WHAT EFFICIENCY CAN DO FOR FLA

Energy efficiency also helps low-income customers
Joe Gibbons, March 4, 2010 (Tallahassee Democrat)

"Over the last several years, Floridians have seen double-digit percentage increases in utility bills. Spiking fossil fuel costs are straining the financial resources of many families…Energy efficiency breaks this trend of rising rates. A failure to achieve greater energy efficiency hurts all of Florida's electricity customers, particularly low- and fixed-income customers…

"Making efficiency programs available to low-income residents is especially valuable because those groups pay a greater share of their income on energy bills…A well-managed energy efficiency program is the lowest cost resource available to Florida's electric utilities, costing about two to four cents per kilowatt hour. By contrast, the average cost of generating more electricity is at least four times higher, at 12 cents per kilowatt hour…It's a simple choice…"

Florida has room to improve. (click to enlarge)

"…Over the next decade in at least 16 states, energy use is expected to be reduced by 10 percent to 20 percent…To its credit, the Public Service Commission took a step in the right direction recently by ordering the state's power companies to offer more efficiency opportunities to their customers…such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, low-flow showerheads and water heater blankets…[T]he PSC added a new solar energy program for homeowners…including solar water heaters and rooftop panels.

"The total cost for the solar program is estimated to be 7 cents to 18 cents a month for the average customer, so these incentives will have only a tiny impact on bills…[I]ndividual homeowners [should] share in the cost of solar and the entire body of utility customers [in the] benefits without footing the whole bill…"

Florida's new policies are spot-on. (click to enlarge)
Florida's new policies are spot-on. (click to enlarge)

"…[I]mplementing energy efficiency [also] creates jobs — especially critical in a state approaching 12-percent unemployment. Improving efficiency requires a work force of electricians, air conditioning installers, carpenters, roofers and more to deliver the services and products that reduce customer bills. Efficiency can add nearly 20,000 Florida jobs by achieving 15-percent energy savings by 2020…

"[E]fficiency should play a larger role in the lives of Floridians. The savings are especially critical to lower-income customers. While the PSC has taken a step in the right direction, more needs to be done to make efficiency opportunities even more widely available to customers."