Maryland PIRG is working to reduce energy use in Maryland as a way to lower utility bills, create jobs, and get Maryland on the path to a cleaner and smarter energy future.
One crucial step is to set up programs to help individuals and businesses use energy more wisely. Maryland’s utilities used to offer energy efficiency programs, but stopped them after deregulation in 1999. Now we’re working to get well-run programs back in action as soon as possible.
How Efficiency Programs Work
Here’s an example: Let’s say you need to replace the furnace in your house and you choose an energy-efficient furnace. A more efficient furnace is often more expensive than the standard model, but will actually be cheaper to operate over it’s lifespan. In a well-run energy-efficient appliance program, a utility will pay you the difference in up-front costs for choosing the energy-efficient furnace, and that difference gets paid back through savings on your energy bill. Once the difference is paid off, you see the benefits of a lower utility bill for the remainder of the life of the furnace.
There are dozens of other programs like this. This fall Maryland PIRG filed testimony at the Public Service Commission, made policy recommendations to the Maryland Energy Administration, and this spring we will be working hard to pass energy-efficiency measures through the General Assembly.
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