Cuts in Conservation

More hallmarks of the energy crisis are becoming relics at Southern California Edison, which is dropping some of its residential energy-savings programs and slashing its 1987 budget for conservation by 25%.

Under a budget approved last week by the California Public Utilities Commission, Edison will scrap its low-interest loans for home projects intended to cut energy use, narrow its program of home energy audits and drop certain rebates on money spent to save energy.

Most of the remaining $10.7-million budget, the PUC said, will be aimed at special interest groups such as low-income customers, senior citizens, the handicapped and those who don’t speak English.

A spokeswoman for Edison said the action wasn’t prompted by declining interest among customers but by the belief at the utility and the PUC that the customers who don’t avail themselves of the programs shouldn’t have to subsidize those who do.

The cost to Edison of such programs is rolled into rates paid by all customers. Trimming the program in 1987 will cut the average residential bill by about 40 cents a month, according to the PUC.

Several residential programs will remain available, including cash rebates for customers who weatherize their homes, install more efficient heating and cooling equipment, and take other steps to save energy around the home. The rebate program being dropped is limited to conservation measures in common areas of apartment buildings, condominiums and mobile home parks.

The conservation programs were implemented at utilities in the 1970s, when energy costs were going up dramatically. The commission said: “Although the PUC still encourages conservation as a hedge against future energy price increases, the PUC’s policy now is to limit what is rolled into customers’ rates only to those programs that have societal benefits.”