Economic assessment of residential retrofit electricity conservation measures: consumer and utility perspectives. Staff report

Analyses of conservation technologies have typically concentrated on consumer investment criteria. This has had the effect of seriously limiting the ability to compare conservation measures directly to energy supply options. A methodology is demonstrated that allows comparison of the cost effectiveness of conservation measures from three different perspectives: a private consumer's perspective (with and without policy incentives); a utility's short-run perspective; and a utility's long-run perspective. Nineteen residential electrical conservation measures currently available were analyzed. From the consumer's perspective, the cost of conserving energy was compared with the price the consumer is expected to pay for electricity over the next 10 years. For the utility's short-run perspective, the cost of conserving energy was compared to the fuel cost of generating that electricity (taking into account time of day and season of energy savings). In the utility's long-run perspective, the cost of conserving energy was compared with the cost of electricity from various existing and new generation facilities. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG and E) was the utility analyzed.