ACEEE completed the following reports about energy efficiency in Texas:
- Potential for Energy Efficiency, Demand Response, and Onsite Renewable Energy to Meet Texas's Growing Electricity Needs
- The Economic Benefits of an Energy Efficiency and Onsite Renewable Energy Strategy to Meet Growing Electricity Needs in Texas
- Role of Energy Efficiency and Onsite Renewables in Meeting Energy and Environmental Needs in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston/Galveston Metro Areas
Utah's utilities administer and implement a portfolio of energy efficiency programs as required by the Utah Public Service Commission as part of integrated resource plans, in place since 1992, that are filed biennially by the utilities and include demand-side resources and associated programs. Utility energy efficiency program investments and energy savings have been above the national average in recent years, however Rocky Mountain Power, which serves around 80% of Utah's population, recently scaled back its energy efficiency programs based on the results of the least-cost resources selected its integrated resource plans.
In 2009, Utah passed legislation (House Joint Resolution 9) calling for Utah's electric utilities to reduce the state's energy consumption by 1% annually. The bill also calls for natural gas utilities to save 0.5% annually. It encourages the use of “all available cost-effective energy efficiency.”
In September 2009, the PSC approved RMP’s request to increase its utility bill surcharge to pay for demand-side management (DSM) programs to 4.6%. Utah’s main natural gas utility, Questar Gas (Dominion Energy), began implementing efficiency programs in 2007. Questar's CET decoupling mechanism was changed from a pilot program to ongoing in 2010. Questar combined with Dominion Energy in 2016.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: July 2020
Vermont is and has been among the leading states for utility energy efficiency for many years and was the first to create a statewide "energy efficiency utility." Under Vermont’s 12-year "Order of Appointment" model, Efficiency Vermont, Burlington Electric Department, and Vermont Gas Systems deliver energy efficiency services to residential and business consumers throughout the state. Energy Efficiency service include electric, natural gas, and unregulated heating-and-process-fuels.
Vermont law requires the Vermont Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to set budgets at a level that require the program administrators to realize "all reasonably available, cost-effective energy efficiency."
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Since 2018 Virginia has made strong legislative progress on clean energy and energy efficiency and appears poised to significantly strengthen programs following years of relatively low savings.
In 2007, Virginia set a legislative goal (S 1416) of reducing electricity consumption by 10% (from 2006 levels) by 2022. In 2008, the legislature mandated that utilities submit integrated resource plans that lay out demand-side resources.
Recent legislative achievements include the 2018 Grid Transformation and Security Act (GTSA), which called upon Dominion and Appalachian Power together to propose more than $1 billion for energy efficiency programs through 2028, with $870 million from Dominion alone. Lawmakers followed up in 2020 by signing the Virginia Clean Economy Act, establishing a mandatory EERS for investor-owned utilities as part of the bill’s goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2050. Dominion must save electricity equivalent to at least 5% (relative to 2019 sales) by 2025. Appalachian Power Company must achieve 2% electricity savings by 2025. Statewide it’s estimated these goals translate to incremental annual savings targets of about 1.2% per year.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Last reviewed: April 2020
Washington's private and public utilities have long records of offering customer energy efficiency and conservation programs supported by regional organizations including the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC), and the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA). Washington voters approved the Energy Independence Act in November 2006 that established an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) by setting new requirements for electricity resources, including greater use of renewable energy and conservation. Utilities are required "[T]o pursue all available conservation that is cost-effective, reliable and feasible." The legislation also requires utilities to use methodologies for analyzing and selecting demand-side resources that are consistent with the methodologies used by NPPC.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
West Virginia utilities implement some small-scale customer energy efficiency programs. West Virginia's state legislature proposed an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard in 2011 (see HB 2210), but the bill failed to make it through the House Judiciary Committee.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Wisconsin's energy efficiency programs were initiated in the mid-1980s when integrated resource planning—termed the "Advance Plan Process"—was enacted by PSCW. This process is no longer in place and has been replaced by biennial "strategic energy assessments."
Under the 2005 Wisconsin Act 141, oversight of the statewide energy efficiency and renewable resources program called Focus on Energy transferred to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Act 141 requires investor-owned electric and natural-gas utilities to spend 1.2% of their annual gross operating revenues on energy efficiency and renewable resource programs. Act 141 also requires municipal and retail electric cooperative utilities to collect an average of $8 per meter to fund energy efficiency programs. Municipal and retail electric cooperative utilities can collect the dollars and participate in the Focus on Energy program or can elect to operate their own Commitment to Community programs. The investor-owned utilities formed the non-profit Statewide Energy Efficiency and Renewables Administration (SEERA) to fulfill their obligations under Act 141. SEERA is required to create and fund Focus on Energy and to contract, on the basis of competitive bids, with one or more persons to administer the programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.
Wyoming has relatively little energy efficiency programming throughout the state. Wyoming Public Service Commission approved demand-side management programs for Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) that began January 1st, 2009 (see Docket No. 20000-264-EA-06). Supported by the PSC, the portfolio was largely driven by resource needs identified in the utility’s IRP. These programs represent the state’s first significant energy efficiency activity.
Cheyenne Light and Power, Black Hills Power, Carbon Power & Light, Lower Valley Energy, and Questar Gas also run limited sets of energy efficiency programs.
The most recent budgets for energy efficiency programs and electricity and natural gas savings can be found in the State Spending and Savings Tables.