Louisiana’s Energy Efficiency 'Slush Fund': $80 Million, Few Rules • Louisiana Illuminator

Louisiana’s energy efficiency 'slush fund': $80 million, few rules • Louisiana Illuminator

A new state-of-the art LED lighting system was added to Southern University’s A.W. Mumford football stadium in Baton Rouge after it was granted $1.27 million for the lights from the Louisiana PSC’s Public Entities program. (John Oubre / Southern University)When a lighting contractor approached the Iberia Parish School District in Louisiana and offered it no-strings attached money for energy efficiency upgrades, Harry Lopez, manager of maintenanc…

Louisiana’s $80M energy efficiency program is under fire

A little-known Louisiana program has funneled nearly $80 million into energy efficiency upgrades for schools, parks, and other public buildings—without competitive bidding or independent oversight, Floodlight writes.  Funded by utility ratepayers and overseen by the state’s Public Service Commission, the initiative has helped install energy-saving lights and HVAC systems statewide. But critics, including consumer advocates and a sitting commissi…

$80 million, few rules: Louisiana’s energy efficiency ‘slush fund’

When a lighting contractor approached the Iberia Parish School District in Louisiana and offered it no-strings attached money for energy efficiency upgrades, Harry Lopez, manager of maintenance for the district said, “Flags went up, of course.”Lopez had a reason to be cautious. Advocates and contractors alike say there isn’t a single program in the country that offers free money for efficiency upgrades to schools or other public buildings — exce…