The pace of the Pacific Northwest’s acquisition of energy efficiency is accelerating compared with recent years, according to new data presented to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The Council reviewed the 2025 Regional Conservation Progress report, which found that the region acquired 182 average megawatts (aMW) in cost-effective efficiency last year – a 14% increase from the year prior.
As loads have grown in the Northwest in recent years, the region has responded by acquiring more efficiency, also known as energy conservation.
The savings were 146 aMW in 2022, 157 aMW in 2023, and 160 aMW in 2024. The 645 aMW of savings over the past four years keeps the region on track to achieve the high end of the target range from the Council’s 2021 Power Plan, which was 750-1,000 aMW between 2022-27.
The Council’s most recent adequacy study identified hitting the top of this range as one important factor to maintaining an adequate power supply in the Northwest in 2029.
Annual electricity consumption in the Northwest has increased for the past three years. In 2025, the four-state region of Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Montana consumed 22,335 aMW; in 2024 it was 21,928 aMW; and 2023's total was 21,695 aMW.
Energy conservation provides electricity consumers savings on their utility bills by lowering energy use and making technologies, household appliances, and end uses more efficient. In 2025, Northwest electricity customers saved $7.9 billion thanks to efficiency, the council said.
"Energy conservation also plays a crucial role in the Northwest’s electricity grid. Conservation has grown to become the second-largest resource on the region’s power system, behind hydroelectricity, when measured by annual energy generated or conserved. Since 1980, counting 2025’s savings, the region has added 8,247 aMW to its power system. Without these efficiency savings, the Northwest's loads would be at least 30% higher than they are today," it said.
“The Pacific Northwest is a national leader in acquiring cost-effective energy conservation,” said Jennifer Light, Director of Power Planning. “Conservation has played a crucial role in our power system’s track record of success over the past two decades. Every year, energy conservation delivers billions of dollars in cost-savings for electricity customers throughout our region.”
Every September, the Council reviews data on energy conservation acquisition in the Northwest from its Regional Conservation Progress surveys.
The survey is conducted by the Regional Technical Forum (RTF), an advisory committee to the Council that develops and maintains a list of eligible energy efficiency measures in the Northwest, and objectively generates peer-reviewed energy savings estimates through robust and unbiased analysis.
The RTF’s survey consults Bonneville Power Administration and BPA’s customer utilities, as well as the Energy Trust of Oregon, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and investor- and consumer-owned utilities in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.
The 2025 survey found that commercial buildings have accounted for over half of the efficiency savings between 2022-25. They were 52% of the four-year total, while the industrial sector accounted for 30%, the residential sector had 15%, and agriculture was 3%. Measures that garnered the most efficiency savings over the past four years included lighting, HVAC, water heating, process loads, refrigeration, motors/drivers, and electronics.
“The Regional Technical Forum and our partners in the Northwest are constantly analyzing and evaluating new and innovative ways to conserve energy,” said Laura Thomas, RTF Manager. “The ways in which we save energy are going to shift and adapt in the future. This highlights the importance of and need for collaborative, unbiased analysis for conservation savings as well as the potential costs. The RTF is excited to work with our partners to ensure that the next 20 years of energy conservation in the Northwest will be as successful as the past 20 years.”
Energy efficiency in the Council’s proposed Ninth Power Plan
The Council voted Aug. 11 to release its draft Ninth Power Plan for a 65-day public comment period. As part of a larger proposed resource strategy to meet growing energy needs in the Northwest by 2032, the plan calls for acquiring 1,060 average megawatts (aMW). The target would be split between 860 aMW (up to $150/MWh) in Oregon and Washington, and 200 aMW (up to $70/MWh) in Idaho and Montana.
"Similar to the 2021 Power Plan, the draft Ninth Plan’s proposed cost-effective conservation savings would come from residential and commercial buildings, the industrial and agricultural sectors, as well as the electricity grid’s distribution system. Additionally, the plan includes a measure to ensure new data centers are built as energy efficiently as possible in the Northwest," it said.
The proposed plan also includes a suite of supporting recommendations to improve energy conservation acquisition in the Northwest, including weatherizing homes with little or no insulation. The recommendations also call for making homes “heat-pump ready” before a heat pump is installed, and ensuring the systems are installed properly to get the maximum efficiency savings. The plan also proposes to invest in heat-pump retro-commissioning, which would fix common installation and commissioning problems, such as installing the wrong size of heat pump or the wrong control settings.
