Need for Organization
The time is right. The time is now.

The climate for Energy Efficiency in Colorado is at a crossroads.

For years, efforts to increase renewable energy and encourage energy efficiency have not been enthusiastically received. However, in the last several years, things have really begun to change in Colorado. The State Legislature has begun passing bills that require investor owned public utilities to do increase their use of renewable energy and to encourage home and business energy conservation through building improvements. Governor Bill Ritter has created a Colorado Energy Plan and created an Energy Office. He touts Colorado’s new energy economy. The commissioners at the PUC have changed as well, having been appointed by Governor. They are interested in changing the status quo and are open to new ideas.

Why is this important?

The Bills passed last year do not go into details. How they are interpreted and the specific rules that will apply will be determined by the PUC. One of the Bills the PUC is currently implementing is HB-1037 which was passed in the 2007 legislative session. It is a Demand Side Management bill and directs investor owned Utilities to put together a program to incent residential customers to make changes to their homes that will reduce energy use. This is not only good for the consumer but is very good anyone in the energy efficiency field. There is a huge upside potential to increase the size of the market for energy efficiency products in Colorado.

The first stage of the implementation of the bill is currently underway at the PUC. Xcel Energy presented a plan in October, 2007 that laid out their response to HB 1037 and presented it to the PUC. The submission of this plan to the PUC starts a legally mandated process. The PUC has opened Docket 07A-420E on Demand Side Management (DSM). The process allows people and organizations, in a formalized manner, to respond to Xcel Energy’s plan. The deadline for the first step of this formal process has already passed and many organizations have applied to “intervene”. They represent a wide array of interests from environmental, large and small utility users, etc.

This is where the Energy Efficiency Business Coalition (EEBC) comes into play.

This is why the EEBC needs your support. In the past, there has been no organization that has represented Energy Efficiency Businesses. Rules and decisions have been made without the input of the people who 1) best know have to implement energy efficiency programs and 2) understand why people buy them. These are the people who understand the barriers to energy efficiency and how to best overcome them. Without energy efficiency companies at the table, a critical voice is missing that has the ability to give input on what makes sense and real life knowledge of knowing how to do it.

The EEBC has already presented written testimony on the DSM Docket.

It required the hard work of many companies who were willing to work together knowing that what they were doing would help the entire energy efficiency market.

This is just the beginning of a process that will take most of this year.

It will take the financial and personal commitment of many companies if this effort is to succeed and thrive. This is why the EEBC needs you. It needs your knowledge, you commitment and your financial support.

What do you get?

  1. You get a voice in shaping policies that will impact the energy efficiency market far into the future.
     
  2. You have the opportunity to increase the size of the energy efficiency market. If the EEBC can be successful in efforts before the PUC and other agencies supporting more energy efficiency as a matter of public policy, it benefits all the companies in the market.
     
  3. The EEBC also has the ability to give many sometimes small and disparate companies a single voice along with Solar and Wind Power as realistic players who have a role in solving energy needs in the future.