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Glossary of Terms

Decoupling
To break (decouple) the link between utilities’ profits and their sale of energy. That link between revenue and commodity is established through state regulation of utilities, and it takes state action to change it.

Right now (as according to state mandates), most public utilities make their money from selling more and more electricity. This dynamic means several things, among them: (1) to provide continuous profit to their shareholders, the utility must produce more power and build more plants – an increasingly disconcerting prospect in an era of climate change
and global warming, (2) there is little to no financial incentive for utilities to support energy efficiency, which means the use of less power, and (3) shareholder and ratepayer interests are at odds (a tension that is usually mediated by a state regulatory commission which scrupulously reviews rates structures and price hikes).

When a state passes decoupling, it must then establish an alternative structure for utilities to make a profit. The ideal is for that structure to meet consumers’ needs for environmentally sustainable energy by commodifying energy efficiency (rather than energy) as a resource, and providing utilities with incentives and rewards for pursuing aggressive energy efficiency strategies.

The point is that utilities should be rewarded for helping their consumers use energy more wisely.
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“Iraq and a lot of the skirmishes we are in are about energy. And I think, to put it in a nutshell, we feel it makes more sense to put wind turbines on our prairie instead of our fine young men and women under the prairie."
Kirk Lowell, Concordia KS - home to Meridian Way wind farm
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