Power of the Utility Customer in Decarbonization

While the world focuses on supply-side solutions to decarbonization, there are utility customer actions that drive decarbonization faster and more affordably today. A key equitable decarbonization tool comes in the form of utility demand-side management programs. Recent research by the Brattle Group from September 2021 quantifies the emissions benefits of customer actions in 2030 and 2040 and this session will examine those results. While efficiency is the largest and most affordable near-term solution, the research also explores the roles of home electrification, and EV and rooftop solar adoption – all decarbonization solutions in the hands of the individual. This research helps quantify and communicate how customers, utilities and their regulators can view – and maximize – customer benefits from decarbonization.

Speaker:

• Samantha Caputo, Manager, Regulatory Affairs and Market Development, Oracle Utilities
  

Host:

• Kelsey Brasil, Project Manager, DiscoverEE Hub, Efficiency Canada

Further Resources

• From Oracle Utilities:
  • The Brattle Group’s Customer Action Pathway Report highlights the role of customer action, including energy efficiency, home electrification, behind-the-meter solar, and electric vehicles, in reducing GHG emissions. This report found that by 2040, actions by utility customers can reduce nearly two times more GHG emissions than would result from current policies to promote investments in clean energy supply alone.
  • The Analysis Group’s Role of Behavioral Energy Efficiency in Decarbonization Report compares BEE and structural energy efficiency (SEE) programs and their potential for avoided climate damages. A key finding from this report highlights that BEE and SEE programs should complement each other because BEE achieves significant avoided climate damages at scale each year that the program is implemented, whereas SEE programs achieve great long-term avoided climate impacts, but take longer to scale.
• From the International Energy Agency:
  • An article about the Potential of Behavioral Interventions for Optimizing Energy Use at Home was published in 2021. This examines how behavioural insights can enhance the impact of energy efficiency policy and cites various additional resources, including the IEA World Energy Outlook 2020 that states a “combination of end-use efficiency gains, electrification and behaviour change will be required in order to meet the target of net‑zero emissions by 2050”.
  • IEA considers behaviour an essential strategy in achieving decarbonization goals. For instance, IE’s Net Zero by 2050 roadmap includes behaviour, which was highlighted in an IEA article from October 2021 that states behaviour changes accounts for four percent of cumulative emissions reduction in achieving net zero emissions by 2050.