Dan York, Marty Kushler and Patti Witte

February 2008

Executive Summary

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) conducted its 2nd national review of exemplary energy efficiency programs. This project sought to recognize and profile outstanding utility-sector energy efficiency programs that help customers lower their energy costs and reduce their energy use through improved energy efficiency. ACEEE performed a national search and nomination process to assemble a set of programs for this review.

The nomination process was open-ended. ACEEE sought leading examples of energy efficiency programs of all types and for all customer sectors and end-use technologies. The only constraint was that they had to be utility-sector energy efficiency programs (i.e., funded by utility rates, public benefits charges, or other similar utility revenue mechanisms). The programs could be administered by utilities, government agencies, or third-party independent administrators. Both electric and natural gas programs were eligible. An expert panel selected a total of 90 programs across 20 different program categories to be recognized from a large set of nominations received.

A strong and common conclusion emerged from our review of the selected programs: energy efficiency works. Today’s programs are having significant impacts on customer markets and energy use. Just the programs we honored in this review alone are producing annual savings of over 2,400 GWh of electricity and 400 MW of peak demand, as well as over 125 million therms of natural gas savings. This success is both wide and deep. We found exemplary programs across the entire spectrum of customers, including residential, small business, schools, offices, industries, and agriculture. We also found programs that are achieving deep savings with individual customers—programs that are facilitating the implementation of comprehensive packages of energy efficiency measures that together work to achieve significant energy savings.

Our review of exemplary programs gives strong evidence that there is a very solid foundation in place upon which to build a greater role for energy efficiency in the energy resource portfolios of today and tomorrow. There are programs in place that have been successfully delivering significant energy and cost savings for years—even decades. There also are programs newly put into place to address new types of customers and under-served customers from past programs. Many programs have not only affected energy use among participating customers, but are having broader impacts on the markets for products and services.

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356 pp., February 2008, $75.00, U081