California’s ambitious energy conservation legislation has created an unusual challenge for the state’s utility companies: to get customers to consume less of their product. Laws that reward utilities for meeting energy reduction targets and punish them for missing the goals have led to unusual business tactics. “It’s a strange business,” Roland Risser, the head of customer energy efficiency for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), told the Wall Street Journal. “You have to do gymnastics to get things moving forward.”
To reduce energy demand for lighting, California utilities have spent millions of dollars subsidizing compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The energy-efficient light bulbs, which can cost several dollars elsewhere, are branded with the utilities’ logos and sell for as little as 25–50 cents in California. PG&E, which may earn or lose up to $180 million over three years under California’s energy conservation laws (depending on whether they meet or miss the reduction targets), enlisted the help of nonprofit groups like the Sierra Club and the Girl Scouts of America to distribute 1 million free CFLs last fall.
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