Interactions between Energy Efficiency Programs funded under the Recovery Act and Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs

This report focuses on a selected set of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funded energy efficiency programs administered by state energy offices: the State Energy Program (SEP) formula grants, the portion of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) formula funds administered directly by states, and the State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program (SEEARP). The report summarizes the energy efficiency program design and funding choices made by the 50 state energy offices, 5 territories and the District of Columbia and then focuses on the specific choices made in 12 case study states.

These states were selected based on the level of utility customer program funding, diversity of program administrator models, and geographic diversity. Based on interviews with more than 80 energy efficiency actors in those 12 states, observations are drawn about states’ strategies for use of Recovery Act funds. Interactions are examined between ARRA programs and utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs in terms of program planning, program design and implementation, policy issues, and potential long-term impacts. The report considers how the existing regulatory policy framework and energy efficiency programs in these 12 states may have impacted development of these selected ARRA programs. Key trends are summarized and issues are highlighted that evaluators of these ARRA programs may want to examine in more depth in their process and impact evaluations.