Energy Efficiency Policy Highlights

State & Local Updates

ALABAMA

Public Service Commissioners

On November 3, commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh won reelection to a four-year term that will end on November 8, 2024.

Public Service Commission Proceedings

In October, Alabama Power customers received a bill credit averaging $25 for a typical residential customer. The credit was due to lower fuel prices, adjustments that are usually made at the end of the year. This year, the utility proposed adjusting earlier than normal to give some rate relief to customers during the pandemic.

ARKANSAS

Entergy Rate Case

The Arkansas Public Service Commission approved a rate decrease of about eleven cents per month for an average residential customer of Entergy Arkansas; the rate change took effect for the first billing cycle of 2021.

FLORIDA

Public Service Commission

On August 21, Governor Ron DeSantis named state legislator Michael La Rosa to a four-year term on the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC). La Rosa took his seat after the expiration of Commissioner Polmann’s term on January 1, 2021. Energy Efficiency Rules: In a July hearing, FPSC commissioners directed staff to initiate a rule-making process to update the rules established by Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act (FEECA). On December 15, commission staff filed a draft rule and scheduled a workshop for January 14, 2021. SEEA’s policy director, Cyrus Bhedwar, participated in the hearing and will continue to engage in the FEECA revision process.

Clean Energy Commitments

In recent months, Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) and Duke Energy announced plans to reduce carbon emissions. In a unanimous vote on August 8, the Orlando City Council approved a plan for OUC to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. On October 9, Duke Energy announced plans to double its renewable generation capacity by 2025 and to achieve net-zero methane emissions in its natural gas business by 2030. Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA): On November 2, the JEA board of directors hired Jay Stowe, former Huntsville Utilities executive, as its next CEO and managing director. Amid rumors of a potential sale, Stowe maintains that the utility will remain under municipal ownership. On November 3, Jacksonville voters approved an amendment to the city’s charter that empowers the City Council to appoint and remove four of the seven members of JEA’s board of directors. The remaining three positions will continue to be nominated by the mayor and approved by the council.

Energy Efficiency Jobs

The 2020 Energy Efficiency Jobs in America report by E2 and E4TheFuture shows that Florida lost about 18,000 energy efficiency jobs as of October, largely due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rate Cases

Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Gulf Power

In November, the FPSC approved rate increases for FPL and Gulf Power customers. Average residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month will see an average increase in bills by $2.62 for FPL customers and nineteen cents for Gulf Power customers. In early January, the merger between the two companies became legally complete and the company filed for a new four-year rate plan that will ultimately equalize the rate structures of the previously separate utilities.

TECo and FPUC

The FPSC also approved rate changes for Tampa Electric Company (TECO) and Florida Public Utilities Company (FPUC). An average residential TECO customer began seeing bill increases of about $7.56 in January; an average residential customer of FPUC gets a bill reduction of about $4.92.

Duke Energy Florida

In December the FPSC approved a rate decrease for Duke Energy Florida customers that will reduce rates for the average residential customer by about $3.63 a month.

GEORGIA

Public Service Commission

In the general election on November 3, incumbent commissioner Jason Shaw retained the District 1 seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC). For District 4, neither incumbent Bubba McDonald nor challenger Daniel Blackman garnered the necessary 50% of the vote plus one vote needed to win. In the runoff election on January 5, commissioner McDonald won reelection with 50.61% of the vote.

Georgia Power Leadership

On October 29, Georgia Power announced the retirement of its chairman, president, and CEO Paul Bowers. The board of directors elected Chris Womack, current executive vice president and president of external affairs for the Southern Company, as Bowers’s successor. Womack assumed the role of president on November 1 and will take on the roles of chairman and CEO upon Bowers’s departure in April. Womack will be the utility’s first Black CEO since its establishment in 1902.

Technical Reference Manual (TRM)

In early January, Georgia Power filed its TRM with the GPSC as required every three years. Georgia Power’s TRM documents the energy efficiency measure assumptions used for the Technical, Economic, and Achievable Potential analysis completed by Applied Energy Group in 2021 as the initial phase of the GPSC-approved demandside management Program Planning Approach.

Plant Vogtle

Georgia Power completed cold functional testing of Plant Vogtle Unit 3 in October. The plant received its first nuclear fuel shipment in December.

KENTUCKY

Rate Cases

Kentucky Utilities

In December, the cities of Lexington and Louisville intervened in Kentucky Utilities’ request to raise rates by 10.7%. In an order issued on December 9, the commission suspended the utility’s request for a rate increase until June 30.

Louisville Gas & Electric

In November, Louisville Gas & Electric applied to increase electric base rates by 11.81% or approximately $11.74 for the average residential customer. In an order filed on December 9, the effective date of the proposed rates was suspended for six months.

Kentucky Power

In July, Kentucky Power’s request for a rate increase was suspended for five months.

Duke Energy Kentucky

On April 27, 2020, the commission approved Duke Energy Kentucky’s application for a general rate case. The order approves a $24.14 million increase in Duke Kentucky’s electric base rates.

Efficient Lighting

On December 31, the Kentucky Transportation and Finance and Administration cabinets announced a joint effort to replace over 18,000 roadside lightbulbs with LEDs.

LOUISIANA

Public Service Commissioners

Two of the five seats on Louisiana’s Public Service Commission (LPSC) were up for election in 2020. On November 3, voters reelected commissioner Foster Campbell to his final term for District 5. District 1 incumbent Eric Skrmetta also won reelection over challenger Allen Borne Jr. in a runoff election on December 5.

Energy Efficiency Rules

For several years, Louisiana utilities have been operating Phase I or “Quick Start” energy efficiency programs awaiting Phase II rules from the LPSC. In April 2019, the LPSC issued draft Phase II rules. However, in September 2020, the LPSC staff issued an expansion of scope and requested comments on third-party administered energy efficiency program models. SEEA coordinated with partners to submit comments in January. In an order issued on December 22, the LPSC approved to continue Quick Start Year 7 until December 31, 2021.

MISSISSIPPI

Reduced Generation Capacity

On December 17, the Mississippi Public Service Commission unanimously approved an order finding that Mississippi Power is generating more power than needed. The commission ordered the utility to present a plan for reducing its electricity generation capacity by 950 megawatts by 2027 or to submit evidence supporting the need for the excess capacity.

Smart Neighborhood

On November 17, the Southern Company and its subsidiary Mississippi Power announced their plans to build a smart neighborhood featuring a Tesla solar roof in Lauderdale County. The 100-150 planned homes will also showcase energy efficient equipment and appliances, power wall batteries, and smart home automation.

NORTH CAROLINA

Duke Energy Rate Cases

On November 4, Duke Energy Carolinas filed a proposed order to approve a rate increase with stipulations agreed to by parties to the proceeding. On December 4, Duke Energy Progress filed a proposed order regarding the contested issues in its proceeding. The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) has not reacted to the filings in either docket at the time of this publication.

Duke Energy Integrated Resource Planning

Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress jointly filed their integrated resource plans (IRPs) with the NCUC on September 1; Dominion Energy NC had filed its IRP on May 1. The NCUC scheduled a virtual technical conference on March 9, 2021 to address issues relevant to the planning processes.

Clean Energy Commitments

Twenty-six electric cooperatives in North Carolina have pledged to reduce carbon emission by 50% by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Gubernatorial Election

North Carolina voters elected Governor Roy Cooper to a second term on November 3.

Leadership

On December 17, then President-elect Biden selected North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan as the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If confirmed, Regan will be the second Black person to hold the position in the agency’s fifty-year history.

Environmental Justice

The state task force created earlier this year to assess the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on North Carolina communities of color released a report in December calling for permanent environmental justice and inclusion positions to be created at the departments of Commerce, Transportation, Natural and Cultural Resources, and the Office of Emergency Management. The Department of Environmental Quality already has such a position.

NORTH CAROLINA

Energy Efficiency Roadmap

In early January, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University published a roadmap for the state to achieve cost and emissions savings through energy efficiency measures. SEEA’s Cyrus Bhedwar and Will Bryan participated in the creation of the roadmap. Dominion Energy Rate Case: In November, Governor Henry McMaster asked Dominion Energy SC to pause or abandon its request for an annual rate increase of 7.7% in light of the pandemic. The commission scheduled additional public hearings for January 5 and 7, 2021; customers testified via telephone. On January 12, with the agreement of the utility, the Office of Regulatory Staff filed a stipulation to stay the matter of the application for rate increase until July 12.

Dominion Energy Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)

In December, the commission unanimously rejected Dominion Energy SC’s proposed three-year IRP, citing a lack of clean energy resources. This is the first three-year IRP process mandated by the Energy Freedom Act of 2019. The commission’s decision directs the utility to remodel the cost of its proposed plans and expand renewable capacity, among other directives.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Leadership

In December, the U.S. Senate approved Beth Harwell and Brian Noland to TVA’s board of directors. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on nominee Charles Cook Jr., but he was not confirmed before the end of the congressional session.

VIRGINIA

Clean Economy Act

The Virginia Clean Economy Act, passed during the 2020 General Assembly session, required the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to issue regulations on setting storage targets by January 1. In September 2020, the SCC issued a proposed rule for Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to attain certain levels of energy storage capacity by 2035. The SCC accepted comments from interested parties until November 2 and issued a final ruling on December 18, which directs the utilities to maintain interim targets. The SCC approved a service fee of about $1.80 for most Appalachian Power customers to collect costs to comply with the Clean Economy Act while protecting low-income customers.

State Corporation Commissioners

In December, Governor Ralph Northam appointed former deputy commerce secretary Angela Navarro to fill Mark Christie’s seat on the commission, which he vacated in early January to take a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Navarro was sworn in on January 5. The General Assembly will need to confirm Navarro and summer appointee Jehmal Hudson in the 2021 legislative session in order to serve the entire six-year term.

Energy Efficiency Scorecards

On December 16, the annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy recognized Virginia as an energy efficiency leader in the Southeast. Clean Energy Summit: On October 20, Governor Northam opened the state’s clean energy summit with a pledge to power Virginia’s grid with 30% renewable energy by 2030.

Rate Cases

Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy filed an application for a general rate case, including requests to raise the cap for customer participation in some experimental rate designs. On December 3, the SCC scheduled a telephonic hearing for March 8, 2021 to hear public witness testimony.

Appalachian Power

In November, the SCC denied Appalachian Power’s request for an increase in base rates and the residential service charge, finding that the utility had earned sufficient profits during the 2017-2019 period under review. On December 15, the commission granted petitions to reconsider the case and suspended its final order until further notice.

Dominion Earnings

The SCC had previously ruled that Dominion earned $503 million above its authorized levels from 2017-2019. In early September, Governor Northam proposed budget language that would require the utility to return the excess earnings to customers. Broadband Pilots: On October 1, Dominion Energy Virginia filed a petition for approval of its rural broadband pilot projects, in which the investor-owned utility would collaborate with local electric cooperatives to reach underserved communities. The partnership would be the first of its kind in the state.

Regional, National, & Federal Updates

Regional Transmission Organization

The region’s largest utilities are expected to file plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to create an energy imbalance market. The proposed Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) would include the following utilities: Duke Energy, Southern Company, Dominion Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority, Associated Electric Cooperative, Dalton Utilities, ElectriCities of North Carolina, Georgia System Operations Corporation, Georgia Transmission Corporation, Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities, MEAG Power, NCEMC, Oglethorpe Power, PowerSouth, and Santee Cooper. On January 6, the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) staff filed an opinion that the SEEM proposal does not require preapproval by the NCUC.

Appliance Standards

On November 9, over a dozen states and cities filed a lawsuit claiming that the Department of Energy’s failure to review and update twenty-five efficiency standards is costing consumers $580 billion in avoidable energy costs and will be responsible for emitting over 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050. On November 17, the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a report maintaining that consumers and businesses could save $1.1 trillion on utility bills through 2050 if the Biden administration were to update efficiency standards for forty-seven types of appliances and products. Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule: On October 8, EPA began to argue its case to repeal the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and replace the regulation with the Affordable Clean Energy rule before the D.C. Circuit Court of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The agency maintains that it only has the authority to regulate emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Appointments

On November 30, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmed two candidates to the FERC. Attorney and consultant Allison Clements, and current Virginia State Corporation Commission Chair, Mark Christie were sworn in on December 10 and January 4 respectively. The commission is now at its full capacity of five members for the first time since 2018. City and State Scorecards: ACEEE released its annual City and State Energy Efficiency Scorecards in October and December respectively. Leading Southeast cities include Atlanta, Orlando, and Louisville, while Virginia leads the Southeast states in overall energy efficiency.

DOE Equity Ambassadors

In August, DOE announced the first slate of Equity in Energy Ambassadors and Champions. DOE’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity developed the initiative to expand energy accessibility and energy jobs to more ethnically diverse individuals, women, veterans, and previously incarcerated persons.

Energy Transition

On October 29, Southern Company announced it is on track to reduce its use of coal-fired power to less than 20% of its electricity portfolio. Additionally, former Duke Energy chief nuclear officer Preston Gillespie assumed the role of chief generation officer, a newly created executive position to oversee net-zero carbon efforts. In November, Utility Dive released a report outlining some of the risks that climate change poses to major utilities. A December report from the Energy and Policy Institute found that utilities need to accelerate decarbonization plans in order to meet President Biden’s target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions from the energy sector by 2035.

Energy Transition for Middle America

On November 12, eight mayors from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia announced their commitment to work collaboratively to create a just energy transition for their communities. The work is based on a report from the University of Pittsburgh entitled “Marshall Plan for Middle America.”

White House Transition

Before the inauguration, then President-elect Joe Biden announced several appointments that may influence energy efficiency policy at the federal level. Biden has asked Brenda Mallory of the Southern Environmental Law Center to lead the Council on Environmental Quality. If confirmed, Mallory will be the first Black person to hold the position since its creation over fifty years ago. Biden picked former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm as the Energy Secretary and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy to lead the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. The President selected Michael Regan, the current Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to lead U.S. EPA. If confirmed, Regan will be the second Black person to lead the agency since its inception.

Advocacy Leadership

On October 13, the Alliance to Save Energy announced Paula Glover as the organization’s new president as of January 4. Glover was formerly the president and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Energy and has over twenty-five years of experience in energy policy. In January, Glover spoke about equity in energy efficiency.

Guide to Building a Better Kit Programs

In October, SEEA member Franklin Energy released a guide to building a better and more cost-effective energy efficiency kit program. Blockchain: On September 30, XRP Ledger Foundation, Ripple, and Rocky Mountain Institute-backed nonprofit Energy Web announced the world’s first decarbonized public blockchain.

Pandemic Debt

Industry analysts suggest that energy utility customers collectively owe up to $40 billion in debt due to pandemic-induced inability to pay bills. Duke Energy estimated in December about $170 million in delinquent energy bills across their Carolinas territory.