As Texas Makes a Big Push on Energy Efficiency, it Should Raise the Performance Bar
In 2008, regulated utilities in Texas spent $87 million on energy efficiency programs, up from $73 million the year before, according to a PUC report. Together, the total energy savings from those projects are estimated at $372 million over the next decade.
Oncor Electric Delivery, which operates transmission lines in North Texas, spent almost $54 million on energy efficiency in 2008, the PUC reports. That year, ratepayers contributed 22 cents a month to the effort, compared with 89 cents today — although the PUC says that some earlier efficiency costs were embedded elsewhere in the transmission charge.
Oncor offers 31 efficiency programs for residents and businesses and claims to have reached more than 450,000 customers in the past seven years. There’s a waiting list to get its incentives on solar panels, a spokeswoman says, and last year’s funding to weatherize homes for low-income residents was exhausted by June.
In 2009, the Tarrant Regional Water District installed 1,157 solar panels, providing 70 percent of the building’s annual energy use. The district got an incentive check of $231,824.
Cleburne is overhauling its City Hall and another building used for the police and library. It’s a $9.2 million project, including lighting, air conditioning and water systems, and it’s financed with a loan from the state’s energy conservation office.
The city expects to pay off the note with $47,000 in annual savings on its electric bill, Assistant City Manager Rick Holden says. The efficiency incentives: $172,000 in grants.
“As a city, we have to make the economics work, because the environmental gains alone aren’t enough,” Holden says.
The PUC proposal would more than double spending on energy efficiency in four years, and there’s a question of whether enough worthy projects will emerge.
