Policy recommendations for utilities and regulators.
Portfolio theory points to energy efficiency as invaluable in resource planning.
A regulatory model for resource parity between supply and demand.
Integrated resource planning must level the field for both supply- and demand-side resources. Commissions in several states are showing the way.
Continuous improvement requires changing practices and cultural norms.
As efficiency programs mature, utilities and regulators will be challenged to keep producing demand-side resources. A systems-oriented approach can yield cost-effective results.
The debate about freeridership in energy efficiency isn’t wrong, but it is wrongheaded.
In any conservation or efficiency program, some market participants will reap benefits without paying their share of the costs—i.e., the “freerider” problem. Some freeriders are unavoidable and generally not a problem. But as Cadmus Group analysts Hossein Haeri and M. Sami Khawaja explain, avoiding excessive freeridership requires careful program structuring, as well as ongoing measurement to accurately evaluate outcomes.