Efficiency Program Expenditures Reach $8 Billion

BOSTON, May 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Consortium for Energy Efficiency today released its ninth Annual Industry Report, indicating stable energy efficiency expenditures in 2013 and suggesting growth in 2014 budgets. The Report covers energy efficiency and demand response programs managed by electricity and gas utilities and efficiency programs in the US and Canada.

Total expenditures for 2013 remained at the same level as 2012, despite volatile gas prices, changes in state policies, and increasingly complex utility business models. Highlights include:

• American and Canadian gas and electric DSM program expenditures reached $8.0 billion in 2013.
• US gas and electric DSM expenditures totaled $7.2 billion.
• Natural gas program expenditures rose three percent in 2013, to over $1.3 billion.
• Program administrators spent over $1.02 billion on demand response programs in 2013.

The stability of energy efficiency is a testament to the economic, social, and utility benefits and to the ingenuity that program administrators bring to their programs and to their work on strategy at CEE. Even as federal standards rise, demonstrating the impact of past program investments in market transformation, programs achieve savings targets.

"Despite regulatory setbacks in some states, planned efficiency investments represented by 2014 budgets of $9.9 billion are trending positive overall," explained CEE Executive Director Ed Wisniewski. "We're seeing exciting new proceedings in states that emphasize the importance of energy efficiency."

The power of the CEE Annual Industry Report is in providing an annual trend analysis of energy efficiency and demand response budgets, expenditures, and savings. Compiling program administrator data into an aggregate report of funding and savings offers enormous value to members, regulators, and other organizations. The 2014 Annual Industry Report presents data from the majority of efficiency program administrators—347 utility and nonutility program administrators from every US state and nine Canadian provinces. Data is collected by CEE with the assistance of the American Gas Association, making the Report the most extensive research on energy efficiency program funding and impacts. CEE and AGA work directly with program administrators on data collection and quality assurance efforts, under conditions of trust and confidentiality, resulting in more consistent and accurate data than when collected from a variety of sources. This reputation leads CEE members, federal agencies, industry organizations, evaluators, and others to rely on CEE data for a reliable perspective on energy efficiency trends. The Report, detailed data, and summary graphics are available at cee1.org.

SOURCE Consortium for Energy Efficiency