Support for Duke Energy's Save A Watt Initiative | Alliance to Save Energy

Support for Duke Energy's Save A Watt Initiative

The Alliance to Save Energy News

Support for Duke Energy's Save A Watt Initiative

Release Date: Monday, February 4, 2008

Washington, D.C., February 4, 2008 – Today, the Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance), the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and the Energy Future Coalition reached an agreement with Duke Energy to expand its energy efficiency programs, including a more aggressive energy savings target.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Alliance, ACEEE and the Energy Future Coalition now endorse Duke Energy’s save a watt initiative as an innovative and promising new direction for the company and its customers. While supporting the save a watt initiative, the Alliance, ACEEE and the Energy Future Coalition will look to regulators in each state to determine an appropriate and reasonable level of compensation.

Duke Energy announced new, aggressive energy efficiency targets of 1 percent of on-going retail electricity sales by 2015 in its five-state region, upon approval of its save a watt initiative. The company will pursue all cost-effective energy efficiency savings with no company imposed cap on its total energy efficiency investment. The target is subject to the availability of cost-effective energy efficiency programs to achieve the target. To insure success in meeting this aggressive savings target, Duke Energy will devote approximately 5 percent of its energy efficiency program expenditures toward strong evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) protocols and practices. And, an advisory committee will be formed to review Duke Energy’s progress in achieving its energy efficiency goals.

“The Alliance to Save Energy applauds Duke Energy’s innovative approach to deploying energy efficiency as the first and most valuable resource for meeting its customers growing demand for energy,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. She added: “Duke’s commitment to unlimited investment in energy efficiency marks a paradigm shift away from conventional thinking that growing populations and growing demand by definition require new generation.”

“We are excited about this new partnership to expand energy efficiency across the regions we serve,” said Ted Schultz, Duke Energy vice president of energy efficiency. “We have adopted some very aggressive energy efficiency targets, but are confident we can produce these savings through additional programs and new technology that will provide greater savings to customers without sacrificing convenience or productivity.”

“The nation's leading utilities and states are using energy efficiency programs to reduce electricity use by 1 percent or more each year, with savings growing steadily as savings each year are added to prior year accomplishments. We are appreciative that Duke has agreed to a 1 percent savings per year target and look forward to working with them, and through their save a watt initiative, to make this target a reality," said ACEEE executive director Steven Nadel.

“Jim Rogers and Duke are leading the utility industry and the nation toward a new way of thinking about large-scale investment in energy efficiency,” said Reid Detchon, Executive Director of the Energy Future Coalition. “The save a watt initiative takes on the region’s energy challenge by pursuing the cheapest source of supply available – the wasted energy that drives up energy demand and costs consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Duke Energy has filed energy efficiency plans in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Indiana. The company will be making similar filings in Ohio and Kentucky later this year.

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Duke Energy Corp., one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers energy to approximately 3.9 million U.S. customers. The company has nearly 37,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.duke-energy.com.

The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, the economy, and national security.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. ACEEE conducts research, education and advocacy on programs, policies and technologies that advance energy efficiency. For information, visit aceee.org.

The Energy Future Coalition is a broad-based, nonpartisan alliance that seeks to bridge the differences among business, labor, and environmental groups and identify energy policy options with broad political support. The coalition aims to bring about changes in U.S. energy policy to address the economic, security and environmental challenges related to the production and use of fossil fuels with a compelling new vision of the economic opportunities that will be created by the transition to a new energy economy. For more information see www.energyfuturecoalition.org.

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