Idaho

Summary Idaho's investor-owned utilities administer energy efficiency and other demand-side management (DSM) programs with oversight from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Idaho has not restructured its electric utility industry. There is no legislation requiring funding for energy efficiency programs. In recent years, the PUC has placed a strong emphasis on utility energy efficiency and DSM. In 2001, after an energy crisis in the western United States, the PUC ordered Idaho Power to file a comprehensive DSM plan and to implement programs. In 2002, the PUC created an energy efficiency rider to fund these programs. In 2006, the PUC required Pacificorp (Utah Power and Light and Rocky Mountain Power) to file and implement a comprehensive DSM plan. Program funding in 2006 was $20.4 million—about 1.8% of total utility revenues. Idaho's energy efficiency programs are supported and supplemented by regional organizations, including the Bonneville Power Administration, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Idaho is currently pilot-testing decoupling. Decoupling reduces the financial disincentive for utilities to support energy efficiency by separating utilities’ profits from their levels of sales. The state is currently revising its incentive program for utilities. In recent years, Idaho has experimented with methods of providing incentives to utilities. The state does not have an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS). State energy plans consider energy efficiency to be a resource for utilities. The state uses an integrated resource planning process.

Idaho’s electric efficiency utility programs are not required by legislation. Idaho's investor-owned utilities administer and implement energy efficiency programs and are regulated by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. Utilities recover the costs of offering programs via adjusting their rates and adding a tariff rider to customer bills. The PUC requires utilities to file and implement demand-side management plans. Since an energy crisis affected the western United States in 2001, the PUC has taken an increasing interest in DSM programs.

In 2001, the PUC ordered Idaho Power to file a comprehensive DSM plan and implement programs. In 2006, the PUC required Pacificorp (Utah Power and Light and Rocky Mountain Power) to file and implement a comprehensive DSM plan. The utility filed a new plan in 2009.

Rocky Mountain Power currently offers energy efficiency programs for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Avista Utilities offers natural gas energy efficiency programs for residential, low-income, commercial and industrial customers in Idaho. Intermountain Gas is considering implementing programs, but has not done so yet.

In 1989, Regulatory Order 22299 required utilities to consider cost-effective energy efficiency measures for natural gas. The natural gas programs are funded through a tariff rider and rate adjustments. Avista Utilities administers all of the programs except for the low-income programs. The low-income programs are administered by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

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Both electric and natural gas energy efficiency programs in Idaho are funded by utilities. The utilities recover the costs of operating these programs by adjusting their rates and adding a tariff rider onto customer bills. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission recently increased this rider from 2.5% to 4.75%.

Avista Utilities spent $2.1 million on natural gas energy efficiency programs in 2008. Idaho has received funding from the 2009 economic stimulus package. At least $17 million will fund energy efficiency-related projects.

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None in place or presently proposed.

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Idaho Power's decoupling mechanism, called a Fixed-Cost Adjustment (FCA), is designed to provide symmetry (a surcharge or credit) when fixed cost recovery per customer varies above or below a commission-established base. Decoupling reduces the financial disincentive for utilities to support energy efficiency by separating utilities’ profits from their levels of sales. The FCA will be implemented on a pilot basis for a three-year period beginning January 1, 2007 and running through December 31, 2009. The FCA applies to all residential and small commercial customers. The FCA also incorporates a 3% cap on annual increases and carries over unrecovered deferred costs to subsequent years. Rate increases and credits resulting from the FCA have been distributed to residential and small general service customer classes equally on an energy use basis. See ID PUC Order No. 30267.

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Idaho Power (IPC) was approved for a three-year pilot incentive program beginning in January 2007 and ending in December 2009. During the pilot, IPC receives an incentive if the market share of homes constructed under the ENERGY STAR Homes Northwest program exceeds a target percentage of new homes constructed. IPC earns an incentive if the program exceeds the market share goal (7% in 2007, 9.8% in 2008, and 11.7% in 2009). Incentives are capped at 10% of program net benefits. Penalties are levied if IPC does not meet a minimum market share percentage. On March 11, 2009, IPC requested that the pilot be discontinued retroactively as of January 1, 2009 due to current economic conditions. IPC, however, intends to explore the development of an incentive mechanism that can be applied to the company’s entire portfolio of DSM/energy efficiency programs. The decision from the commission is pending.

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Idaho's investor-owned utilities are required to prepare and file integrated resource plans that include comprehensive demand-side management plans. The Public Utilities Commission prepares a statewide energy plan; in the most recent plan (2007), the PUC recommended that when acquiring resources, Idaho and Idaho utilities should give priority to conservation, energy efficiency. and demand response.

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• Idaho Public Utilities Commission

• Energy Conservation Information (on PUC Web site, includes links to utility programs and 2007 Energy Plan)

• Idaho Office of Energy Resources

• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

• Northwest Power and Conservation Council

• Idaho Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

• Pacificorp’s 2009 Integrated Resource Plan

Last Updated 08/20/2009

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