Efficiency Texas
Good Company Associates brought together Efficiency Texas, a broad-based coalition of electricity consumers interested in reducing their electricity consumption, peak power demand and electricity costs by expanding and improving the electric utility efficiency programs offered in Texas. Efficiency Texas includes commercial building owners, retailers, churches and small businesses. The Coalition represents over 40,000 retail stores, more than four million employees and nearly one billion square feet of building and office space.
History
As part of the 1999 Texas Electric Restructuring Act (SB7), the Texas Legislature required each investor-owned electric utility to offer cost-effective, market-based energy efficiency programs to meet at least ten percent of the utility’s annual electric load growth on a going-forward basis. The Public Utility Commission of Texas subsequently established rules to administer the legislative mandate and to ensure that all consumer classes – residential, commercial and industrial – benefited from the efficiency programs.
Issue
While the Texas energy efficiency programs have been somewhat successful, Texas can do more. Texas lags behind many key industrial states in its spending on energy efficiency programs no matter how you measure it. Increasing our efficiency is imperative:
- Texas uses more electricity than any other state in the U.S.,
- Texas has one of the highest growth rates in demand for new electricity, and
- Texas electricity prices for residential, commercial and industrial consumers are above the national average, and well above the regional average.
Efficiency Texas supports the funding of open, standard-offer efficiency assistance programs as a cost-effective, low environmental impact, alternative means to meet the future energy needs of Texas. If administered as originally envisioned, these programs allow any customer to work with any qualified contractor to determine the best efficiency investment option, and apply for applicable incentives. This allows customer choice to drive the efficiency programs and assures competition in the market is not disrupted. If the funding for these programs can be made reliably available during the year, more customers and more contractors will get involved and create more energy savings and clean energy jobs as a result.
Efficiency Texas Members
- Texas Building Owners and Managers Association
- Houston Advanced Research Center
- Metropolitan Partnership for Energy
- Texas Hotel & Lodging Association
- Texas Impact
- Texas Nursery & Landscape Association
- Texas Restaurant Association
- Texas Retailers Association