By Jack Fitzpatrick | Cronkite News Service
Arizona is the 12th-most energy-efficient state in the nation this year, the same position the state held last year, according to rankings released Wednesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The state’s utility policies were its greatest strength, scoring twice as high as the national median score. Much of that advantage came from Arizona’s Energy Efficiency Resource Standard, set in 2010 by the state Corporation Commission, said Annie Downs, an ACEEE research analyst.
“The Energy Efficiency Resource Standard is one of the most comprehensive policy efforts that a state can put forward,” she said in a conference call to announce the rankings Wednesday.
Arizona’s Energy Efficiency Resource Standard requires utilities with annual revenue over $5 million to institute energy-saving programs that reduce consumption from year to year. The program started in 2011, with a requirement that utilities show they saved 1.25 percent of the previous year’s sales, using their choice of energy-saving programs.
By the end of 2013, utilities must have saved at least 5 percent of their 2012 energy sold and by 2020 the program will top out at 22 percent savings in energy consumption from the previous year’s levels.
