In 1999, Texas was the first state in the country to establish an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS). However, since then Texas has seen its ranking on demand reductions goals drop far behind other states with similar policies. The most recent changes to the Texas goal were in 2012 and established the Texas EERS goal to be 30% reduction of load growth for investor-owned utilities (IOU) and once that is met the goal changes to 0.4% of peak demand for the IOU. Texas’ annual electricity as a percent of state energy sales is also last in the nation, a full percentage point behind the national average. SPEER believes improved energy efficiency goals can significantly reduce total demand on the grid and help all Texans keep the power on.