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Legislative Provisions in Senate Bill 7 (SB7), enacted in the 1999 Texas legislature, mandated that at least 10% of an IOU?™s annual growth in electricity demand be met through energy efficiency programs each year.? The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) Substantive Rule §25.181 (Energy Efficiency Rule) establishes procedures for meeting this legislative mandate.? Proposed changes to the Energy Efficiency Rule are currently under consideration at the PUCT to implement the legislative requirements of HB 3693. Project Number 33487 is assigned to this proceeding. HB 3693 revises the mandated goals to:
Utilities are required to administer energy savings incentive programs, which are implemented through retail electric providers and energy efficiency service providers (EESPs).? All programs are designed to reduce system peak demand, energy consumption, or energy costs. Utilities must achieve their energy efficiency goals through either standard offer programs (SOPs) or limited, targeted market transformation programs (MTPs).? Programs are made available to all customers, in all customer classes.? This gives each customer a choice of a variety of energy efficiency alternatives. 2006 Energy Efficiency Accomplishments Report Energy Efficiency Accomplishments In 2006, the nine Texas investor-owned utilities (IOUs) exceeded their statewide legislative energy efficiency goals for the fourth straight year. The utilities achieved 164 Megawatts (MW) of peak demand reduction, which was 27% above their 129 MW goal, and 366 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy reduction. These energy savings correspond to an equivalent reduction of 551,317 pounds of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions per year. Most of the utilities' programs involve financial incentives, which were paid to project sponsors to offset the costs of a variety of energy efficiency improvements. The total amount of incentive funds expended to achieve 2006 savings was just over $60 million. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized four utilities in 2006 for their ENERGY STAR® Home Programs. They were CenterPoint Energy Company, TXU Electric Delivery Company (now Oncor Electric Delivery), Entergy Gulf States, Inc, and Texas-New Mexico Power Company. CenterPoint was also recognized by the EPA with a "Sustained Excellence Award". As of January 1, 2007, the utility programs implemented after electric industry restructuring in Texas had produced 756 MW of peak demand reduction and 2,005 GWh of electricity savings for the years 1999 though 2006. This translates to approximately 2,660 tons of NOx emissions reductions. Click here to download the full report as a Word Document (.doc) file.
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