Des Moines, Iowa — An energy efficiency plan for the electric utility company that serves Sheldon and other areas of northwest Iowa has been approved by regulators.
A five-year energy efficiency plan filed by MidAmerican Energy Company has been approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, or IUB. The company’s plan, approved for 2019-2023, includes 14 energy efficiency and demand response programs with a proposed total budget of $256 million.
The utilities board says that MidAmerican’s plan as approved contains approximately $709 million in net electric benefits and more than $41 million in net natural gas benefits, projected to cumulatively save 767 million kilowatt-hours and 8.3 million therms. The IUB determined MidAmerican’s plan meets cost-effectiveness testing; includes programs for residential, commercial and industrial customer classes; and projects expenses that fall within budget parameters defined by Iowa Code.
Information from the board says that Iowa law allows customers of rate-regulated utility companies to request an exemption from participating in an energy efficiency plan if a plan does not meet the threshold 1.0 score on a cumulative rate-payer impact test. MidAmerican’s plan score of 1.09 does not trigger that exemption for the utility’s customers.
MidAmerican’s total energy efficiency spending under the plan is approximately $163 million for electric and $33 million for natural gas, or about 2 percent of the company’s expected retail electric revenues and 1.5 percent of the expected retail natural gas revenues during plan years. MidAmerican’s demand response spending under the plan is approximately $60 million.
