At today’s New Orleans City Council meeting the Council adopted resolution R-23-553 amending the City’s energy efficiency programs (docket UD-22-04).
The Alliance and our partners in the Energy Future New Orleans Coalition are pleased that the Council has elected to maintain the 2% annual kWh savings target for Energy Smart programming. However, we would ask for some clarity on the baseline year for this 2% reduction – is this 2% of the previous year’s sales or some other baseline?
Additionally, we support the inclusion of a 3% demand reduction target beginning in 2025. However, though the Council included a directive to Entergy to include a neighborhood-targeted pilot program, and also included some language around expanding access to income-qaulified ratepayers, we believe that these measures are not sufficient in a city that suffers from one of the highest energy burdens in the nation, while ranking 67th for energy efficiency policy, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission is considering a statewide energy efficiency rule that contains many of these elements, particularly the establishment of a working group. New Orleans risks losing energy efficiency contractors to other markets without a clear and robust energy efficiency program. We call on the Council to take the actions necessary to meet the overwhelming need in our city.
