Anyone who thinks that utility rate-making policies are dull, boring and too esoteric to be meaningful, should recall the gyrations that American Electric Power and Allegheny Energy went through here in West Virginia to justify new transmission lines like PATH and TrAIL. They launched this huge PR campaign, bought off politicians, and did near constant advertising, all to capture the "incentive rates of return" offered for new transmission lines. Now imagine where we would be if the utility had a similar incentive to promote energy efficiency, instead of energy sales.

This is a truly transformative campaign, and I urge our WV Chapter Energy Committee that means you) to learn more about it.

If we can not explain utility rates to our friends and neighbors, how will we ever convince the politicians?

Jim Kotcon Energy Committee Chair.

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Becki Clayborn becki.clayborn@sierraclub.org Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 12:19 PM Subject: Intro to Efficiency and Utility Rate Making To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS@lists.sierraclub.org

To: Coal-Campaign-Alerts@lists.sierraclub.org From: Jen Miller via Becki Clayborn

Save the Date! Intro to Efficiency and Utility Rate Making March 8, 2012 @ 3PM EST and 8PM EST

In traditional utility rate making, a utility makes more money when it sells more power. As coal fighters and efficiency advocates, we need to advocate for a new utility business model which prioritizes investments in energy efficiency and helps us retire coal and other dirty forms of energy. This introductory webinar is for Sierrans only and will be taught by a champion for the environment and consumers, Janine Migden Ostrander of the Regulatory Assistance Project. Building upon our recent Energy Efficiency 101 webinar, Janine will teach us the basics about energy efficiency and ratemaking. We will learn about different incentive mechanisms, decoupling, and much more. Watch for a future email with registration information!

thanks

jen