The present invention provides a method for reducing transmitted energy based on early decoding. The method includes accessing a first portion of a block including a plurality of symbols indicative of an encoded message. The first portion has been transmitted at a first transmission power and having less than all of the plurality of symbols. The method also includes attempting to decode the encoded message using the first portion of the block, determining whether the encoded message was decoded, and providing an indication of a second transmission power in response to determining that the encoded message was decoded.