The Southeast utilities are starting to step up their game in energy efficiency. I am pleased to report that three of the major utilities here in the Southeast not only met their 2012 energy efficiency goals, they exceeded them by 2-22%! The idea of energy efficiency goals in the South was just a glimmer in the eye of policymakers about five years ago, so we are making progress.
As I reported about seven months ago, we are accumulating concrete data on energy efficiency program implementation, successes and lessons learned from the Southeast. We have data from three of our major utilities, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Georgia Power, and Duke Energy, that shows that they all surpassed their 2011 and 2012 energy efficiency goals! This is great news for a few reasons: it shows that the utilities are putting resources and efforts into acquiring energy efficiency. Also, it shows efficiency is being used as a viable resource by the utilities in the Southeast.
Table 1. Duke Energy, Georgia Power and TVA Energy Efficiency Goals and Reported Savings, 2011-2012 (GWh).
| 2011 | 2012 | |||
| Goal | Reported | Goal | Reported | |
| Duke Energy | 257 | 519 | 382 | 487 |
| Georgia Power | 104 | 130 | 203 | 217 |
| TVA | 550 | 559 | 550 | 560 |
| Total | 911 | 1208 | 1135 | 1264 |
As in the past, the majority of the energy efficiency savings came from lighting programs, and we anticipate seeing a shift away from that in upcoming years given the federal lighting standard phase in. Duke Energy introduced some new programs in 2012, including a residential low income program, an appliance recycling program, and a residential behavioral program. TVA and Georgia Power did not roll out any new programs in 2012, but we hope to see some new efficiency offerings come out of their Integrated Resource Plans this year.
As the cost-recovery filings for the other utilities becomes available, we will create a 2012 energy efficiency ranking, as we did last year. Congratulations to Duke Energy, Georgia Power and TVA for achieving their efficiency goals once again!