Cost-Saving Two-fer: Efficiency Reduces Total Electricity Needs and Peak Demand

Electricity systems are designed to meet peak demand — the maximum load during a specified period, typically in summer — even if that demand occurs only a few hours in a year. Yet most evaluations of electricity efficiency programs focus on reductions in annual energy use. However, these efficiency programs are also delivering peak demand savings at an affordable cost. We will discuss the findings from a new study, Peak Demand Savings from Efficiency: Opportunities and Practices, by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) that explores the program administrator (PA) cost – or the cost to implement an energy efficiency program to a utility or third party administrator – of saving peak demand through efficiency programs for electric utility customers.