{"id":4548,"date":"2013-07-06T11:12:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T15:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=4548"},"modified":"2013-07-06T11:15:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-06T15:15:23","slug":"very-restrictive-definition-of-energy-efficiency-by-georgia-power-and-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/very-restrictive-definition-of-energy-efficiency-by-georgia-power-and-so.html","title":{"rendered":"Very restrictive definition of energy efficiency by Georgia Power and SO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nBeware that when\r\n\r\nSouthern Company claims it’s doing a lot about energy efficiency<\/a>\r\nit is, but SO is using it’s own definition that is much more\r\nrestrictive than it could be.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSACE wrote 26 February 2013,\r\n\r\nSouthern Company: Squirreling the Energy Efficiency Debate<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSouthern Company has a solid track record of squirreling the\r\ndefinition of energy efficiency to avoid debate. And Southern\r\nCompany has good reason to avoid the debate: Its utilities\r\nconsistently advocate what is considered by national experts to be\r\nthe “most restrictive” approach to designing energy\r\nefficiency programs.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nJust how restrictive, you ask? The energy efficiency programs that\r\nare acceptable under Southern Company’s standard generally need to\r\nhave benefits that are at least three times the cost to deliver the\r\nenergy savings.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThis restrictive standard is known in the industry as the\r\n“Rate Impact Measure” test, or RIM test. In contrast,\r\nmost utilities use a cost-effectiveness test that sounds pretty\r\nreasonable. Benefits are measured in terms of cost savings: Number\r\nof power plants not built and fuel not burned, essentially. Costs\r\nare measured in terms of the utility’s efficiency program costs and,\r\noften, also include customer out-of-pocket expenses. Even though a\r\nsimple “pass” is all that regulators usually require,\r\nutility programs are so cost-effective that they typically have\r\nbenefits that are at least double the costs.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe difference between the “limited” programs that pass\r\nthe RIM test and the more commonly used benefit-to-cost tests is\r\ndramatic. For example, when the Georgia Public Service Commission\r\ndirected Southern Company utility Georgia Power to expand its energy\r\nefficiency programs beyond strict adherence to the RIM test in 2010,\r\ncommission announced that the change would help their state\r\n“out of the bottom of national and regional comparisons on\r\nenergy efficiency.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBravo GA PSC!\r\nSo did Georgia Power actually make that change?\r\nAnd how much did it help?\r\nAnd how much does that one change explain\r\n\r\nSO CEO Tom Fanning’s claims about increased energy efficiency\r\nsince 2010<\/a>?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWe are optimistic that Kim Greene, the new CEO of Southern Company\r\nServices, will work to convince Southern Company staff to adopt this\r\ndefinition. We’ve got two reasons for optimism. First, as a senior\r\nmanager with responsibilities for finance and generation at the\r\nTennessee Valley Authority, Ms. Greene has seen firsthand how energy\r\nefficiency has helped to position TVA to better manage customer\r\ncosts over the long term.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSecond, Ms. Greene can point to Southern Company’s own engagement in\r\nnational discussions around energy efficiency. For example, Susan\r\nStory (whom Ms. Greene is replacing) was one of the members of the\r\nLeadership Group that authored the NAPEE “Framework for\r\nChange,” including that definition. Southern Company also has\r\na longstanding commitment to support the Alliance to Save Energy, an\r\norganization whose name just might suggest that energy efficiency is\r\nabout using less kilowatt-hours. Because, of course, kilowatt-hours\r\nis how one measures electric energy.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThat’s SACE being optimistic.\r\nHere’s SACE being realistic about what needs to change:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nHere’s the bottom line: Southern Company is out of step with the\r\nmainstream perspective on energy efficiency. Their definition of\r\ncost-effective energy efficiency demands that programs reduce energy\r\ncosts by well over three times what the programs themselves cost to\r\noperate. And then they have the hubris to claim that they are\r\n“championing energy efficiency.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beware that when Southern Company claims it’s doing a lot about energy efficiency it is, but SO is using it’s own definition that is much more restrictive than it could be. SACE wrote 26 February 2013, Southern Company: Squirreling the Energy Efficiency Debate Southern Company has a solid track record of squirreling the definition of […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,264,265,8,18],"tags":[6614,6615,6609,8704,8754,8755,8701,8708,8702,12,7,6613,108,6],"class_list":["post-4548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-energy-conservation","category-energy-efficiency","category-georgia","category-georgia-power","tag-avoided-cost","tag-cost-benefit","tag-dan-everett","tag-economy","tag-energy-conservation","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-rate-impact-measure","tag-southern-company","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1bm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4553,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4548\/revisions\/4553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}