NV Energy, Xcel, PG&E, Sempra and Edison International rank the highest for renewable energy sales, with renewable resources accounting for nearly 17 to 21 percent of their retail electricity sales in 2012, according to a report from Ceres and Clean Edge that ranks the US’ largest electric utilities and their local subsidiaries on their renewable energy sales and energy efficiency savings.
Southern Company, SCANA, Dominion, AES and Entergy ranked at the bottom, with renewable energy sales accounting for less than 2 percent of each company’s total power sales.
The report found that many utilities are deploying lower carbon fuel sources and that state policies are a key driver in that performance, but there is variability in performance even among utilities operating in the same states.
A first-of-its-kind report, Benchmarking Utility Clean Energy ranks the 32 largest electric utility holding companies, which collectively account for about 68 percent of 2012 US retail electricity sales, on three clean energy indicators. Five of the 32 companies included in this report accounted for nearly 54 percent of renewable energy sales.
The report also provides data on 87 subsidiary companies — the distribution utilities to which electricity consumers pay their monthly bills. Subsidiaries’ rankings generally tracked with the rankings of their larger parent holding companies — though some outperformed or underperformed their owners and peers.
Energy efficiency top performers among holding companies included PG&E, Edison International, and Northeast Utilities, whose cumulative annual energy efficiency savings were equivalent to 16 to 17 percent of their annual retail electric sales in 2012. PSEG, SCANA, Pepco Holdings, Dominion Resources, and Entergy ranked at the bottom, with cumulative annual energy efficiency savings accounting for less than one percent of their annual retail sales.
The report comes the EPA prepares for July 29-Aug.1 listening sessions on its Clean Power Plan for existing power plants.