Thank heaven for Alabama Power! Were it not for them, Virginia would have, in Dominion Energy, the least energy efficient utility in the whole US.
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), which has long ranked states, cities and countries on their energy saving programs, recently released its first ranking of the 51 largest electric utilities in the country. These companies were evaluated on their overall success in reducing energy use, on their specific programs to help homeowners and businesses save energy, and on their efficiency targets, differential rates and other strategic approaches.
On every measure, Dominion received failing scores, ending up with a dreadful 5.5 out of a possible 50 points. In other words – they’re not even trying, folks.
In case you’re wondering what sorts of energy-saving programs you’re missing by living in Virginia, here’s a tiny sampling:
- Eversource Massachusetts: “home energy assessment and service programs that provide turnkey energy improvements and rebates” (https://www.eversource.com/responsible_energy/carbon-strategies/Energy-Efficiency-Programs.html)
- PG&E (California): Up to $5,500 in rebates for doing an energy upgrade on your home (https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/savings-programs/home-upgrade/home-upgrade.page)
- BG&E (Maryland): Loans and hundreds of dollars in rebates for installing efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (http://bgesmartenergy.com/residential/heating-cooling)
If you care about meeting critical clean energy and climate goals, energy efficiency is the first, most cost-effective step – squeezing the enormous waste out of the system so that we don’t have to produce so much power in the first place.
Of course, that’s why utilities have traditionally avoided promoting efficiency – they make their money by building big power plants and getting their regulators to approve fare hikes on their customers to pay for them. Not surprisingly, the states with the most efficient utilities are also those with progressive governments pushing these companies to do better, with laws like energy efficiency resource standards mandating utilities to hit certain conservation targets.
Blue Virginia – Kindler – 07/24/2017
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