Passed
• HB0169/ SB0144 Energy Efficiency Targets for Low-Income Housing: Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to provide energy efficiency and conservation programs and services for electricity customers receiving energy assistance. Under current law, all utility customers pay for energy-efficiency programs through the EmPOWER surcharge, but low income customers are far less likely to take advantage of those programs. For the first time, the bill sets energy savings goals specific to low-income customers to ensure they proportionately benefit from State and ratepayer-supported energy-efficiency programs. The bill takes effect July 1, 2023.
• HB323 Categorical Eligibility for Social Services Programs: Increases the income guidelines for energy assistance through the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP) from 175 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 200 percent FPL. The bill also streamlines the process for signing up for EUSP by automatically enrolling households eligible for other social services into energy assistance programs. Making enrollment easier should both increase EUSP participation, bringing down energy burdens for low-income households, and decrease the administrative costs of processing duplicative applications for safety net programs. The bill takes effect January 1, 2024.
• HB0834 Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Reliability: Expands an existing EV pilot program to encourage participating electric companies to install EV charging stations in multifamily dwellings in “underserved communities.” The bill also requires an electric company operating an EV charging network to maintain “uptime” standards in accordance with federal standards. State involvement in expanding investment in EV adoption and charging should, as a general rule, be advanced by encouraging a robust competitive market as opposed to funding those investments through utility customer rates. However, if utility monopolies are allowed to participate in the competitive EV charging market—as they are under the existing EV pilot program—OPC supports targeting their involvement to low-income communities and requiring utility charging stations to meet performance standards. The bill takes effect Oct. 1, 2023.
• HB908 Community Solar: Makes permanent the current Community Solar Pilot Program, slated to expire at the end of 2024. Unlike rooftop solar, which can require substantial up-front capital investments, community solar makes the benefits of renewable energy more readily available to low- and moderate income (LMI) households by allowing utility customers who rent their homes or are otherwise unable to purchase or lease rooftop solar panels to power their households with solar energy through a subscription arrangement. The bill also updates the program to make community solar more accessible to LMI households by (i) requiring that most community solar energy generating systems serve at least 40 percent of their output to low- and moderate income (LMI) subscribers, and (ii) authorizing consolidated billing for subscription charges, which will allow customers who receive financial assistance through EUSP to use their EUSP benefits towards subscription fees rather than just the commodity portion on their bills. The bill takes effect July 1, 2023.
• SB781 Offshore Wind: Establishes a goal of reaching 8,500 megawatts of offshore wind electric generation capacity by 2031 and encourages the upgrade and expansion of the transmission system to accommodate this buildout. Offshore wind has the potential to provide clean, renewable energy at a much larger scale than either land-based wind or solar projects. Offshore wind development, however, could be inhibited by high costs for offshore transmission facilities and the onshore transmission upgrades that may occur with piecemeal, project by-project, development. OPC expects that the analysis and procurement process the bill requires will result in lower transmission costs, as the bill facilitates planning for multiple offshore wind projects simultaneously in an integrated, optimized manner. The bill also takes a welcome and important step toward financing clean energy in a more equitable way by authorizing a portion of the costs of procurement to be borne by the State as a whole, rather than solely by electric utility customers. Because all residential utility customers pay the same rates regardless of income, the costs of financing programs through rates imposes a more significant burden on lower-income households than more affluent households. The State cannot rely on electric utility customers alone to finance the clean energy transition, and OPC enthusiastically supports the bill’s alternative approach. The bill takes effect June 1, 2023.
Did Not Pass
• HB1035/SB0905 and HB0904/SB0689 EmPOWER Reform: Two separate bills—one advanced by the Public Service Commission and one advanced by a coalition of advocates—made changes to the law governing utility-run energy-efficiency programs, known as the EmPOWER programs. The bills differed in their approaches, but ultimately many of their provisions were combined into a single bill late in the session that OPC supported. Unfortunately, the bill did not pass. OPC looks forward to working with the various sponsors, implementing agencies, and supporters to address EmPOWER reform in future legislation.
• HB1186 Annual Report on Votes Cast: Would have required utilities to submit to the Public Service Commission an annual report of any recorded vote cast at a meeting of the regional transmission organization, PJM Interconnection, LLC (PJM), including a brief description explaining how each vote cast is “in the interest of the public.” OPC supported the transparency this bill would have provided for utility decisions that result in hundreds of millions of dollars paid by utility customers. Utilities are provided with State-granted monopolies in order to perform important public functions and are required to operate “in the interest of the public.” Requiring companies to disclose their votes would help regulators assess whether the companies’ votes are in the public interest. The bill passed the House, but was subsequently met with strong utility opposition in the Senate, where the bill did not make it out of the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee.