National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency
The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is a private-public initiative begun in the fall of 2005 to create a sustainable, aggressive national commitment to energy efficiency through the collaborative efforts of gas and electric utilities, utility regulators, and other partner organizations involved in energy efficiency that is delivered to electric and gas ratepayers.
Such a commitment can take advantage of large opportunities in U.S. homes, buildings, and schools to reduce energy use, save billions on customer utility bills, and reduce the need for new electric and gas supplies, transmission lines, and gas pipelines to be built to serve avoidable demand. National Action Plan Leadership Group members are identifying key barriers limiting greater U.S. investment in energy efficiency, and developing and documenting sound business practices for removing these barriers. The Leadership Group members and Observers have been joined by numerous other key stakeholders in making commitments under the National Action Plan to work within their own organizations and across their spheres of influence to increase attention to, remove barriers to, and increase investment in cost-effective energy efficiency.
Goal
The goal of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is to create a sustainable, aggressive national commitment to energy efficiency through gas and electric utilities, utility regulators, and partner organizations.
Participants
The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency is an ongoing effort led by a Leadership Group of more than 60 leading gas and electric utilities, State agencies, energy consumers, energy service providers, and environmental/energy efficiency organizations. A key product is the five Action Plan Recommendations, which many of the Leadership Group organizations and others have endorsed.
The Leadership Group members represent entities at the State and local level that are responsible for implementing the recommendations.
Facilitators
DOE and EPA solely facilitate the work of the Leadership Group on the Action Plan. The Action Plan is a product of the Leadership Group itself – who represent those entities who can influence and/or deliver energy efficiency delivered to electric and gas ratepayers – and thus not a product of the Federal Government’s DOE or EPA. Federal law leaves jurisdiction and oversight of energy efficiency delivered to electric and gas ratepayers solely to State and local governments, and not to the Federal government.
Co-Chairs
Marsha Smith
Commissioner, Idaho Public Utilities Commission
President 2007-2008, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
James E. Rogers
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy
Action Plan Main Recommendations
The below five main recommendations, issued in August 2006, are the core of the National Action Plan:
- Recognize energy efficiency as a high-priority energy resource.
- Make a strong, long-term commitment to implement cost-effective energy efficiency as a resource.
- Broadly communicate the benefits of and opportunities for energy efficiency.
- Provide sufficient, timely, and stable program funding to deliver energy efficiency where cost-effective.
- Modify policies to align utility incentives with the delivery of cost-effective energy efficiency, and modify ratemaking practices to promote energy efficiency investments.
These recommendations are significant not just for their content, but perhaps, more importantly, because they were debated, developed and then issued by the Action Plan’s Leadership Group.
Implementation of the Action Plan
In 2005-2006, leading up to the issuance of the five main recommendations in August 2006, the Leadership Group identified key barriers limiting greater investment in energy efficiency and reviewed sound business practices for removing these barriers in an “Action Plan Report”. The Action Plan Report details their findings and options for overcoming these barriers. This Report also includes the five key Action Plan Recommendations, which many of the Leadership Group organizations and others have endorsed.
Download the entire National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency or Executive Summary at www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/napee/resources/action-plan.html.
Since its groundbreaking issuance of the five main recommendations and the accompanying Action Plan Report in August 2006, the Leadership Group has asked DOE and EPA to prepare and issue, under its oversight and review, an assortment of guides, manuals, reports, and other documents, together with regional meetings, to help themselves and others implement the five main Action Plan recommendations.
Taken together, all of these materials reflect in a sense the best practices developed and learned over the last several decades of experiences with policies and programs to deliver energy efficiency to electric and gas ratepayers.
|
