Update: EM&V Forum Cost-Effectiveness Guidance Project
While many states in our region are national leaders in energy efficiency, there is always room for improvement as efficiency policies are increasingly central to state’s overall policy goals.
Because cost-effectiveness is the public policy instrument that establishes boundaries for energy efficiency investments, the Regional Evaluation Measurement and Verification Forum (
EM&V Forum) aims to shed light on cost-effectiveness screening as practiced by Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
The EM&V Forum, in collaboration with the Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) and Synapse Energy Economics, aims to describe and analyze state practices with regard to cost-effectiveness screening. The project will focus on the following questions:
- What cost-effectiveness tests do states use?
- What key components do states include in those tests?
- How do states measure key test components?
- What is the past history, rationale or policy direction driving the states’ practices?
- Where do states document test inputs?
Stay tuned for a summary of this research coming in September. Moving forward, the Forum and its members will concentrate on guidance pointing the way to improvements in how the tests are applied throughout the region.
A Look at the 2013 New England Regional Avoided Cost Study
Synapse Energy Economics just released an updated version of the
Avoided Energy Supply Cost (AESC) in New England Study for 2013. Conducted every two years for all New England states, results from this study provide consistent dollar values for avoided costs resulting from energy efficiency programs. States can adopt the values with the AESC study as inputs into their individual energy efficiency program cost-effectiveness analysis.
The study includes a variety of benefits such as capacity Demand Reduction Induced Price Effects (DRIPE), energy DRIPE, electricity cross-fuel DRIPE, avoided capacity, avoided energy, and non-embedded CO
2 costs. Results from the updated report will reflect how recent downward trends in natural gas prices affect avoided cost values. We look forward to monitoring how the study impacts future energy efficiency investments in New England.