Duke, NC public staff reach agreement on energy efficiency rider

Duke, NC public staff reach agreement on energy efficiency rider

By Amy Poszywak

Duke Energy Carolinas LLC has reached a settlement with a number of intervenors in its request to adjust the fuel and energy efficiency components of customer bills.

The Duke Energy Corp. subsidiary had on March 6 filed an application with the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval of a new demand-side management and energy efficiency cost recovery mechanism, along with a portfolio of new demand-side management and energy efficiency programs.

The proposed changes are meant to replace the utility's Save-a-Watt pilot program, which ends in December.

The settlement was reached between the utility, the public staff of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the majority of intervenors to the case, including the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The parties agreed, among other things, that Duke Energy Carolinas' annual demand-side management and energy efficiency rider be determined according to the agreement's terms and conditions. Additionally, the parties to the agreement will review the terms and conditions of the mechanism every four years and submit any proposed changes to the NCUC.

The settlement also asks that the portfolio of demand-side management and energy efficiency programs that Duke Energy Carolinas filed be approved as is, with a few exceptions. First, they should be approved without a specific term; second, Duke Energy Carolinas must clarify that its proposed nonresidential smart saver custom program and nonresidential smart saver custom energy assessments program do not exclude bottoming-cycling combined heat and power or the waste heat recovery components of topping-cycle combined heat and power.

Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the company has until Aug. 20 to file revised testimony and exhibits calculating the proposed riders in accordance with the changes to the mechanism pursuant to the agreement.

Following an Aug. 20 hearing on the settlement before the commission, parties now have 30 days to file proposed orders and briefs. The commission is expected to issue its final order later in the fall, according to Sam Watson, general counsel for the NCUC. (Docket No. E-7 Sub 1032)