The State Legislature passed a series of four (4) Senate Bills over time that were intended to improve air quality by reducing power plant emissions that impair air quality. The bills all require municipalities in non-attainment areas to establish a goal to reduce electric consumption by five (5) percent per year from a "baseline" year for a specified number of future years. The bills also require reporting of electric usage to the Office of the State Comptroller's State Energy Conservation Office (SECO).
In 2002, the State's 77th Legislature passed Senate Bill 5.
In 2007, the Texas Legislature effectively extended Senate Bill 5 by passing a follow-on bill, Senate Bill 12.
In 2011, the Texas Legislature effectively extended previous bills by passing Senate Bill 898.
In the 2019, Legislative Session, the State passed the most recent bill, Senate Bill 241. This bill established the same five (5) percent per year electric use reduction goal for a period of seven (7) years.
In the seventeen (17) years of these sequential bills from 2002 to 2019, municipalities in non-attainment areas were expected to set goals to reduce electric use by five (5) percent per year from a designated baseline year, totaling to date an eighty-five (85) percent electric energy use reduction goal.
While the City of Allen is required to set the electric use reduction goal and report to SECO on usage, there is no State penalty for not attaining the specified goal.
To reduce energy usage, the City has completed projects such as improving insulation, replacing old inefficient HVAC systems, installing more energy efficient roofing, installing window film, installing solar panels, and replacing fluorescent lighting with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting.