IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v17y1996i1p31-51.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Total Cost and Measured Performance of Utility-Sponsored Energy Efficiency Programs

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Eto
  • Edward Vine
  • Leslie Shown
  • Richard Sonnenblick
  • Chris Payne

Abstract

By examining the actual performance of conservation or demand-side management (DSM) programs for ten utilities, Joskow and Marron (1992) have made an important contribution to policy discussions about the wisdom of relying on utilities to improve customer energy efficiency. We use Joskow and Marrons method to analyze twenty utility commercial lighting programs and, like Joskow and Marron, find wide variations in industry reporting practices and savings evaluation methods. We extend the method by systematically accounting for several of the most important sources of variation and comment on how they influence total program costs. Our accounting also allows us to relate remaining program cost variations to the program sizes and the electric supply costs avoided by the programs. We draw qualified, yet affirmative, conclusions regarding the cost effectiveness of the programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Eto & Edward Vine & Leslie Shown & Richard Sonnenblick & Chris Payne, 1996. "The Total Cost and Measured Performance of Utility-Sponsored Energy Efficiency Programs," The Energy Journal, , vol. 17(1), pages 31-51, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:17:y:1996:i:1:p:31-51
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol17-No1-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol17-No1-3
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol17-No1-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul L. Joskow & Donald B. Marron, 1992. "What Does a Negawatt Really Cost? Evidence from Utility Conservation Programs," The Energy Journal, , vol. 13(4), pages 41-74, October.
    2. Edward Kahn, 1995. "Regulation by Simulation: The Role of Production Cost Models in Electricity Planning and Pricing," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 43(3), pages 388-398, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arguedas, Carmen & van Soest, Daan P., 2009. "On reducing the windfall profits in environmental subsidy programs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 192-205, September.
    2. Schleich, Joachim & Faure, Corinne & Meissner, Thomas, 2021. "Adoption of retrofit measures among homeowners in EU countries: The effects of access to capital and debt aversion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Jenya Kahn-Lang, 2016. "Effects of Electric Utility Decoupling on Energy Efficiency," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(4), pages 297-314, October.
    4. Frondel, Manuel & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2005. "Evaluating environmental programs: The perspective of modern evaluation research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 515-526, December.
    5. Papineau, Maya, 2017. "Setting the standard? A framework for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of building energy standards," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 63-76.
    6. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Antoine Missemer, 2019. "The Economics of Energy Efficiency, a Historical Perspective," CIRED Working Papers halshs-02301636, HAL.
    7. Benjamin F. Hobbs & Yuandong Ji, 1999. "Stochastic Programming-Based Bounding of Expected Production Costs for Multiarea Electric Power System," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(6), pages 836-848, December.
    8. Aalbers, Rob & van der Heijden, Eline & Potters, Jan & van Soest, Daan & Vollebergh, Herman, 2009. "Technology adoption subsidies: An experiment with managers," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 431-442, May.
    9. Paul W. Parfomak & Lester B. Lave, 1996. "How Many Kilowatts are in a Negawatt? Verifying Ex Post Estimates of Utility Conservation Impacts at the Regional Level," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 59-87.
    10. Daniel Sutter, 2017. "Propagandistic Research and the U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency in Ordinary Life and Renewables in Electricity Production," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 14(1), pages 103–120-1, January.
    11. Davis, Lucas & Martinez, Sebastian & Taboada, Bibiana, 2018. "How Effective is Energy-efficient Housing?: Evidence From a Field Experiment in Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8767, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Page Kyle & Leon Clarke & Steven J. Smith & Son Kim & Mayda Nathan & Marshall Wise, 2011. "The Value of Advanced End-Use Energy Technologies in Meeting U.S. Climate Policy Goals," The Energy Journal, , vol. 32(1_suppl), pages 61-88, June.
    13. Peter Grosche & Colin Vance, 2009. "Willingness to Pay for Energy Conservation and Free-Ridership on Subsidization: Evidence from Germany," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 135-154.
    14. Peter Grösche & Colin Vance, 2009. "Willingness to Pay for Energy Conservation and Free-Ridership on Subsidization: Evidence from Germany," The Energy Journal, , vol. 30(2), pages 135-154, April.
    15. Mark Jaccard & Alison Bailie & John Nyboer, 1996. "CO2, Emission Reduction Costs in the Residential Sector: Behavioral Parameters in a Bottom-Up Simulation Model," The Energy Journal, , vol. 17(4), pages 107-134, October.
    16. Houde, Sebastien & Aldy, Joseph E., 2014. "Belt and Suspenders and More: The Incremental Impact of Energy Efficiency Subsidies in the Presence of Existing Policy Instruments," RFF Working Paper Series dp-14-34, Resources for the Future.
    17. Joseph Eto & Suzie Kito & Leslie Shown & Richard Sonnenblick, 2000. "Where Did the Money Go? The Cost and Performance of the Largest Commercial Sector DSM Programs," The Energy Journal, , vol. 21(2), pages 23-49, April.
    18. Kahn, Edward, 1998. "Introducing competition to the electricity industry in Spain: the role of initial conditions," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 15-22, March.
    19. Toshi H. Arimura, Shanjun Li, Richard G. Newell, and Karen Palmer, 2012. "Cost-Effectiveness of Electricity Energy Efficiency Programs," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    20. Anna Alberini, Will Gans, and Charles Towe, 2016. "Free Riding, Upsizing, and Energy Efficiency Incentives in Maryland Homes," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:17:y:1996:i:1:p:31-51. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.