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Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cutting clean energy won't lower New England utility bills, advocates say
A growing chorus of New England state officials — and not just Republicans — is calling for cuts to clean energy programs in an attempt to rein in high electric bills. These efforts are underway everywhere from Maine, where legislators are trying to repeal incentives for rooftop and community solar, to deep-blue Massachusetts, where regulators recently slashed $500 million from a proposed energy-efficiency plan. The irony, clean energy advocates say, is that many of the investments under threat contribute relatively little to customers' monthly bills and save everyone money in the long run. 'They see these programs as some sort of addition that's being put on their bill that they don't see the effects of,' said Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation for climate nonprofit Acadia Center. 'Cutting these programs will not really save us money, and it will actually end up costing us more money in the long term.' Concerns about the cost of energy are not unique to New England, but the region does have the nation's highest electricity prices outside of California and Hawaii. Compounding the problem, this year's cold winter increased gas and electric use, driving recent bills to levels many ratepayers and policymakers say are unsustainable. Politicians have responded by pointing a finger at renewable energy and energy efficiency efforts. In Connecticut, Republicans are going after the state's public benefits charge, a utility bill fee that funds energy efficiency programs and a state clean energy fund. Vermont's Republican governor, who has supported climate action in the past, is pushing to weaken the state's Global Warming Solutions Act, saying the move is necessary to lower prices for residents. In Rhode Island, a Democratic lawmaker has proposed delaying the state's 100% renewable target by 10 years. Though each state's circumstances are different, advocates argue that it is almost universally true that these intended quick fixes would cost consumers and the environment in the long-run. Solutions exist, they say, that would preserve the long-term benefits clean energy and energy efficiency offer, while also making power less expensive. 'The work is difficult, but there is not an inherent conflict between clean energy and affordability,' said Larry Chretien, executive director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. Electricity bills are made up of several components. The supply charge pays for the actual power delivered to a customer. Distribution and transmission charges cover the cost of the wires, poles, and other infrastructure needed to deliver that power. Utilities often collect additional fees to fund energy efficiency programs, renewable energy initiatives, assistance for low-income customers, and other work. While this last segment of the bill has gotten the most attention lately, the other two make up the majority of the monthly cost. In Maine, for example, electricity supply currently accounts for 39% of the average residential energy bill and transmission and distribution for 51%. Lowering — or even stabilizing — supply and delivery costs can be tricky. But it is precisely the renewable energy and energy efficiency programs being targeted for cuts that can help control those costs, because they lessen the need for expensive grid upgrades and shelter ratepayers from volatile natural gas prices, advocates say. Utility infrastructure is built to handle far more power than is needed on most days; the systems are scaled to be able to meet the demand of millions of air conditioners running on the hottest days of the year. So lowering the power needed at those peak moments — through energy-efficient heat pumps or rooftop solar panels that generate power right where it's needed — can reduce the cost of keeping the infrastructure up to the challenge. 'Everything is built out to serve a couple days of peak energy each year,' said Vickash Mohanka, director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club. 'Everybody's bills are paying for those peaks, and I think we need to see a lot more progress in flattening that consumption.' Energy efficiency and renewable energy progress can also mean cheaper power supply. Electricity supply in New England is so expensive in large part because of the region's dependence on power plants that run on natural gas, a fuel that is prone to price volatility and which is forecast to get more expensive in coming years. Energy efficiency improvements lower electricity demand, reducing the impact these price fluctuations have on consumers. And replacing this power with renewable energy that gets free fuel from the sun and wind can also reduce and stabilize electric bills. Cutting support for renewables and efficiency may seem to save money, but the costs just crop up again elsewhere, said Greg Cunningham, vice president of clean energy and climate change for the Conservation Law Foundation. 'It feels like and it looks like we're eliminating a cost or reducing it, but it's like Whac-A-Mole,' he said. Containing costs for supply, distribution, and transmission is challenging but doable and necessary, advocates say. Though Massachusetts' cuts to energy efficiency programming disappointed consumer and environmental groups, many praised a plan Gov. Maura Healey announced this month to save residents $5.8 billion in energy costs in coming years. Her proposal includes new discount rates, tighter regulations on competitive electric suppliers, and reviews of every additional fee on utility bills to root out those that are no longer needed. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu this week announced plans to tackle the city's high energy costs by installing 5,000 heat pumps and weatherizing 10,000 buildings over the next three years in partnership with Mass Save, the state's energy efficiency administrator. The initiative is expected to use $150 million in incentives and create $300 million in savings for Boston residents. Connecticut legislators are considering proposals to make appliance energy standards more stringent and to allow cities and towns to aggregate their energy demand, negotiate for lower supply prices, and potentially use the savings to develop their own renewable power projects. Advocates have also suggested that states adopt a performance-based ratemaking structure, in which utilities make money not just for building and repairing infrastructure but for reaching specific goals, such as equity, emissions reductions, or cost control. Several noted that states could also lower the rate of return utilities are allowed to earn on their infrastructure investments. Clean energy advocates accept that some programs might need to change. Massachusetts, for example, could reconsider the value of some years-old initiatives paid for by ratepayers, Chretien said. In Maine, it makes more sense to review the solar-incentive program known as net energy billing for possible cost-saving tweaks than to completely repeal it, Cunningham said. What's important, advocates say, is that policymakers avoid scapegoating energy efficiency and renewable energy, and start the hard work of solving the real problems. 'It feels to me like every year there is a public outcry, there's a media outcry, and there's a reaction,' Cunningham said. 'What there is much less of is longer-term planning. We need to do something about this.'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Another year, another decarbonization bill. And more angst about a deadline.
The city of Providence began tracking energy and emissions use from large, city-owned buildings in 2024, with plans to include private buildings this year. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) A new report commissioned by the Rhode Island General Assembly offers a laundry list of problems — and up to $1.4 million in annual costs — preventing the state from collecting energy and emissions information from large privately owned buildings. Yet the city of Providence has already managed to pull off its own version of a building energy benchmarking program, with one half-time employee and a $28,000 city budget, according to information from Priscilla de la Cruz, city sustainability director. The state's Act on Climate Law mandates the state cut emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2030. Preliminary modeling already suggests the state might miss its 2030 target if it doesn't take action, including in the building sector, which accounted for nearly half of annual emissions in 2022, the most recent data available. 'You can't reduce what you don't measure,' said Tina Munter, Rhode Island policy advocate for Green Energy Consumers Alliance. 'This is a long-term investment for the future of Rhode Island in order for us to meet the mandatory Act on Climate emissions reductions. It is on our state to prioritize something we need to do, which was already signed into law by our governor in 2021.' Rep. Rebecca Kislak, a Providence Democrat, has been trying to warm legislative leaders to the prospect of creating a state building energy benchmarking program for years. Her decarbonization bill last year was stripped down to a study by the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, which published a report on Feb. 10. Kislak worries it's already too late to meet the 2030 deadline. 'As I was putting together the draft this year, I kept looking at these dates and thinking, 'are we really going to wait this long?'' Kislak said in a recent interview. Kislak's 2025 bill, introduced in the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Feb. 13, accompanies similar, though not identical legislation in the Senate from Pawtucket Democratic Sen. Meghan Kallman. The legislation calls on the state to begin tracking energy usage from public and privately owned buildings larger than 50,000 square feet in 2026. Private buildings between 25,000 and 50,000 square feet would have to begin reporting energy and emissions usage in 2027. The annual reporting data would be used to develop building emissions standards by June 2029. The Environmental Council of Rhode Island, a consortium of 60 organizations and individuals, considers the legislation a top priority this year — the second consecutive year. Gov. Dan McKee appears on board with at least part of the plan, allocating $139,000 in his proposed fiscal 2026 budget for one new employee to begin tracking energy and emissions from state-owned buildings. However, there is no money or acknowledgement of expanding the program to the private sector in his budget proposal. Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for McKee's office, cited lack of data and infrastructure as barriers to creating a program for private sector buildings. 'Expanding to the private sector should be considered in the future based on funding availability and the creation of data and building inventory infrastructure,' DaRocha said. Creating a list of the estimated 2,300 buildings statewide larger than 25,000 square feet requires pulling from multiple datasets, including municipal tax databases, GIS systems and commercial information, according to the OER report. Meanwhile, the state's primary utility supplier, Rhode Island Energy, is still developing a system to automate individual building energy usage based on customer bills, the report says. 'Given the lack of requisite data and infrastructure to support the rollout of a program for large municipal and private buildings, OER should focus on leading a program for certain large state-owned and state-occupied buildings that would lay the foundation for future expansion to large municipal and private buildings,' the report states. The OER estimated an initial $600,000 cost to expand an energy benchmarking program beyond state-owned buildings, rising to $1.4 million for technical support to implement performance standards around emissions. Emily Koo, senior policy director and Rhode Island program director at Acadia Center, was unconvinced the problems were as big, or costly, as the report suggested. 'Providence has already done the work to stand this kind of program up,' said Koo, who previously worked as the city's sustainability director. 'This is the absolute lowest-hanging fruit.' The capital city released its inaugural building energy report in December 2024 with energy and emissions usage for 63 city-owned buildings above 10,000 square feet. The program will expand to include privately owned large buildings within the city limits this year. Three states — including Massachusetts — and 16 cities have passed laws requiring statewide benchmarking of energy and emissions use from large public, commercial and multi-family residential buildings, according to data collected by the Institute for Market Transformation. Additional states and cities have enacted more stringent laws that also require actions by building owners to reduce emissions. Providence's initial rollout hasn't been seamless. For example, the city didn't realize that Rhode Island Energy would not be able to automatically enter private billing data into a third-party dashboard used to track energy usage. The city and utility company are working to teach the estimated 300 businesses affected how to manually request and upload the necessary information until an automation is completed, de la Cruz said. Evelyn Garcia, a spokesperson for Rhode Island Energy, said the company is working to evaluate vendors now, developing the interface in the second quarter of the year. She declined to comment on the state legislation until legislative hearings occur. Another potential sore spot: availability of federal funding. The city has leaned on federal money to prop up its program and promoted separate federal incentives for building owners to reduce emissions through energy efficiency upgrades and conversions to electric heat pumps. 'Recent changes at the federal level have introduced uncertainty around the availability and consistency of energy-related grants, making it challenging to predict current and future funding opportunities,' the report states. Since Jan. 27, OER has been locked out of $125 million in approved federal funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, according to a federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. Munter suggested low-interest loans through the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank's Efficient Buildings Fund as an alternative funding source for municipalities and school districts. 'What is the cost of inaction?' she asked. 'We're talking about our ability to be resilient in the face of climate change.' The Rhode Island General Assembly is on winter recess this week. Hearings on Kislak's and Kallman's bills had not been scheduled as of Thursday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
