by Shane Henson — January 30, 2013—By 2025, U.S. electric and natural gas utility customers will double their spending on energy efficiency programs to about $9.5 billion per year, according to researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), a national lab operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These funds, which come from a charge on utility bills, historically constitute the nation’s largest source of spending on programs to foster the adoption of more efficient products and buildings, say the researchers.
According to the LBNL report, The Future of Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs in the United States: Projected Spending and Savings to 2025, U.S. energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers are projected to continue expanding beyond the traditional bastions of energy efficiency in the Northeast and West. By 2025, states in the Midwest and South could account for 49 percent of total U.S. spending on customer-funded energy efficiency programs, up from 27 percent in 2010. By 2025, only a handful of states would not have significant customer-funded efficiency programs, LBNL researchers forecast.
The projected growth in program spending is driven by policies in a number of states requiring that utilities pursue energy savings. Another driver is energy efficiency resource standards, which require electric utilities to meet minimum energy savings goals each year, according to the report.
