Maryland will fall short of its mandated goals to cut power consumption by 15 percent in five years unless utility companies are forced to revise their energy efficiency programs, according to a public advocacy group.

In a report released Wednesday, the Maryland Public Interest Research Group also urges the state to return money to its home energy efficiency program that was shifted to energy bill assistance for the poor, claiming efficiency work - caulking, insulating and the like - will save the most energy.

Since Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. supplies 52 percent of the state's energy needs, it holds most of the potential for electrical energy savings, the report said. Hence the largest section of the report dwells on BGE.

"The good news is that BGE's energy efficiency programs are up and running," said MaryPIRG State Director Johanna Neumann. "The bad news is that BGE was slow to get started and its plans fall far short of the energy savings Marylanders desperately need."

The report claims BGE will only attain 52 percent of its energy use reduction goal by next year and 63 percent by 2015. The overall goal of the 2015 EmPower Maryland Act is to reduce the energy consumed in 2007 by 15 percent.

The utility denies it was slow to get going and argues the energy-saving goals of the EmPower legislation were aspirational more than attainable.

"The goal is useful, it's an aggressive target," said Mark Case, BGE's senior vice president for strategy and regulatory affairs. "It would be a huge accomplishment if we could get to those goals."

But he said it was not likely to happen.

The MaryPIRG report urged the state Public Service Commission to hold utilities to the goals nevertheless.

"When the goals were first enacted, BGE and others said they should be aspirational," Neumann said. "But no one argued the goals were not achievable. The are achievable if the utilities and the state set up the right kind of programs."

Marylanders used 18 percent more energy per person in 2009 than they did in 1990. Household electric bills have soared some 30 percent since the state deregulated the industry in 1999, according to the report.

The EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act was passed in 2008 with a two-pronged approach meant to reduce peak-period demand and boost energy efficiency in order to avoid building expensive power plants and transmission lines. Utility companies are to implement programs that will account for two-thirds of the goal, with government programs handling the remainder.

Before the legislation passed, Maryland had spent a paltry sum investing in energy efficiency. In 2004 the state spent 1 cent per capita on energy efficiency, compared to $22.54 in Vermont and $10.60 in California, the report said.

Benefits all around

The report said meeting the efficiency goals would create savings for power customers, create jobs and reduce public health and environmental impacts by reducing power plant pollution, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 7 million metric tons and slashing other pollutants.

The program also takes aim at reducing peak demand, which BGE addresses through several programs. The MaryPIRG report commends the utility for doing so, but concludes customers with high utility bills would be better helped by improving energy efficiency through insulation or appliances that consume less energy.

The utility points to several programs in place that have helped reduce use, like energy audits and rebates on appliances, and is looking forward to implementing its Smart Grid program now before the Public Service Commission.

"We are going gangbusters in all aspects of (this effort), and have had particularly tremendous results on the peak demand side. But I would also put our efficiency track record against any company," Case said.

The Smart Grid program would put new interactive "smart" meters on homes, allowing the utility to check hourly power consumption and use that information to urge homeowners to reduce consumption at peak hours and year round.

Customers will pay for those meters via a monthly charge ranging from 6 cents to $2, Case said.

"We hope to have meters installed in three years," he said.

But those meters are unproven on such a large scale and MaryPIRG, while welcoming the variety of BGE programs that will help reduce usage, says the money might be spent better elsewhere.

"BGE is talking about all that investment at the expense of tried and true efficiency measures," Neumann said. "A smart meter doesn't seal air leaks and doesn't install insulation."

It makes sense to install modern equipment during an infrastructure upgrade or when the old one fails, Neumann said, "but a smart grid is no replacement for energy efficiency."

Read article at Maryland Gazette web site