1. A neurostimulation system to automatically optimize power consumption, comprising: stimulation output circuitry configured for delivering stimulation pulses to target tissue in accordance with a set of stimulation parameters; monitoring circuitry configured for continuously measuring action potentials evoked in the target tissue in response to the delivery of the stimulation pulses to the target tissue; memory configured for storing a reference evoked action potential template, the template storing two or more characteristics of a reference evoked action potential that correlates to effective stimulation; and at least one processor configured for implementing an automatic power consumption optimization process to reduce power consumption and maintain effective stimulation, the automatic power consumption optimization process including comparing two or more characteristics of the measured evoked action potentials to the two or more characteristics of the reference evoked action potential template, and adjusting one or more stimulation parameter values in the set of stimulation parameters to decrease the energy level of the stimulation pulses and evoke action potentials in the target tissue having substantially the same two or more characteristics as the two or more characteristics of the reference evoked action potential template.