The Energy Crisis Gold Rush: Is It Curtailment or Operational Savings?

Reid Hart, Brian Hawley, and Mike Logan, Eugene Water & Electric Board

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Abstract

Soaring electric costs last summer created a rush to shed electric load throughout the western U.S. Eugene Water & Electric Board, a Northwest public utility implemented a curtailment program that shared savings with large customers based on spot market costs. Shutting down production is not an option in the institutional sector. Since there was not time for efficiency measure installation, customers who achieved significant savings turned to traditional operational energy saving techniques. The focus was turning off fans, lights, and computers. One customer used cogeneration to reduce grid load.

This paper looks at the varying levels of success institutional and commercial customers had in reducing energy use and the methods they used to achieve savings. Customer response to a curtailment incentive program was found to be significant compared with savings produced by media coverage of the energy crisis. A case study reviews operational savings methods used at the local university. Persistence of savings activity after the end of the curtailment payment period is also reviewed.