Energy Efficiency Program

Lauding it as one of the best examples of the energy reforms underway as part of the state's Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, the New York Public Service Commission has extended and expanded the Brooklyn/Queens Demand Management (BQDM) program, an energy-efficiency and demand-management strategy sponsored and administered by Consolidated Edison Company of New York (ConEd).

According to the commission, ConEd's BQDM, which began in 2014, is expected to save customers approximately $24.5 million over the life of the program. It noted that the energy-reduction measures available under the plan have allowed ConEd to defer construction of a $1 billion substation.

The latest order also adds new elements to the program, including further distributed energy resources, such as fuel cells, solar power, battery storage, and thermal storage, which the commission averred will enable the deferral of other traditional infrastructure. Such deferral will assure additional savings for customers, the commission said. The utility had forecasted that, absent the BQDM program, it would have to construct a new distribution substation along with a new switching station on the existing property and also install more sub-transmission feeders.

The commission reported that the company is well on its way toward procuring more than 52 megawatts of nontraditional customer-side and utility-scale solutions for meeting demand. (Case 14-E-0302)