JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi is doing more than any other state in the nation to help you save money on your light bill according to a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a Washington D.C.-based energy think tank.
“Mississippi added more points this year than any other state; and earned more than three times the points it earned in 2012” said ACEEE Researcher Annie Downs.
Mississippi’s “most improved” status marks a dramatic turnaround from the year before, where Mississippi was ranked last in the nation.
“For too long, Mississippi has ranked dead last in the nation in the area of energy efficiency. We Commissioners have been determined since the first day in office to get our state off of the bottom in this category,” Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley said. “This was a bi-partisan effort by the Commission to move Mississippi ahead and we succeeded, not by worrying about silly partisan politics but by focusing on solutions and fixing the problems facing our state.”
In July, the Commission unanimously passed groundbreaking energy efficiency rules which will produce an estimated $2 billion savings directly to customers over the next twenty years and create 9,500 private sector, non-governmental jobs by the year 2020. The Commissions’ rules were instrumental in the state’s ranking turnaround, with Mississippi moving from dead last in the nation in 2012 to what ACEEE calls a “new regional leader in energy efficiency.”
