SEEA:

History

The concept of an energy efficiency alliance in the Southeast began back in 2003 when it was realized that the Southeast was the last major region in the United States without an established regional energy efficiency alliance, even though the Southeast was experiencing record growth and increasing air quality problems.  The Southeast region is the nation’s leader in population, as well as net in-migration, and is consistently ranked among the nation’s fastest growing regions.  Yet, the Southeast spends only one-fifth the national average, per capita, on energy efficiency programs, and ranks near the bottom among regions in ENERGY STAR^® appliance penetration.  A regional working group, led by the Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance) and comprised of regional energy-efficiency supporters, was assembled and work developing a strategy to build a Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) began.

In August 2004, the Alliance-led SEEA working group requested a “strawman.”  The strawman provided a conceptual framework for SEEA, outlining the major decisions to be reached by the working group as SEEA was formed.  An assessment report was written and included a strawman, along with the next steps for SEEA in its early stages. The assessment took a year to develop and involved all potential supporters of SEEA, including: utilities, state energy offices, federal agencies, Fannie Mae, environmental and energy efficiency organizations, low-income energy advocates, public utility commissions, energy service companies, manufacturers, retailers, large consumers, and universities.

In December 2004, the SEEA working group unanimously decided to move forward and launch SEEA as a non-profit organization to be based in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2006, SEEA was incorporated as a subsidiary of the Alliance to Save Energy and is filing for its 501(c)(3) status with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.  Currently, SEEA has three initial directors and is recruiting its board of directors and members.

As the region meets the energy needs of its population and business growth through generation and transmission infrastructure additions, SEEA will help assure that energy efficiency takes its place as an essential component of the planning equation.