Energy Efficiency
Legislative and Regulatory Policy
Efficiency Texas, founded by Good Company, played a key leadership role in the adoption of HB 3693, a comprehensive energy efficiency bill authored by Representative Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), Chairman of the House Regulated Industries Subcommittee on Conservation and Energy Efficiency. HB 3693 was adopted in the 80th Session of the Texas Legislature in strongly bipartisan fashion.
Chairman Straus’s bill immediately increases Texas’s energy efficiency efforts, something that was long overdue. The bill, which will be implemented this summer by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), will bring numerous energy, environmental and economic benefits to the state of Texas and its millions of electricity consumers. Highlights of the bill include:
* Energy efficiency goals for the state’s investor-owned utilities were raised from "at least 10% of the rate of growth in demand" in their service territory to 15% for 2008 and 20% for 2009.
* Utilities are assured cost recovery for cost effective expenditures to meet or exceed the new efficiency goals, and an incentive is provided for those utilities that exceed the new minimum goals.
* Utilities and the PUCT are to encourage and facilitate the fuller participation of Retail Electricity Providers (REPs) in the energy efficiency programs.
* PUCT is to consider a range of new energy efficiency programs and streamline the process to approve new programs.
* PUCT is to undertake a study to determine whether the ratepayer funded, utility managed programs are the best approach to serving customers, or whether the competitive market could better fill the need.
* PUCT to study to determine whether the efficiency goals should be raised to 30% of load growth by 2010 and to 50% of load growth by 2015.
* New mandatory minimum utility efficiency goal is applied only to residential and commercial electricity customers. Industrial customers requested that they be allowed to operate outside the programs, neither contributing funds toward the programs or taking advantage of them.
* State agencies, schools and universities were added to the provisions of a previous law requiring local political subdivisions to invest in energy efficiency that is cost effective, and sets a goal of 5% annual consumption reductions over 6 years, beginning September 2007.
* Mandates that compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and high-efficiency fluorescents are installed for state agencies, schools and universities.
* The State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) with the advice of the Energy Systems Lab (ESL) is required to identify the most appropriate and most effective sections of building codes previously adopted and develop new Texas standards.
* Municipal Electric Utilities and Cooperative Electric Utilities must offer efficiency programs to their customers
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Efficiency Texas Coalition
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