Missed Opportunities: The Impacts of Recent Policies on Energy Efficiency Programs in Midwestern States

In recent years, several Midwestern states have adopted or proposed policies with substantial impacts on the effectiveness of ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs. Some of these states are restricting their programs through regulatory orders and legislative actions by limiting funding, repealing efficiency standards or targets, exempting large business customers, or failing to adopt progressive proposals on energy efficiency policies.

On behalf of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Synapse Energy Economics assessed the impacts of recently adopted or proposed energy efficiency policies for six selected Midwestern states, namely Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Our analysis found the adoption of these regressive policies (or the failure to adopt progressive policies) results in substantially large, missed opportunities to provide multiple benefits for the region. The benefits we analyzed in this study include reduced energy use, energy bill savings, reduced emissions from greenhouse gases and other pollutants, reduced health care costs, and new jobs.