A legislative proposal to expand the energy savings targets of investor-owned utilities in Texas is unlikely to advance this session, efficiency advocates said Friday.
The Texas House Committee on State Affairs did not vote to advance Senate Bill 258, meaning it is “dead as a standalone bill,” Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, said in an email. “It is a significant disappointment.”
The Texas Senate passed SB 258 on May 2 in a bipartisan vote. The bill would have required utilities to meet a savings target of 1% of annual energy consumption by 2030.
“Probably the most important bill for grid reliability is effectively dead,” energy analyst and Stoic Energy President Doug Lewin wrote in a tweet Thursday. “Demand will continue to grow unchecked causing continued reliability problems in Texas.”
The state’s largest utility opposed the bill, saying the goals rise too quickly and compliance would cost too much.
SB 258 creates “unattainable energy savings goals ... and it drives up the cost of energy efficiency programs, making them prohibitively expensive to fully implement,” Garry Jones, director of energy efficiency at Oncor Electric Delivery, told the Senate in April.
“Our primary concern is related to the acceleration of the goals from 2024 up through 2027,” said Jones. During that period, annual statewide energy efficiency spending would increase from $130 million to almost $400 million, he said. “All of that is directly impacting the customer’s bill.”
Efficiency advocates say reducing electricity demand can help keep the Texas grid stable during periods of high demand and is cheaper than other options lawmakers are considering.
This is the final week of the Texas legislative session and lawmakers are considering proposals that would add billions in revenues for gas generators.
One proposal, SB 2627, would provide for 20-year, zero-interest loans to companies building gas-fired power plants. Also being considered is SB 7, which would add cost caps to the implementation of a performance credit mechanism designed to incentivize generators to be available when the grid is constrained.
Efficiency advocates say the focus on adding gas generation misses an easier opportunity. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy published research this month finding an expansion of utility energy efficiency and demand response programs in Texas could reduce summer peak loads by about 14,800 MW and reduce winter peak loads by about 23,500 MW.
Efficiency advocates say they have not given up on Texas legislators. SB 258 could be amended onto other bills in the last few days of the session, Reed said. “We shall see.”
