New York Commission Sets Energy Efficiency Incentives for Utilities
To kick-start its energy efficiency initiative, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has agreed to set aside up to $27 million for incentives for electric utilities to develop programs to help consumers with energy efficiency and to reduce electricity bills. The incentives are part of a plan to forestall an expected rise in energy consumption.
At current trends, by 2015 electricity use in New York is estimated to rise 11 percent above current levels. The incentive program aims to reduce consumption by 693,951,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, helping to meet a statewide goal to reduce consumption by 15 percent by 2015.
Here is a breakout of reduction goals and incentives for each utility.
| Utility | Reduction Goal (kWh) | Incentive |
|---|---|---|
| Central Hudson | 40,478,000 | $1.57 million |
| Con Edison | 255,316,000 | $9.92 million |
| NYSEG | 97,769,000 | $3.80 million |
| National Grid | 223,270,000 | $8.67 million |
| Orange & Rockland | 29,939,000 | $1.16 million |
| RG&E | 47,179,000 | $1.83 million |
The incentives would only be paid if the utility meets its goal. Failure to meet the goal would subject the utility to a "similarly sized negative financial adjustment", the PSC says.
When fully funded, the energy efficiency program is expected to provide more than $4 billion in benefits to customers through 2015. In addition, the PSC anticipates that by 2015 thousands of jobs will be created. Those jobs will include retrofitting outdated and inefficient residential, commercial, and industrial properties; installing new energy efficient equipment, and informing the public about the new opportunities for savings on energy bills.
For more information, read the PSC August 20 press release (PDF 17 KB) and the August 22 order (PDF 90 KB). Download Adobe Reader. (90 KB).
To read more about renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in New York, see:
- New York news published on the EERE Web site.
- Brief project descriptions from the New York Energy Office published in the EERE State Energy Program newsletter, Conservation Update.
- New York publications listed in the EERE State Publications Database.