By Lisa Lee
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Duke Energy (DUK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) wants to change the model for the incentives now used to reduce electricity demand so that power companies get paid when customers use less electricity.
"We are specifically involved in promoting and pushing a regulatory change, really a paradigm shift," Keith Trent, chief strategy, policy and regulatory officer for Duke Energy, told the Reuters Global Environment Summit in a telephone interview.
"We call that our save-a-watt model," he said.
Duke Energy is backing a plan in which power companies would be rewarded for driving energy savings similar to the way they now benefit from building new power plants.
"The beauty of the save-a-watt model is that it treats energy efficiency like a fuel source," Trent added.
The company has filed for approval for its energy efficiency model with Carolina state regulators. It intends to file with Indiana authorities later this month, Trent said, and anticipates making similar filings in Ohio and Kentucky.
If approved in all five locations, the company projects that it could avoid building 6,200-megawatts of generating capacity by 2017, Trent said.
Duke would not disclose the amount it would spend on building 6,200 megawatts. The company is asking state regulators to approve a proposal for it to receive 90 percent of the cost it would have spent to build new power generation. Continued...
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