Gov. Peter Shumlin (center) signs S.40, which sets Vermont’s renewable policy, at a home in Montpelier on Thursday. Flanking him are Sen. Chris Bray (left), D-Addison, and Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier. Photo by Sarah Olsen/VTDigger
Gov. Peter Shumlin signed an energy bill into law that promises to create 1,000 new jobs and help Vermonters save on energy costs over a 15-year period.
The bill, H.40, was passed by the Legislature in May and repeals the Sustainably Priced Energy Enterprise Development Program (SPEED). The legislation sets a new renewable energy standard and creates an “energy transformation program” that would start in 2017.
Shumlin said the legislation will put the state on a path to become 90 percent renewable by 2050.
Mary Powell, chief executive officer at Green Mountain Power, said the state’s renewable energy standard and energy transformation program, known as RESET, “is the most forward-leaning legislation in the country.”
Rep. Tony Klein, D-E. Montpelier, and Rep. Rebecca Ellis, D-Waterbury co-sponsored the bill. Sen. Chris Bray, chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, shepherded the legislation through the Senate.
The governor gave the pens he used to sign the bill to Bray, Klein and Darren Springer, his chief of staff, for all “their hard work” on getting it passed through the Legislature.
“We’re doing things that are good for people’s pocketbooks and things that are good for the environment, and we’re doing them together,” Bray said.
Klein said the legislation “is totally consumer-driven.”
Shumlin boasted that other governors say utility companies in their states would “kill them” if they did something similar and that there was no way their own utilities would cooperate with state government in a business model like that.
The renewable energy standard in the H.40 bill is the mirror image of a carbon tax, according to Bray. The Legislature will be investigating whether Vermont could impose a carbon tax in tandem with the new Renewable Energy Standard, he said.
Powell said she is interested in continuing to learn more about the carbon tax, but right now she is looking toward finding more innovative ways to bring costs down for Vermonters.
Klein entertained the notion of a carbon-tax bill in the last legislative session, but no bill emerged.
“All the major corporations know that carbon use needs to be managed,” Klein said.
Powell said she doesn’t believe there won’t be other incentives in place for solar power by the time the current federal incentives for solar power die out at the end of 2016.
Under the renewable energy standard the state will provide leasing and on-bill financing for homeowners to improve energy efficiency.
Efficiency Vermont, a local program which is included as part of the bill, has been around since 2000. All of Vermont’s electricity consumers, except IBM, pay an efficiency charge on their bills that is used to pay for energy efficiency programs. Burlington Electric manages energy efficiency programs for its customers and Efficiency Vermont manages the program for all other ratepayers. IBM funds its own energy efficiency program.
The bill was signed outside of the Montpelier home of Green Mountain Power customers Dan and Mary Margaret Groberg, who have made efficiency improvements.
The Grobergs moved into their home two years ago, Shumlin said. Under H.40, they have been able to upgrade their home’s energy efficiency, saving them an estimated $1,400 a year on energy bills, according to the June 11 press release.
“We know we can’t do fast enough what you are doing, and what you have the courage to do, across the state,” Shumlin said to the Grobergs. Green Mountain Power also upgraded a house in Rutland a year ago as part of a broader effort to help homeowners save money through efficiency improvements.
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