Governor O’Malley’s 15 Strategic Policy Goals

9. Reduce Per Capita Electricity Consumption in Maryland by 15% by 2015

To ensure affordable, reliable, cleaner energy in Maryland, the O’Malley-Brown Administration, in partnership with Maryland’s utility companies and the Public Service Commission, has launched the EmPOWER Maryland program and developed a plan to decrease electricity consumption in Maryland.  The EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008 sets targets to reduce both per capita energy consumption and per capita peak demand by 15 percent by the end of 2015 (based on a 2007 baseline).

Progress to Date

peak demand graph
energy consumption graph
EmPOWER Maryland’s peak demand response programs continued their strong results in 2011, dropping to per capita peak demand to 2.33 MW.  This represents a 3 percent reduction from 2010 and 61 percent of the state’s 2015 goal. 

In 2011, Maryland’s per capita electricity consumption dropped to 11.69 MWh, a decrease of nearly 4 percent from the previous year and 34 percent of the 2015 goal.   EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency programs have saved Marylanders more than 1.26 million MWh of electricity through 2011. 

Strategies

  • Provide energy efficient appliance rebates;
  • Establish home performance with ENERGY STAR programs;
  • Conduct energy efficiency retrofits to reduce energy bills for low and moderate income families;
  • Leverage public and private investments to offer local governments a clean energy loan program for their citizens;
  • Provide EmPOWERing Clean Energy Communities grants to support energy efficiency projects that generate significant energy savings;
  • Develop programs to assist with code compliance;
  • Partner with academic institutions to expand energy related job training opportunities;
  • Provide financial assistance to help Maryland businesses and institutions implement energy efficient upgrades; and
  • Expand SALP, a program which provides zero interest loans to state agencies for energy efficient improvements.