Energy Central – Coronavirus-Related Restrictions Affecting Energy Efficiency Efforts

The restrictions being put in place to control the novel coronavirus are having an effect on energy efficiency efforts by electric utilities and others.

With many areas requiring residents to work from home unless their job is considered critical, much energy efficiency work that needs to be performed in person, ranging from energy audits to construction projects, is being postponed or cancelled. For example, Southern California Edison has suspended all energy audits and instead is promoting its online energy tool for residential customers.

SCE also is trying to help its customers who are working at home keep their energy bills down in other ways, such as by posting a story called “Your Guide to Teleworking and Energy Efficiency” on its Energized news site. The story offered four easy-to-follow tips for people whose residences are now their offices, the simplest of which involves opening curtains in the daytime so they don’t have to turn on their electric lights as much.

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