Skip to main content

State Energy Efficiency Resource Standards

MCLI Recommendation: “States should adopt EERS’s with an aggressive initial annual savings level that ratchets up each year, and should periodically reexamine and strengthen the required savings level as more-efficient technologies evolve.”

LPDD Recommendation: “States should design and implement effective energy efficiency programs to achieve annual energy savings equal to at least 2% of utility electricity sales (the current average is 0.71%) and increase over time, and states who aim to lead on energy efficiency should set the minimum level at 3% or higher.”

Filter by resource type

19 resources

Example States and State Governments

New Jersey’s EERS

2019’s A-3723 requires each utility to implement energy efficiency measures to reduce electricity usage by 2 percent and natural gas usage by 0.75 percent annually. In 2020, NJ’s PUC issued an order r...
Resource States and State Governments

Maryland’s GHG Reduction Requirements through EERS

Maryland’s HB 864 directs the state’s public service commission to establish GHG emissions reduction targets for utilities as part of a suite of revisions to the state’s EmPOWER Maryland efficiency pr...
Example States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ EERS

Massachusetts’ Green Communities Act requires that electric and gas utilities procure all cost-effective energy efficiency, which requirements the state’s PUC administers on a three-year planning cycl...
Example States and State Governments

New Mexico’s HB 291

New Mexico’s HB 291 requires utilities to enhance their energy efficiency programs. The law set a new 2025 target to achieve savings of 5% relative to 2020 sales, raised the cap on efficiency spending...
Resource States and State Governments

Report, Reimagining Energy Efficiency Resource Standards

This report examines how states consider energy efficiency in the context of four policy priorities: providing grid benefits, addressing load growth, reducing emissions, and promoting affordability. I...
Example States and State Governments

New York’s EERS

New York’s 2019 Climate Mobilization Act established a 2030 goal to increase energy efficiency from 2012 levels by 23%. The Act also incorporated the governor’s previous target of 185 trillion Btus of...
Example States and State Governments

Minnesota HF 164

This bill changes Minnesota’s current energy savings goal from 1.5% of annual retail energy sales of electricity and natural gas to 2.5%. These energy savings may be achieved through multiple measures...
Example States and State Governments

EmPower Maryland

EmPOWER Maryland, the state’s energy efficiency program, requires utilities to achieve energy savings reductions equivalent to two percent of sales per year for the 2020-2030 program cycle based on 20...
Resource States and State Governments

Consortium for Energy Efficiency Annual Industry Report

The Consortium for Energy Efficiency has prepares an annual industry report on US and Canadian program industry energy efficiency and demand response budgets, expenditures, and savings, including an a...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE Report, How Utility Energy Efficiency Programs Can Use New Federal Funding

The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) together provide approximately $50 billion for energy efficiency implementation. The programs funded by these laws can...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

ACEEE publishes an annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard that ranks states on their policy and program efforts, not only assessing performance but also documenting best practices and recognizing le...
Example States and State Governments

Minnesota’s Efficiency Cost-Effectiveness Test

The Minnesota Department of Commerce adopted a new cost-effectiveness test last month that will be used to assess utility energy efficiency programs in the state. New features of the cost test, includ...
Example States and State Governments

Rhode Island’s EERS

Rhode Island’s Comprehensive Energy Conservation, Efficiency and Affordability Act of 2006 establishes a Least Cost Procurement mandate, requiring utilities to acquire all cost-effective energy effici...
Resource States and State Governments

New Jersey’s Clean Energy Act

On May 23, 2018 Governor Murphy signed the Clean Energy Act P.L.2018, c.17. The Clean Energy Act adopts several measures, including: Renewable Portfolio Standard: Requires 35% of the energy sold in th...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE State EERS Database and Toolkits

ACEEE maintains a database of existing state EERS’s and recommends best practices. Their toolkits include model EERS language, guides to program construction, and progress reports on state experience.
Example States and State Governments

New Hampshire’s SB 284

In 2019’s SB 284, New Hampshire established a statewide, multi-use online energy data platform, allowing consumers to monitor their energy usage and encourage energy efficient behaviors.
Resource States and State Governments

Report, Next Generation Energy Efficiency Resource Standards Update

This report studies what are termed “next generation” elements of energy efficiency resource standards. Of the 26 states with an EERS, 23 (including DC) have next generation features to use the EERS t...
Resource States and State Governments

ACEEE Report, Energy Efficiency Resource Standards: A Progress Report on State Experiences

This 2014 ACEEE report tracks the progress of the 26 states with EERS policies in place as to determine whether they are meeting annual targets, and also examines complementary policy mechanisms that ...
Resource States and State Governments

Database of State Efficiency Screening Practices

The National Efficiency Screening Project provides a Database of State Efficiency Screening Practices. The purpose of the DSESP is to provide information regarding state cost-effectiveness screening p...