State moves into top 10 in energy efficiency

From a guest column by Stephen Heins, Orion Energy Systems, in The Capital Times:

In an October report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the state of Wisconsin moved into the top 10 on the "2008 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard."

In addition, Wisconsin should further improve its ranking now that the Citizens Utility Board and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., a natural gas and electric utility serving northeastern and central Wisconsin, have reached a milestone Stipulated Agreement. The pact, which begins in 2009 and ends in 2012, creates a pilot program that includes decoupling of sales and profits and also major increases in energy efficiency spending.

This is an opportune time to discuss the implications of this major change in energy policy in Wisconsin.

The Stipulated Agreement includes two of the most important recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming: It ends the inherent disincentives for publicly traded utilities to help their customers save energy; and it increases WPSC's spending for energy efficiency above the amount being spent from 1.2 percent to 2.0 percent next year and then rising to 3.5 percent over the next four years.

CUB director Charlie Higley stated that the group would like to see similar deals with WE Energies and other state utilities.