Building and maintaining a diverse and efficient fleet of power plants is one of our primary responsibilities. But we are equally involved in the development of Energy Efficiency (EE) and Demand Side Management (DSM) programs that can help our customers better manage their electricity use. This, in turn, can help us delay the need to add additional generating capacity.
AEP is actively pursuing the implementation of EE and DSM programs in the states where we provide service. We have active programs in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and Arkansas and will be pursuing programs in our other states.
To fulfill this responsibility, we are engaging in active dialogues with our customers, legislators and regulators, consumer advocates, community leaders and other interested parties to explore opportunities, implement solutions and evaluate results for programs aimed at reducing demand and/or energy consumption. In doing so we are adhering to the following principles:
- Energy efficiency and demand-side management will play crucial roles in meeting our environmental and sustainability goals.
- Cost-effective energy-efficiency and demand-side management programs are
important components of the Integrated Resource Plans we prepare to meet our customers’ energy needs, and
- Regulatory recovery of investments is a threshold requirement to the implementation of demand-side management programs.
AEP has established a goal of reducing peak demand by 1,000 megawatts by the end of 2012, through EE/DSM programs that we offer to our customers, and through efficiency improvements in internal operations. We will also advocate for more stringent building codes and appliance efficiency standards in our states. In addition, we will deploy an advanced metering infrastructure, with the goal of installing “smart” meters in all our jurisdictions by the end of 2015. This infrastructure will facilitate the introduction of additional programs and products to help our customers reduce or shift their demand and reduce their overall energy usage.
