Pennsylvania lawmakers this week flipped the switch on the state's
growing demand for electricity, approving several impressive
conservation measures that should allow utility customers to dial down
higher electricity bills over the next few years.
It may not be enough to hold rates, given expected rate shocks
starting
in 2010 with the expiration of rate caps under deregulation. But at
least electricity consumers now have more hope that they'll be able to
trim their own power usage.
So-called smart meters, which enable customers to track electricity
use
during high- and low-cost periods, will be phased in over a 15-year
period, with the costs shared by all utility customers. That's
preferable to earlier proposals that made the meter installations
optional for existing homes and businesses.
Under legislation approved by the state House and Senate and
supported
by Gov. Rendell, utilities are mandated to buy power as cheaply as
possible. On conservation, they're required to help customers limit
growth in electricity use within three years.
By mid-2013, electricity demand has to be reduced by 3 percent over
expected growth in the intervening years, and costly peak demand has to
drop by 4.5 percent.
It's also important that state utility regulators will have the
muscle
to lean on and even penalize utilities that don't meet the goals for
energy use.
Lawmakers and Rendell still need to craft a plan to phase in higher
rate hikes when the caps come off. But the conservation measures
enacted this week - first proposed in the Democrat-controlled House,
then embraced by Republican leaders in the Senate - are good news for
consumers, as well as the environment.
With energy use, it's good to be less powerful.
