Last week, we laid out the reasons why Texas should update its energy efficiency goal. Long story short: energy efficiency can help ensure we have adequate energy resources during hot summer months and cold winter months, it’s the most affordable energy resource for homes and businesses, and it’s a clean green economic boost for Texas.
Right after we published that blog, the Public Utility Commission (PUC), the state agency in charge of regulating most of the state’s investor-owned utilities, announced it would open a rulemaking on one of the aspects of the Energy Efficiency Implementation Project (EEIP). Great timing, eh?
At Wednesday’s meeting, the PUC also said that they could possibly open another energy efficiency rulemaking early next year.
The first rulemaking, which has been opened up as Project No. 48692, would focus only on the cost-recovery aspect of the programs, where investor-owned utilities charge customers an annual “Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Fee” to pay for the incentives and programs that reduce energy use and peak demand. The PUC will hold a workshop on the proposed rule on October 15 and then invite comments. They expect to have a new rule passed on this aspect of the programs by March 2019, which will help streamline the process for charging customers and arriving at a decision.
PUC staff has not yet opened the second, and, from the Sierra Club’s perspective, the more important rulemaking for actually improving and growing the efficiency programs. However, in Wednesday’s meeting, PUC staff committed to opening up a comment period on what such a rulemaking might cover later this fall or early next year as part of the EEIP process (Docket No. 38578). The Sierra Club will participate in both rulemakings as we continue to talk to the PUC and the legislature about increasing our state goals and programs for energy efficiency.
A contractor for PUC that evaluates the energy efficiency programs announced the final 2017 results during the meeting, which showed that the nine investor-owned utilities in Texas reduced peak demand by 465 MW and saved 561,606 megawatt-hours of energy in 2017.