NHPC Calls for Virginia to Expedite Energy Efficiency Programs
RICHMOND, Va., March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National Home Performance Council Managing Director Robin LeBaron will testify today before the Virginia State Corporation Council to emphasize that energy efficiency programs are the most cost-effective way to address Virginia's current and future supply needs.
"The cost to produce a kWh of energy efficiency is typically much less than the retail price for electricity," notes LeBaron. "There is a tremendous opportunity to reduce energy through cost-effective energy efficiency programs."
The public hearing before the Virginia State Corporation Council will review a suite of residential and commercial Demand Side Management (DSM) programs that Dominion Virginia Power proposes to offer. NHPC will join other stakeholders to testify that these energy efficiency programs should be offered to Dominion's customers. One of the benefits of the residential programs is that ratepayers suffering from high utility bills and vulnerable to rate increases can access the program to reduce their monthly energy costs. In this sense, Dominion's proposed energy efficiency programs would be an important buffer against rate increases — including rate increases caused by the construction of new power plants.
NHPC also cautions that the test currently used to evaluate energy efficiency programs in Virginia, the RIM test, is an inadequate and sometimes inaccurate tool. The test does not provide a measure of the extent to which rates will increase, nor over what time period. It does not take into account future capital costs associated with new capacity, nor does it assess the impact on customer bills (as opposed to rates). LeBaron notes that implementation of DSM programs may result in the average customer bill going down, even if the average rate increases. Bills are more significant to customers than rates.
"The DSM programs the Virginia Dominion Power is proposing will both help to protect vulnerable ratepayers and keep rates down over the long term by preventing or delaying the need to build new plants," concludes LeBaron. "As the cheapest form of energy, energy efficiency programs are an excellent long-term investment for the utility, the state, and ratepayers."
Read a full version of the NHPC testimony at www.nhpci.org.
The National Home Performance Council encourages the implementation of whole-house retrofits for increased home energy performance and facilitates coordination among federal governmental agencies, utilities, state energy offices, contractors and others to achieve improved whole-house energy performance.
SOURCE National Home Performance Council
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