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California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE Media Contact: Terrie Prosper, 415.703.1366, news@cpuc.ca.gov Docket #s: A.08-07-021
CPUC ADOPTS PROTOCOL TO COUNT SAVINGS FROM BEHAVIOR-BASED ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS
SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2010 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today adopted a protocol to count energy savings from behavior-based energy efficiency programs in a decision on Evaluation, Measurement and Verification (EM&V) of energy efficiency programs for 2010 through 2012.
This will afford programs that provide home energy reports, designed to engage customers to make better choices about their energy consumption using neighbor comparisons and personalized, targeted energy-saving recommendations, to be rolled out in California on a larger scale than in the past.
Because these programs aim to motivate behavioral change, as opposed to hard-wired efficiency, they have thus far been treated as non-resource programs, ineligible for energy savings credit. However, the experience through a number of pilots in California and other region shows that these programs can produce a very real capacity for significant and measurable energy savings.
"As California pursues the strategies identified in the California Long Term Strategic Plan for Energy Efficiency, and seeks to make energy efficiency a way of life for Californians, it is essential that we create a regulatory environment in which potential game-changing efforts such as these innovative behavioral-based strategies can flourish. Today's decision does this," said Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich.
The proposal voted on is available at http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PUBLISHED/AGENDA_DECISION/115950.htm.
For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.
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