SAN ANTONIO CITY COUNCIL APPROVES NEW ENERGY EFFICIENCY & CONSERVATION PROGRAM
San Antonio City Council Approves New 5-Year Program for Energy Conservation, Innovative Technology, and Support for Energy Burdened Customers
June 16, 2022 (SAN ANTONIO) – The San Antonio City Council voted today 7-3 to continue the critical mission of helping customers reduce their energy use and bills while improving the environment through energy efficiency and conservation. The approved plan for CPS Energy’s evolution of the award-winning Save for Tomorrow Energy Plan (STEP), will be funded as a $350 million initiative over the next five years. This average bill impact will continue to be $3.50 per month to an energy bill.
The program goals include 410 megawatts (MW) of demand reduction, 1% energy savings per year, 16,000 weatherized homes and 1.85 million tons of avoided carbon.
“This new program continues with the simple mission of reducing the demand for power but has more innovative programs to incentivize and assist customers, including wider access to programs for low-to-moderate income customers,” said CPS Energy Interim President & CEO Rudy Garza.
This plan includes weatherization in single homes for the most vulnerable customers along with multifamily units; community and other solar offerings for more low-to-moderate income customers; energy storage, electric vehicle (EV) charging; educational curriculum to promote behavioral change towards energy conservation; demand response in the form of enabled technology like smart thermostats both in homes and businesses; and, support for the commercial sector to become more efficient through traditional energy efficiency rebates and new programs.
“This new proposal addresses bill savings, equity, emissions reduction, technology innovation to help business and homes, and demand response which supports reliability and resiliency,” said Garza. “It’s also a good investment for our community to achieve our collective mission and meet the City of San Antonio’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) goals.”
Since June 2021, CPS Energy has held a dozen collaborative sessions to design a new program with feedback from the Board of Trustees, Rate Advisory Committee (RAC), Citizens Advisory Committee, the Municipal Utilities Commission, and public comment during the Board and RAC meetings.
The current STEP program expires on July 31, 2022. With today’s approval, CPS Energy will work to finalize additional details, including public awareness and community outreach plans to once again partner with our customers for community-wide benefits.
“We thank City Council for the continued support. The cheapest and cleanest form of energy is the one that is not used through energy efficiency and conservation. STEP allows us to achieve this and, together, we can create a more sustainable San Antonio,” added Garza.
For more information about STEP, visit the STEP webpage here on cpsenergy.com.
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About CPS Energy
Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation’s largest public power, natural gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively-priced service to more than 884,811 electric and 366,709 natural gas customers in San Antonio and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers’ combined energy bills rank among the lowest of the nation’s 20 largest cities – while generating $8 billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for more than seven decades. As a trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation, economic development, and educational investment. We are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the community is demonstrated through our employees’ volunteerism in giving back to our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in Texas for solar generation.
