Pennsylvania law tries to cut power usage

Pennsylvania has begun a major effort to cut electricity use, requiring the state's 11 utilities to not only stop power usage from rising, but to cut it starting in 2011.

Legislation that Gov. Ed Rendell signed recently requires the utilities to cut annual electricity usage by at least 1 percent by May 31, 2011, based on usage estimates made by state regulators, who can take into account a major anomaly, such as an unusually hot summer or a substantial surge in demand from a new user, such as a factory.

To ensure that utilities take the task seriously, the new law allows up to $20 million in penalties for failure to meet the benchmarks for electricity usage cuts.

"That certainly should get the companies to look at what's been going on around the country and adopt some of the more successful programs," said Sonny Popowsky, the state's utility consumer advocate and a supporter of the new law.

Utilities will have to find ways to get people and businesses to use less electricity on the hottest summer days, when electricity is the most expensive. That could include enrolling the owners of homes and office buildings in a program to temporarily switch off hot water heaters or air conditioners.

To cut electricity usage at all other times, utilities will have to get more fluorescent lamps into light sockets to replace less efficient incandescent bulbs.

They will have to figure out how to entice people to insulate their homes to save electric heat and replace old, energy-sucking refrigerators and other appliances with newer, more efficient models.

Electricity usage in the Pennsylvania and the United States grows at a rate of about 1 percent to 2 percent annually.

By May 31, 2013, utilities have to cut usage by at least 3 percent, as well as slash 4.5 percent from electricity usage during the 100 highest-use hours of the year.

Utilities said they are still in the early stages of developing proposals for how they will approach the mandate and did not want to speak about their specific plans.

They acknowledge that the law will force them to adopt new usage-reduction tactics beyond a raft of education programs they have, including Web sites that dissect each residential customer's electric usage and how to reduce it.

"It's a big number. It's going to take some changes in terms of what we do and what we've done in the past, but it's not an insurmountable number," said Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio-based power company that owns Pennsylvania Electric Co., Pennsylvania Power Co. and Metropolitan Edison Co.

By July 1, each utility must file a plan with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to achieve the cuts. The commission must hold a public hearing on each plan and has about four months to approve or reject them.

The electricity conservation efforts will be expensive, and utilities can bill ratepayers for that cost, up to 2 percent of their revenue from 2006. Utilities must be able to show that savings from the plans will pay their own cost — at least — within 15 years.

Related News

berlin electrical blur

ETP 2017 maps major transformations in energy technologies

BERLIN - The global energy system is changing. More people are connecting to the grid as living standards improve around the world. Demand for consumer appliances and electronic devices is rising. New and innovative transportation technologies, such as electric vehicles and autonomous cars are also boosting power demand.

The International Energy Agency's latest report on energy technologies outlines how these and other trends as well as technological advances play out in the next four decades to reshape the global energy sector.

Energy Technology Perspectives 2017 (ETP) highlights that decisive policy actions and market signals will be needed to drive technological development…

READ MORE
tesla-expands-charging-network-in-nyc

Tesla Expands Charging Network in NYC

READ MORE

Russ Urban, president of High Hotels Ltd

Pennsylvania Home to the First 100% Solar, Marriott-Branded U.S. Hotel

READ MORE

docked ferry

By Land and Sea, Clean Electricity Needs to Lead the Way

READ MORE

German official says nuclear would do little to solve gas issue

READ MORE