Seattle
City Light, one of the nation’s largest municipal utilities, reinforces
the notion that utilities can effectively offer demand-side management
(DSM) services in regions characterized by low power rates. Despite rates
that rank among the lowest in the nation, Seattle City Light (SCL) exemplifies
dedication to public power and has proven that commitment to social concerns
and energy efficiency can result in exemplary levels of savings through
widespread participation in all sectors of the City’s economy. SCL’s success
can also be measured by its DSM expenditures as a percentage of gross revenues:
In 1993 SCL budgeted a precedent-setting 9.1% of gross revenues for DSM!
Ironically, Seattle City Light was not the instigator of its early emphasis
on energy efficiency. Instead, a lawsuit overturned the utility’s planned
investment in the Washington Public Power Supply System (a proposed series
of nuclear plants) and effectively changed the utility’s course, paving
the way for what has become one of the nation’s leading examples of energy
efficiency. This success has been supported by the Bonneville Power Administration
which over time has funded nearly one-quarter of SCL’s DSM expenditures.
More fundamentally, however, Seattle’s energy efficiency success is a reflection
of Seattle citizens’ wishes to save on their electricity bills. SCL wants
to increase comfort and well-being for all citizens, while fulfilling the
utility’s resource requirements through the most socially responsible and
least cost means possible.
A key feature of Seattle’s DSM efforts has been its dedicated staff,
some of which have been involved in its energy conservation programs since
they began in the late 1970s. Another feature has been the utility’s willingness
to hire its own critics, reaping talent from unlikely places, gaining strength
from adversity, and fully exploiting the talents of a broad array of Seattle’s
population to engage one of the nation’s premier efficiency programs.
Coupled with this staff orientation has been a rock-solid focus on evaluation.
Since 1980 SCL has developed and benefitted from a highly capable DSM Evaluation
Unit. This group provided a solid justification for early energy efficiency
initiatives and is now responsible for carefully assessing the impacts
of SCL’s DSM programs.
Seattle City Light has clearly demonstrated the power of collaboration.
To support energy efficiency for the City’s low-income residents, the utility
has worked closely with Seattle’s Department of Housing and Human Services.
With many other regional utilities it created the Lighting Design Lab,
one of the nation’s first and most successful energy centers. To address
water shortages in the region, it collaborated with other City departments
and utilities to implement the highly successful Home Water Savers program.
These types of collaborations, coupled with its unique business culture
and commitment to its customer/owners, yield a truly exemplary model of
municipal utility DSM success well worthy of examination and replication.
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