State Energy Efficiency Policy Database

Customers in Washington are served by a wide variety of utilities—public utility districts, municipal utilities (including one of the nation's largest municipal utilities, Seattle City Light), investor-owned utilities, and rural cooperatives. Energy efficiency programs are provided by all of these types of utilities. The investor-owned utilities carry out DSM programs with regulatory oversight by the state's regulatory body, the Utilities and Transportation Commission. Publicly-owned utilities provide programs to their members with oversight by their respective governance bodies. The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, a regional organization seeking to transform markets for energy efficiency, provides a strong unifying force for the many individual utility programs offered across the state—particularly for products and services most amenable to market transformation approaches, such as consumer products and building design, construction and operation. BPA also has played and continues to play a strong leadership role in supporting individual utilities' efforts.

Collectively, Washington utility electric efficiency programs saved 665,204 MWh in 2009. Reported budgets for energy efficiency programs for 2011, and electricity savings for 2010, are in the State Spending and Savings Tables.

Puget Sound Energy's self-direct program combines a dedicated incentive funding structure based on customer contributions with a competitive bidding process for unclaimed funds.  Self-direct customers continue to pay their cost-recovery mechanism (CRM) fees but have access to 82.5% of it to fund up to 100% of efficiency measure costs.  Customers have 24 months to complete their projects, after which all unused funds are pooled together and a competitive request for proposals is issued to all program-eligible customers for their use.  More information on large customer self-direct programs can be found in the ACEEE report, Follow the Leaders: Improving Large Customer Self-Direct Programs.

Links:

• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
• Bonneville Power Administration, Energy Efficiency
• Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

Summary: Biennial and Ten-Year Goals vary by utility. Law requires savings targets to be based on the Northwest Power Plan, which estimates potential savings of about 1.5% savings annually through 2030 for Washington utilities.

Washington voters approved ballot initiative 937 in November 2006 which set new renewable energy resource and conservationrequirements for large electric utilities to meet. The ballot, codified in Chapter 19.285 RCW, had rules adopted for its implementation in 2007 and 2008 (WAC 480-109, WAC 194-37).  The energy conservation section requires each qualifying utility (those with more than 25,000 customers in Washington) to “pursue all available conservation that is cost-effective, reliable and feasible.” Seventeen utilities, both publicly owned and investor owned, currently meet the definition of qualifying utility. “High efficiency cogeneration” is included as part of conservation and the term is defined in the law.  The law requires utilities to use the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (NPCC) methodology to determine their achievable cost-effective conservation potential through 2019, and update that potential assessment every two years for the subsequent ten-year period. Utilities also must establish a biennial acquisition target for 2010-2011, and update that target every two years. If a utility does not meet its conservation goals, it must pay an administrative fine for each MWh of shortfall, starting at $50 and adjusting annually for inflation beginning in 2007.

The three major IOU’s submitted reports in 2010 with a biennial conservation target as well as a ten-year achievable conservation potential. The energy efficiency targets Washington’s utilities must meet amount to some of the most aggressive in the country.

Washington has no Natural Gas EERS.

Links:

• Authority: Ballot Initiative I-937, November 2006
• Authority: WAC 480-109, November, 2007
• Authority: WAC 194-37, April 2008
• WAC 480-109 for investor owned utilities
• WAC 194-37 for public utilities
• Northwest Power and Conservation Council: Sixth Northwest Conservation and Electric Power Plan

No reward is in place or proposed by regulated electric utilities; however they can be penalized if they fail to meet energy savings goals. (Dockets UE-011570, UG-011571 and UE-100177 (Order 5).  

In November 2010 the Utilities and Transportation Commission issued a report and policy statement laying out the elements that a proposed incentive mechanism should meet for both gas and electric utilities. (Docket U-100522).

Links:

• Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission docket search