Customers who save on electric bills could be forced to pay utility company for lost profits
Louisiana’s major electric utilities are still pushing state regulators to allow them to charge customers for the costs of a new statewide
energy efficiency program and for the electricity customers will no longer need because of that program.
A large group that included Louisiana Public Service Commission staff, utility company executives, consumer advocates and other energy experts met Wednesday to evaluate bids from companies that want to oversee Louisiana’s new energy efficiency program.
The LPSC’s new energy efficiency program will require certain statewide energy savings targets. Hitting those targets could require the administrator to implement things like appliance upgrades for large commercial buildings or smaller efforts like helping low-income customers insulate their homes.
While the idea might seem like a straightforward solution to cut back on waste, utility company executives aren’t very happy with it. In general, utility companies earn more profit when homes and businesses waste electricity. Less waste leads to lower electric bills, which could mean lower profits for the utilities.
Entergy Louisiana and Cleco vehemently opposed the idea and successfully delayed its adoption for years. A consultant the commission hired to write the basic guidelines for the program spent
13 years and over a half-million dollars trying to appease utility companies with agreeable rules.
Fed up with the delays, Commissioner Craig Greene, R-Baton Rouge, ended the stalemate in January and joined with the two Democrats on the commission
in adopting what they say is a more consumer-friendly program than the one the utilities wanted.
Nevertheless, customers will still foot the bill for the program and have been doing so for years. Entergy Louisiana customers can find those fees on their monthly statements billed as “Rider EECR-QS” and “Rider EECR-PE.”
Even though customers are covering all the costs of the program, the utility companies could end up squeezing them for lost profits with so-called “under-earning” fees. The utility companies lobbied the LPSC to keep a provision that allows them to tack on additional charges to make up for profits they miss out on when their customers no longer waste electricity. In other words, the utilities want their customers to pay fees for both the energy efficiency program and for the electricity they will no longer use because of the program.
https://lailluminator.com/2024/07/2...rced-to-pay-utility-company-for-lost-profits/
