State Public Benefits Policies for Energy Efficiency:What Have We Learned?

摘要

This paper presents the highlight results of a national study of state public benefits energyefficiency policies and their implementation. Designed as a comprehensive follow-up toACEEE's initial examination of early public benefits efforts in 2000, the current research revisitedthose state efforts now that they have been in effect for a half-decade or more.In this study we found that a total of 18 states currently have specific public benefitsenergy efficiency programs in operation, with combined annual expenditures of over $900million. Key stakeholders in each state (utilities, state agencies, and advocate groups) wereinterviewed, and they provided qualitative assessments of their state's public benefits policydesign and implementation, which were generally very positive. We were able to obtain energysavings results from a dozen of those states, and they reported annual incremental savings ofnearly 2.8 million MWh. Cost-effectiveness estimates were available from nine of the mostactive states, and they showed the programs, in aggregate, to be very cost-effective (I.e., medianbenefit/cost ratio in the range of 2.1 to 2.5 and median cost of conserved electricity equal to 3.0cents per lifetime kWh saved). Overall, public benefits energy efficiency approaches appear tobe a very successful and cost-effective policy mechanism for achieving energy efficiency.