This is another little tidbit from Resource Supply Management’s November issue of Carolina Regulatory Update. (see post below)
Duke Energy’s New Home Energy Program
On October 3, 2014, Duke Energy filed a request with the NCUC for approval of its My Home Energy Report Program. In its request, Duke Energy projects that the program will save 31.65 MW per year over a five-year period and projects total benefits over the life of the program to be $41.2 million. But Duke Energy also projects the program to cost $27.4 million with net lost revenue of $53.7 million over the life of the program. If our readers are lost in the numbers, welcome to the wonderful world of utility regulation. This is a program that theoretically saves, but in reality costs. And Duke Energy is recommending that the customer pay for it as a part of the DSM/EE rider.
DSM stands for “Demand Side Management” a central planning scheme that has been behind North Carolina’s renewable portfolio standard otherwise known as Senate Bill 3. EE stands for energy efficiency, which as discussed here is a concept that has nothing to do with real economic efficiency.
