Large investor-owned utilities form new efficiency-focused group

[bananas]

http://www.platts.com/Electric%20Power/News/6495311.xml?src=Electric%20Powerrssheadlines1

Large investor-owned utilities form new efficiency-focused group

Washington (Platts)--27Sep2007

Eight large investor-owned utilities said Thursday they are forming, with
Edison Electric Institute's help, a new organization focusing on energy
efficiency and they are boosted their efficiency investments by $500 million
annually.

The utilities -- Consolidated Edison, Duke Energy, Edison International,
Great Plains Energy, Pepco Holdings, PNM Resources, Sierra Pacific Resources
and Xcel Energy -- said they are committed to creating a national institute
for electric efficiency to develop regulatory models for improving efficiency
investments.

"There has been a chronic underinvestment in energy efficiency in our
country. We are determined to fix that, by creating the innovative regulatory
frameworks that leverage technology to address climate change, reduce power
demand and keep our customers' power bills as low as possible," said Duke
Energy Chairman, President and CEO Jim Rogers in a statement.

Together, the eight utilities expect to invest about $1 billion annually
over the next three years to improve efficiency. The increased investment,
when fully implemented in 10 years, will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30
million tons and avoid the need for 25,000 MW of generating capacity, the
group said.

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[NMDemDist2]

1. cool! my energy company is on that list

I hope they can shut down a couple of their coal plants

[diane in sf]

2. This approach has worked well in CA where per capita consumption is the lowest

in the states.