Energy efficiency improvements and technology development help conserve energy, improve environmental quality, and hold down the need for new generation facilities. TXU's investment in energy conservation, which has averaged more than $40 million over the past four years, makes the company the leading energy efficiency investor in Texas by a factor of five and the seventh-largest nationally (based on 2004 expenditures).
A PROGRAM FOR EVERYONE
TXU's efficiency programs offer a wide range of services targeting every socio-economic group. Designed to achieve long-lasting energy efficiency savings, the programs offer incentives to contractors to install efficient equipment, weatherize homes, increase energy efficiency in existing and new homes, and retrofit low-income residences. Since the current programs were introduced in 2002, they have reduced peak demand by more than 350 megawatts (MW) and saved 900,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity for more than 226,000 customers. In 2005, 58,000 customers benefited from these programs, reducing system demand by 100 MW and saving more than 251,000 MWh. One MW is enough to power 210 homes for one year, assuming each home uses 16.8 MWh of electricity annually. (see chart)
TXU's residential energy efficiency programs helped 42,700 customers save 93,500 MWh in 2005 while reducing peak demand by 57 MW. The governmentbacked ENERGY STARŪ Homes Market Transformation Program accounted for over half of this demand savings. With the help of ENERGY STARŪ in 2005 alone, Americans saved $12 billion on their energy bills and enough peak energy to power 28 million homes. They also avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from more than 23 million vehicles.
LOW-COST WAYS TO SAVE
Programs that help low-income customers make their homes more energy efficient continue to provide low-cost ways for these homeowners to save energy. TXU's Hard-to-Reach weatherization program, for example, provides payments to contractors for 100 percent of the cost of installing improvements such as attic insulation, weather-stripping, and duct sealing. More than 14,000 customers took advantage of this program in 2005, reducing demand by 10 MW and saving more than 36,200 MWh. Since 2002, almost 65,500 customers have benefited, providing a demand reduction of 29 MW and almost 113,500 MWh in energy savings.
