BATON ROUGE -- The Louisiana Public Service Commission deferred a vote until May regarding a proposal to halt the state's energy efficiency program. The program aims to reduce power waste in order to save customers money.

District Three Commissioner Davante Lewis says this issue has been debated at the commission for the last 13 years, but a decision is right around the corner.

"Exhibit three was to change the model back to allowing the utilities to run their energy efficiency programs versus the new model that we voted on last year, which the state will take over, the commission will run," Lewis said.

In 2024, the PSC voted to overhaul its energy-efficiency program in a bid to increase savings and deliver more benefits to residents. It included setting annual energy reduction targets for utilities like Entergy, Cleco, and Swepco, and hiring a Baton Rouge company, APTIM, as a third-party administrator.

The current plan seeks to reduce energy use by 0.4% in its first year, increasing to 0.5% annually over the four years that follow.

After hearing from both supporters and critics of the current plan, the commission decided to delay its vote until May.

Commissioner Lewis supported the deferral.

"I don't believe we need to backtrack. We know right now, that the best way to reduce people's utility bills is to make their homes more energy-efficient. The best way to do that is to have an independent administrator doing it, not the utilities who have no interest in having you save money."

Several people from the Alliance for Affordable Energy were present at the meeting, speaking in favor of the program. They praised the deferral, saying it avoids a rushed rollback of programs that help people lower their energy bills. They also praised the decision by the commission to hire someone to evaluate its efforts.

"We were really excited today to see that the item hiring a statewide verifier of these programs went through today. That way the commission can standardize what it looks at and how addresses whether these programs are working and how we make them better," Alliance for Affordable Energy Executive Director Logan Burke said.

They argued that the utilities running their own energy efficiency programs doesn't make much sense.

"The old way of programs, means the utilities have the authority and the oversight of programs, that they're expected to ask their customers to reduce their energy use. That feels upside down for a utility whose job it is to sell more energy," Burke said.

One of the critics, Commissioner and Vice-Chairman Eric Skrmetta, worries that the statewide program could actually drive up costs. He had originally voted no on the model and against hiring an outside evaluator.

"In a time where we're looking to avoid waste, fraud and abuse in government contracting, this is the type of thing where you question where we are?" Skrmetta said.

In May, the panel will hear from their third-party administrator before taking a vote.

"We said before we motion to try to change this program, lets actually see what this can do for the people of Louisiana. We have seen it work in other states, in Wisconsin, Vermont Hawaii, and in New Jersey. We are the first Southern state to have an independent, energy efficiency administrator and I'm hopeful that we're gonna keep it that way," Lewis said.