On the final day of the legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation introduced by Gov. Martin O’Malley and backed by Maryland PIRG that will provide millions of dollars to help electric customers use energy efficiently. This campaign was a priority for Maryland PIRG over the past year.
“After deregulation killed energy efficiency programs nine years ago, they are finally back,” said Maryland PIRG State Director, Johanna Neumann. “This bill will save consumers money, protect the environment, and help prevent blackouts.”
The EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008, which sets statewide targets to reduce electricity use 15 percent by 2015, passed easily. The Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which gives the State of Maryland the resources to provide energy efficiency programs to customers that utility companies don’t address, was revived twice after heated debates in committee and on the Senate floor.
Bringing Back Efficient Energy
In the 1990s, Maryland’s utility companies used to offer consumers cutting-edge energy efficiency programs. But, as part of the 1999 deregulation of the electric system, utility companies abandoned their energy efficiency programs. Maryland PIRG has been working since then to re-establish energy efficiency programs as a way to lower costs for consumers.
In 2007, Maryland PIRG’s Johanna Neumann brought together a team of experts to write recommendations to the O’Malley administration on energy efficiency. Many of those recommendations were directly incorporated into the EmPOWER Maryland Act.
But developing good policy was only the first step—we came up with a winning strategy and then brought together consumer organizations, environmental groups and green businesses to put the strategy into action.
On Feb. 20, we released a new research report, “Energy Saved, Dollars Earned: Real World Examples of How Energy Efficiency Can Benefit Maryland Consumers,” which makes the case that energy efficiency is the cheapest, fastest and cleanest way to meet Maryland’s energy needs. By showing how other states use energy efficiency programs, we were able to explain to lawmakers that these programs can lower bills, delay the need to build new power plants, create jobs and strengthen the economy.
At a news conference, Bob Longston, a Green Energy Auditor with Home Energy Loss Professionals, said, “Green collar jobs are the next big boom. Companies like mine are hiring and we need skilled laborers who can do the work to help homes and businesses use energy more wisely.”
According to the Maryland Energy Administration, the legislation will save Maryland consumers $1.9 billion by 2015 and $4.1 billion by 2020 in avoided electricity costs and prevent two large fossil fuel power plants from being built in the state.
