oh, louisiana [link friday, 3.8]

In December 2012, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved a statewide program that would have given consumers and small businesses incentives to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and to buy energy efficient appliances.

The initiative gave electric utilities and natural gas providers about a year to develop programs that would have likely offered residential and business customers incentives for making improvements that lower their electricity use.

But then, the PSC went back on their approval and halted plans for the program. And the main given reason is the program's cost for small businesses, because utility companies would be able to charge their customers for energy efficiency initiatives. PSC members who voted for the energy efficiency program maintained that long-term, the energy efficiency program would save businesses money by lowering their utility use and that 46 other states have embraced similar programs.

The initiative will likely be revisited within the next few months, when the commission would hire new researchers to undertake a more thorough review into the costs and benefits of such a program. The next PSC business and executive committee will take place in Baton Rouge on March 20.

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