A recent article form the Arizona Daily Star revealed how Tucson Electric Power has gotten a plan approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission to refund customers who save energy. The idea is to encourage customers to not use as much energy, which put less strain on the grid.
Under the plan, Tucson Electric Power will also spend more money on expanding its offerings for energy efficiency programs. Under the program, customers will receive rebates for replacing their energy consuming products with more efficient ones. Additionally, customers will receive financial incentives to change their thermostats during times when the grid is straining.
Some specifics examples of these changes are offering as much of a $900 rebate to install more energy efficient air conditioners. As much of a $5,000 rebate for making modifications to a home that make it more energy efficient by preventing heat from escaping.
Tucson Electric Power will also offer rebates for new homes, multi-family buildings, planting trees, schools, and commercial buildings. For commercial programs, the rebates could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The program will also require customers to have to reduce their energy for at 100 hours during peak use times. This will help reduce the strain on the grid.
Overall, this program will have a budget of over $23 million. Environmental groups are excited about the prospects of such a major investment coming from an important company, and that Arizona’s government approved the project, showing that they also care about energy conservation. Groups advocating for the plan believe that it will return $3.69 in customers long-term for every $1 surcharge that they initially pay. A lot of these programs will be rolled out as pilot ones. If they are successful, the company will invest more money in them.
In addition to the established programs, Tucson Electric Power will also invest in “micro-pilots” to see if it is worth investing in other programs further to save energy. They are also providing an app that helps people perform an analysis on their home to see how energy efficient it is. This saves the time and money of having to bring someone out to the home.
Overall, this program sounds like it will be successful, but the proof is in the pudding, so it will take some years to know if it delivers. It would be interesting to see if these programs have been successfully completed in other states.