On hot summer days, utilities may have to resort to using older, dirtier backup plants, demand response programs help avoid this. (Photo: Flickr)

Last Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to give the state’s three largest utilities approval to spend a total of nearly $350 million on energy saving demand-response measures. Edison International’s electric utility will spend around $188.8 million on demand response programs over the next three years, Pacific Gas and Electric around $109 million, and Sempra Energy’s electric utility around $51.6 million.

Demand response programs are a critical step in preventing global warming pollution. California’s peak daily power usage is generally somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 megawatts of electricity a day, but on extremely hot days when air-conditioning use is high, utilities must generate up to 50 percent more electricity. On these occasions, utilities are forced to employ the use of older, dirtier backup plants, known as ‘peaker plants’ that rely on fossil-fuels. The cost of reserving peaker plants for only a few hundred hours of service a summer can be more than one billion dollars annually.

By enrolling in demand response programs and cutting energy use during peak hours, business customers can help avoid the need for peaker plants, prevent rolling blackouts and contribute to cleaning California’s air.

• Download the 2006 Demand Response List of Programs to find a program for your company
• Read background: “Calif Regulators Approve $350 Million For Utility Power Conservation,” by Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires (8/20/09)
• Read background: “Listening to the Price of Power: New Thermostats Could Save Billions,” by Gordy Slack, Physorg.com (8/12/09)
• Related: “Flex Alerts Help Keep Energy Outlook Bright for Summer 2009” (e-Newswire, 6/02/09)
• Learn more about demand response programs from Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric