Critics are lining up to dismiss President Bush's energy program as too cozy with big energy without considering the growing energy costs for consumers at home.

The administration's proposal includes tax credits for residential solar energy use and boosts designed to double energy bill and weatherization grant programs, but critics say Bush didn't go far enough.

The national energy plan fails to address consumers' most pressing energy concerns - high electricity, natural gas and gasoline prices, says consumer advocate Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.

In what it calls "misplaced priorities" the group says the proposal will focus on using more fossil fuels and shortchange renewable energy sources and conservation programs.

"Consumers in California and across the nation are facing a serious electricity crisis this summer," said Harry Snyder, a senior advocate with CU's West Coast Office. "Unfortunately, the Vice President's task force seems more interested in drilling and digging than dealing with our current problems. The Bush Administration must provide consumers with immediate relief by taking aggressive action to address blatant energy industry price gouging."

In addition to the solar tax credit incentive, the plan should also offer tax incentives for energy efficient homes, appliances, commercial buildings and business equipment, according to The Alliance To Save Energy, a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders promoting the efficient and clean use of energy.

The alliance also pitched restoring energy efficiency research and development and suggested the administration drop the recent effort to roll back the efficiency standards for air conditioners -- a move that could save more than $700 million in annual electricity bills.

"The Bush Administration's energy plan is out of touch with what the American people need. Everyone knows we must use energy more efficiently to cut energy bills and protect our environment. This plan is imbalanced -- it provides lip service to energy efficiency and saves all its heavy lifting for increasing energy supplies. Their primary response is dig more, mine more, and build more. They should also say 'waste less,' said alliance president David M. Nemtzow.

Likewise, trade group Association of Energy Engineers said energy efficiency was largely overlooked by the Bush administration's proposal when energy efficiency programs have saved consumers more than 25 billion dollars a year while improving the quality of life. Energy efficiency has saved 70 quadrillion BTUs from 1972 to 1999, the association said.

The engineers say an energy plan that would better benefit consumers would include the following provisions.

• Regulatory agencies requiring energy suppliers to promote energy efficiency improvements to their customers.

• Upgraded appliance standards with new efficiency standards for clothes dryers, water heaters and air conditioners. That could reduce electricity demand by the equivalent of 170 300-megawatt plants over 20 years.

• A tax credit for those who purchase high efficiency appliances and alternate fuel vehicles.

"(The Bush Plan) does not recognize the valuable contributions energy efficiency technologies have made in the last decade," the association said.

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Published: May 31, 2001

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.