Public Advocate Warns About Risk of Third-Party Contracts
Public Advocate Dave Bonar is warning Delmarva Power & Light customers to check their contracts with third-party electricity suppliers to make sure they’re not at risk for winter price spikes. “It’s important people don’t get trapped into paying variable rate at the time of year when they use the most electricity,” he said.
Bonar is concerned that many customers with fixed-rate agreements are unaware the contracts may convert to variable-rate deals without notice at the end of their terms. The Public Service Commission is considering a new rule that calls for suppliers to notify customers no fewer than 30 calendar days before a fixed-price contract ends. Other rules under consideration call for simpler marketing language.
“We were really hoping to have this wrapped up before winter gets here,” Bonar said. The commission hasn’t acted on the proposed rules yet. New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities recently approved stricter rules for generation suppliers after an onslaught of customer complaints last winter.
More: The News Journal
ILLINOIS
DNR Chief: No Fracking Permits Issued Unless Ordered by Court
Department of Natural Resources Director Marc Miller said his office won’t issue any permits for oil and gas drilling until the legislature approves new fracking rules.
The state legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules said it won’t act on a proposed set of fracking regulations until Nov. 6. If no action is taken by a Nov. 15 deadline, the rulemaking process must start from the beginning.
The DNR drafted the rules after holding months of hearings and receiving more than 30,000 public comments. The legislative committee has had the rules since August. Miller said that without approved rules, his office will issue no permits without a court order.
Brad Richards, executive vice president of the Illinois Oil and Gas Association, said mineral owners are growing impatient and may sue to force the state to act. “We’ve already lost some companies to all these delays and undoubtedly we’ve got some folks who are at the breaking point,” he said.
More: The Chicago Tribune (subscription required)
INDIANA
Pence Receives IURC’s Energy-Efficiency Plans
Indiana should place a renewed focus on energy-efficiency programs to help reduce growing demands for power, according to a Utility Regulatory Commission report.
The report, issued at the request of Gov. Mike Pence, outlined the state’s future energy needs and estimated that the state faced a short-term need for 1,450 MW of new generation and 3,600 MW in the long term.
Pence said he requested the report to help lawmakers draw up energy efficiency standards and mandates.
More: Inside Indiana Business
KENTUCKY
Environment Secretary Says State Not Resisting EPA
The state has accepted a $300,000 Energy Department grant to help it meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s new carbon emissions regulations at the same time as the attorney general has joined a lawsuit fighting the rules.
Kentucky is one of 12 states that have joined in a lawsuit objecting to the EPA’s regulations proposed in June. At the same time, the state accepted the DOE grant to help it set up a way to monitor methods to meet the EPA goals.
Energy and Environment Secretary Len Peters said the attorney general, and not Gov. Steve Beshear, is waging the legal battle. Peters said the state has been working to reduce carbon emissions for years and is using energy-efficiency programs to help. “That’s one of the reasons we wanted the additional dollars, to help us do those sorts of things,” he said.
More: Roll Call
MICHIGAN
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Repeal 10% RPS
Michigan utilities are on track to meet the state’s 10% renewable portfolio standard by the end of next year, but three lawmakers have introduced legislation to repeal the standard.
House Bill 5872 was passed in 2008 and has garnered strong support among residents, according to recent polls. Some studies suggest that renewables could provide up to 30% of the state’s energy needs in the near future.
The bill comes after Ohio has frozen its renewable mandates to allow further review. The sponsors of the Michigan bill – Rep. Tom McMillan, Rep. Ken Goike and Rep. Ray Franz, all Republicans – were part of a group that unsuccessfully attempted to repeal the state’s RPS in 2012.
Renewable energy advocates are outraged.
“I think this is bad news for Michigan,” said Michigan Environmental Council Policy Director James Clift. “If you look at the economic development boost we’ve gotten from renewables and the new interest we’re seeing, it really is a step backwards.”
“It’s another example of the conservative lawmakers being grossly out of touch with not only the Michigan public, but with their own base as well,” said Nic Clark, state director for the Michigan chapter of Clean Water Action.
More: Great Lakes Echo
NEW JERSEY
Bill Calls for 80% Renewables by 2050
The Senate Environment and Energy Committee is considering a bill that calls for 80% of New Jersey’s electricity supply to come from renewable sources by 2050.
Senate Bill 2444 calls for 3,000 MW of offshore wind energy supply by 2030 and 4,500 MW by 2050. The current target is 1,100 MW by 2020. But offshore wind projects are currently at a standstill because the Board of Public Utilities hasn’t set ratepayer subsidies. One small offshore wind farm has received federal support.
Proponents of the bill say they hope it will spur more support from future administrations. “We are talking about policy over the next 36 years,’’ said David Pringle, campaign director of New Jersey Clean Water Action. Renewable power advocates say the Garden State has reliable wind resources off its coastline.
More: NJ Spotlight
NORTH CAROLINA
PUC Tax Ruling Favoring Utilities Draws Protests
The Public Utilities Commission ruled 4-3 that utilities can continue to charge customers a 6.9% tax, even though the state legislature recently cut the corporate tax from 6.9% to 5%. The commission’s vote was down party lines, with the three dissents coming from its Democratic members.
“There is no set end to this over-collection, which will continue indefinitely each year until each utility’s next general rate case,” the three Democrats wrote in their dissent. “Even then, ratepayers will never be refunded the over-collected funds; the utilities have simply been afforded an unearned gain at the expense of North Carolina ratepayers.”
The ruling gives utilities the option to adjust rates and sets an Oct. 24 deadline for them to decide. Republican commission members said the over-collections are negligible for individual bills, but the Democrats said the state’s four utilities would generate an additional $21 million a year.
“The overall effect of these changes represents a substantial increase in consumers’ bills,” the Democrats wrote. “For those who struggle to pay utility bills in a challenging economy, every cent counts.”
More: The Charlotte Observer
OHIO
PUCO Asks Supreme Court to Dismiss AEP’s Net Metering Suit
AEP Ohio wants the state Supreme Court to release it from rules requiring it to pay for power fed back into the grid by net metering customers who are enrolled with competitive power suppliers. The Public Utilities Commission has asked the court to dismiss the suit.
PUCO’s net metering rules mandate that AEP pay all customers for their surplus power, typically generated by small solar or wind setups. But AEP has argued that if those customers are served by third-party suppliers, and not AEP’s own generation, then AEP shouldn’t be bound by the rules.
AEP argues that the rate they must credit customers can be higher than its costs, including capacity charges. “The reality is that the energy delivered back to the grid by a customer-generator may not necessarily offset the peak demand that the utility has to meet or reduce the costs associated with serving the customer-generator,” the company argues.
PUCO argues that the rule, though passed by the commission, hasn’t been approved by a legislative committee and is not yet final, so a court challenge is premature.
More: Midwest Energy News
Fracking Triggered Earthquakes Months Before State Notice
A new study suggests hydraulic fracturing triggered hundreds of small, unnoticeable earthquakes in eastern Ohio late last year, months before the state first linked seismic activity to the much-debated oil-and-gas extraction technique.
The report, which appears in the November issue of Seismological Research Letters, identified nearly 400 tremors on a previously unmapped fault. That included 10 quakes of magnitudes of 1.7 to 2.2 – intense enough to have temporarily halted activity under the state’s new drilling permit rules had they been in place at the time, but still considered minor.
More: The Associated Press
PENNSYLVANIA
State Poised to Renew Utility Shutoff Rules
The legislature is taking steps to renew a provision in the pubic utilities code that makes it easier for gas and electric companies to disconnect service for non-payment during the winter.
The law called Chapter 14, passed in 2004, relaxed state rules prohibiting winter shutoffs by allowing utilities to disconnect nonpaying customers whose incomes are 250% higher than the federal poverty level. The law is set to expire next year. The bill is expected to be returned to the House this month to consider modifications made by the Senate.
Customer advocates think extending the law is a bad idea. “Instead of targeting the bad actors, Chapter 14 has ensnared vulnerable low-income households that are simply too poor to afford to pay their utility bills on time every month,” Community Legal Services of Philadelphia said in a statement.
More: The Morning Call
VIRGINIA
Governor’s Energy Plan: More Solar, Wind, Natural Gas
Gov. Terry McAuliffe formally unveiled his energy plan for Virginia last week, advocating more renewable sources such as solar and wind, as well as traditional resources including natural gas.
McAuliffe said the state’s economy can’t rely on the continued flow of federal defense dollars that have sustained Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. But an energy-based economy could be the solution.
“Folks, those days are over,” McAuliffe told an audience of energy entrepreneurs, business representatives and environmentalists. “We need to build a new Virginia economy.”
The energy plan, which goes to the General Assembly, was filed with the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy two weeks ago.
More: The News & Advance