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errowtn m the region is expected to continue, and power company representatives say the utility will be forced to use rolling blackouts on days of peak demand by 2011 if more power is not transported into the fast-growing communities in the quickly spreading Washington, D.C., suburbs.
A 2005 report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranked Virginia 50th among other states and the District of Columbia in annual per-capita spending — less than 1 cent per person — on energy-efficiency measures.
The Commonwealth also finished second to last in spending as a percentage of annual utility revenues — less than 0.01 percent.
Only Wyoming ranked lower in both categories.
“It’s a national embarrassment,” PEC’s Communications Director Robert Lazaro said. “Here we have a 21st century economy and a 19th century utility.”
Dominion representatives do not discount the value of conservation, but they say consumers already have the information and energy-efficient products available to them from the private marketplace.
“We’ve always believed residential customers can always get products from the private market,” said Jim Norvelle, Dominion’s director of media relations. “We’ve always felt like there’s a lot of information and equipment available for customers.”
Dominion offers energy-saving tips and information about efficient appliances on its Web site.
“Certainly we believe conservation will have a growing role in the future,” Norvelle said. “We’re finding more and more ways to use electricity and we need to look at more and more ways to conserve electricity.”
California, Florida and the New England states have made efforts to conserve electricity, but they are still seeing increased demands on peak days, Norvelle said.
86.5%