Archive: 2019 General Assembly Updates

2019

2019 Energy Efficiency Lobby Day Handout

Week Seven: final updates

Happy Friday, members! It’s the last week of Session, unbelievably, and we have more good news from the Capitol.

HB 2332 passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday and also passed through the House unanimously on Thursday! All of our other bills have passed through the General Assembly and are awaiting the Governor’s signature by March 25, 2019.

Other Bills of Interest

Back in week one, we mentioned a number of other energy efficiency bills that were being presented. How did they all fare in this year’s Session?

HB 1809 (Gooditis)- Directs the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to conduct an annual formal proceeding to determine whether or not the investor-owned utilities are making satisfactory efforts on the renewable energy and energy efficiency commitments in the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018. If it is determined that their progress is not satisfactory, then the SCC should direct the utility to refund money to customers.

Failed to report out of the House subcommittee on 1.24

HB 2243 (Sullivan)- EE Revolving Loan Fund; Creates the Virginia Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund to provide no-interest loans to any locality, school division, or public institution of higher education for energy efficiency projects.

Left in House Appropriations Committee on 2.5

HB 2294 (Sullivan)– Mandatory Energy Efficiency Resource Standard; Electric utilities are required to implement cost-effective energy efficiency measures to achieve the goal of two percent savings by 2034; Gas utilities are required to achieve the goal of one percent savings by 2034.

Failed to report out of the House subcommittee on 1.24

HB 2295 (Sullivan)- Creation of an Energy Efficiency Utility; Moneys in the Fund are to be used to finance cost-effective energy efficiency projects with preference to low-income and multifamily projects.

Tabled by subcommittee on 1.23; left in House Appropriations Committee on 2.5

SB 1111 (Marsden)- Requires each electric utility to provide eligible customers with a rate abatement that ensures that residential, commercial, and industrial customers are not subjected to higher rates per unit of consumption due to decreased consumption resulting from the customer’s implementation of not less than $10,000 in investments in energy efficiency. The abatement shall be provided for not less than 20 years following the completion of the material investment in energy efficiency or conservation products or services. The measure requires the SCC to adopt regulations to implement this requirement.

Stricken in Commerce and Labor Committee 1.31

SB 1400 (Petersen)- Residential PACE; Authorizes localities to establish residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

Unanimously passed the House on 2.20 with amendment that allows for PACE financing for stormwater management only
Residential PACE financing language was stricken from the bill

SB 1559 (Lewis)- Authorizes contracts for C-PACE loans to improve shoreline resiliency. This update to a current law would allow for nature-based shoreline improvements for both existing properties and new construction.

Unanimously passed both chambers as of 2.19

Thanks for sticking with us through this tumultuous Legislative Session. We couldn’t make the strides we have for energy efficiency in Virginia without your support.

Week Six

It’s Friday, and that means it’s Legislative Update time. It’s been an action packed week for our bills, and we have lots of good news.

SB 1605 and SB 1662 both passed the House unanimously Wednesday! HB 2293 and HB 2292 also passed the Senate unanimously yesterday. This means that all of four bills are heading to the Governor for his signature!

HB 2332, the data access bill, hopefully will be on the docket for the Senate Commerce and Labor committee next Monday, since that is the last day for committees to meet. Session wraps up next Friday, so keep an eye on your email for our recaps and final thoughts.

Week Five

Happy Friday! Despite the national media circus at the Capitol, we actually have some good news from this week. Our house bills (HB 2292, 2293, and 2332) passed unanimously out of that chamber Monday! And, as you may have seen on social media, our Senate bills (SB 1605 and 1662) passed last Friday afternoon nearly unanimously.

Crossover was on Tuesday this week, so each of these bills will now be heard by the opposite chamber. House bills will be heard in the Senate Commerce and Labor committee either this coming Monday or the next, and the Senate bills will be heard in the House committee sometime in the next two weeks.

We’ll keep you posted with more scheduling details next week.

Week Four

Happy Friday, members! This week has been another whirlwind in Session, which means we have plenty of important legislative updates for you.

Our House bills, HB 2292 and HB 2293, passed unanimously in the Commerce and Labor committee and will be part of the uncontested calendar on the House floor. This is an exciting win for VAEEC, our membership, and the industry as a whole.

HB 2332, the data access bill, is now a Section 1 bill, meaning that the bill will not be added to the state code due to its limited scope. The bill will create a stakeholder group to review issues related to energy data access, which must concluded by April 2020, at which time, the SCC will publish regulations regarding data access. This bill reported out unanimously.

SB 1605 and SB 1622 passed through committee on Monday, though it was not unanimous. They were read yesterday as part of the contested bill calendar and are being debated today.

Crossover is on Tuesday, so each chamber of the General Assembly will debate and vote on the other chamber’s bills. We’re optimistic that our bills will continue to progress, so keep an eye on these updates for more details in the coming weeks.

Week Three

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another round of legislative updates. Last night was “Energy Night” in Subcommittee 3, where most of our endorsed bills were heard. It was wonderful to see some member faces in support of us and the bills!

We’re happy to announce that HB 2292 and HB 2293, the “Show Your Work” and EE Stakeholder bills, both reported out of subcommittee unanimously 8-0 last night! They will be presented to the full Commerce and Labor committee next Tuesday. The Senate versions will be presented to the Senate Commerce and Labor committee on Monday.

HB 2243, the EE Revolving Fund Bill, was presented to the Appropriations committee and unfortunately failed to report out with a 5-2 vote.

HB 2332, the Data Access Bill, will be heard before the full Commerce and Labor committee either next Tuesday or Thursday to give us and other stakeholders a chance to continue working out some issues with the bill language.

For more details on these bills, go to our week one legislative update.

A new bill that a member brought to our attention, HB 2741 (Del. Aird) was referred to the appropriations committee last night. This bill would establish the Clean Energy Advisory Board and Clean Energy Rebate Fund, which would disperse reimbursements to low-to-middle income households for solar energy installations. The bill stipulates that applicants must provide documentation of energy efficiency services that lower total energy consumption by 12% to qualify for the rebates.

Overall, it’s been an exciting week for energy efficiency legislation. Keep an eye on these weekly updates and your email for more information as we continue through the Session.

Week Two

What a whirlwind second week of Session! That means lots of information for our members. First off, we have a few important announcements:

The VAEEC has officially endorsed four bills that will help advance energy efficiency in Virginia. They are:

HB 2243 (Sullivan)- EE Revolving Loan Fund

HB 2292 (Sullivan) and SB 1662 (Wagner) – “Show Your Work” and Auto-extension for the SCC

HB 2293 (Sullivan) and SB 1605 (Ebbin)- EE Stakeholder bill

HB 2332 (Keam)- Data Access bill

Check out last week’s blog post for more details on these bills.

This Tuesday, we were joined by the VA Advanced Energy Economy for Energy Efficiency Lobby Day. We met with legislators and their aides who sit on the Commerce and Labor committee to discuss the endorsed bills and were happy with the overall positive response we heard. The handout from Lobby Day can be viewed here for more information.

Next Thursday, January 24th is ‘Energy Night’ for the House Commerce and Labor committee. All bills on energy efficiency will be heard in Subcommittee #3, so we want to see as many familiar member faces as possible come out in support of this legislation.

Because of Energy Night and the pace of the legislative session, our January webinar is cancelled. Continue to keep an eye on these weekly updates and your emails for up to date information on energy efficiency policies.

We’re working hard to make sure your voices are heard in the General Assembly. Look for next week’s update for more details on the progress of these important bills.

Week One

Wednesday was the first day of session and we are already off to a very busy one! The following energy efficiency bills have been introduced, but as of yet, VAEEC has not taken an official position on any of these. We hope to have official positions sometime next week.

HB 2292 (Sullivan)- “Show Your Work” and Auto-extension; Requires the SCC to cite specific work product and analysis in the Final Order when rejecting a EE program or include updated cost-benefit analysis when cutting a proposed program budget. Additionally, if an approved program has remaining funds leftover after its duration, the utility can continue running the program in order to exhaust the budget so long as it remains a cost-effective program.

HB 2293 (Sullivan)- EE Stakeholder bill; Clarifies the goals, purpose and duration of the stakeholder group to ensure that the group meets quarterly through July 1, 2028, the sunset of the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018. The bill also requires the independent monitor, who facilitates the stakeholder process, to produce annual reports to the Governor and General Assembly that detail the goals of the stakeholder group and progress towards meeting those goals, including any EE proposals submitted by the investor-owned utilities.

HB 2332 (Keam)- Data Access bill; Requires the SCC to prescribe standards to ensure that the Virginia customers of each public electric utility have the right to (i) control how the utility shares personally identifiable information and energy usage data resulting from the deployment by the utility of advanced metering infrastructure with any other person and (ii) access and receive such energy usage data in a consumer-friendly and computer-friendly format.

SB 1400 (Petersen)- Residential PACE; Authorizes localities to establish residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

SB 1605 (Ebbin)- companion to HB 2293

We have also learned that Thursday, January 24th will be “Energy Night” in the House. Meaning, all bills related to energy will be heard in subcommittee #3 after the full Commerce and Labor Committee meeting that evening. We hope our members can turn out to support any of the above-mentioned energy efficiency bills. We’ll share more details in next week’s legislative update.