MEEA Policy Insider - January 2022

The MEEA Policy Insider summarizes the latest state policy activity and provides new resources to aid members in their outreach, education and advocacy initiatives.

In this issue:

COVID-19

MEEA is tracking impacts, program responses and recovery from COVID-19 and sharing resources as the situation evolves. For consolidated information, see MEEA’s COVID-19 resources page. Members who are able to share information about utility program and energy service impacts or have any resource needs, please contact Policy Director Nick Dreher.

Webinar Recordings

State Energy Planning: Buildings, Industry and Transportation

MEEA was joined by state energy officials and experts in energy planning on December 8 for a webinar that discussed ongoing planning processes in key sectors, including opportunities for energy efficiency. See the recording >>

Federal Legislative Update: EE Implications

MEEA hosted a webinar on November 18 sharing federal policy updates from the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the Alliance to Save Energy, the Building Performance Association (BPA) and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). The topics discussed included the infrastructure and reconciliation bills, the Main Street Efficiency Act, the HOPE for HOMES Act and appliance standards. See the presentation slides and recording >>

Missed Opportunities: The Impact of Recent Policies on Energy Efficiency Programs in Midwestern States

On November 4, MEEA’s policy team, along with Synapse Energy Economics, held a webinar to roll out our report which details the missed opportunities and impacts of recent rollbacks to energy efficiency policies. See the recording >>

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Legislative

On September 15, Governor Pritzker signed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a bill that establishes a power sector decarbonization target of 2045, creates clean energy workforce development pathways and expands commitments to energy efficiency. The bill’s energy efficiency pieces are listed below:

  • Extends cumulative energy savings targets for utilities beyond 2030;
  • Creates an energy efficiency program opt-out provision that replaces the former industrial/large energy-user exemption;
  • Reorganizes and establishes several utility commitments to low-income programming and health/safety improvement funding;
  • Enables electrification under electric energy efficiency programs and
  • Directs the Illinois Capital Development Board to create a residential and commercial energy stretch code for voluntary adoption by municipalities.

For an in-depth analysis of these key energy efficiency pieces of the bill, read MEEA’s blog post on CEJA and the energy stretch code. 

Regulatory

On March 1, Illinois investor-owned utilities filed their energy efficiency programs. As of August 18, all IOU portfolio plans for program years 2022-2025 have been approved. The final orders are linked below. As a result of CEJA’s passage, utilities will be working with the ICC and advocates to incorporate CEJA requirements into these plans over the coming months.  

How to Get Involved

All Illinois EE Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) large group and working group meetings will be held via teleconference until further notice. SAG meeting information, COVID-19 updates and documents can be found on the SAG website.

For more information about Illinois or to get more involved, contact Nick Dreher.

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Legislative

There were no energy efficiency (EE) bills introduced in Indiana this session. However, one bill that relates to EE is House Bill 1111 regarding IURC reporting and rules. It will require the IURC to adopt rules to implement FERC Order 2222 on DER aggregation.

The 21st Century Energy Policy Development Task Force will schedule additional meetings this summer with its final report on the two-year process due in Fall 2022. The agendas, speaker lists and recordings are available for all past sessions on the Task Force page.

Regulatory

Integrated resource planning for 2022 for Indiana utilities has kicked off.

Updates from the Commission on IRPs in Indiana will be posted to the IURC’s IRP page. The Draft Directors Reports on the 2021 IRPs is expected in early 2022.

How to Get Involved

IRP meetings are all open to the public. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend. They are typically announced through utility mailing lists. For help finding the utility mailing list sign-up and IRP meeting registration, or for other questions about Indiana, contact Greg Ehrendreich.

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Legislative

Iowa’s legislative session convened on January 10. Several energy efficiency-related bills were carried over from the previous session or were filed for the new session.

Senate Commerce Committee

  • SF 2073: This bill requires the Iowa finance authority to create a neighborhood housing revitalization program in the state treasury. The program would provide financing, like forgivable loans, for targeted communities to address health and safety issues and fund energy efficiency measures and other renovations.
  • SSB 3032: This bill extends authorization of the Iowa Energy Center within the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) through July 1, 2027, and, related to eligibility for the IEDA’s high-quality jobs program and workforce housing tax incentive program, changes the criteria for designating an “economically distressed area.”

House Commerce Committee

  • HF 2028: This bill extends authorization of the Iowa Energy Center within the IEDA through July 1, 2030. (Isenhart)
  • HF 2030: This bill, carried over from last session, allows cities and counties to adopt more stringent building energy conservation code requirements for single-family and two-family residential properties than the state building code adopted by the state building code commissioner. (Isenhart)
  • HF 695: This bill, carried over from last session, requires public meetings to be convened with investor-owned utilities, the Office of Consumer Advocate and Community Action Agencies related to any new utility energy efficiency plan filings or modification and the promotion of programs, among other coordination. (Isenhart)
  • HF 669: This bill, carried over from last session, requires the Iowa Energy Center to provide outreach and education for ratepayers related to clean energy programs, including energy efficiency and financing; requires the Office of Consumer Advocate to create a standard utility cost disclosure for landlords to provide prospective tenants; directs the IUB to adopt rules related to virtual net metering and master-metering for multifamily properties. (Isenhart)
  • HF 305: This bill, carried over from last session, requires utilities with energy efficiency plans approved by the Iowa Utilities Board to carry over unspent budgets from the previous program year to the following program year. (Isenhart)
  • HF 351: This bill, carried over from last session, would add encouragement of energy efficiency investments in public school facilities as a purpose of the Iowa Energy Center’s alternative energy revolving loan fund. (Isenhart)

Regulatory

On December 14, MidAmerican Energy filed several EM&V reports on select energy efficiency programs, including its Income-Qualified Multifamily program, Education program and Appliance Recycling program.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Iowa or to get more involved, contact Samarth Medakkar.

Legislative

The Kansas legislature convened on January 10 and several energy efficiency-related bills were carried over from the previous session.

  • HB 2381 establishes a state energy plan task force and requires the development of a plan. The bill was introduced in the 2021 session and referred to the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications.
  • HB 2181 was introduced and referred to the Committee on Utilities in the House in 2021. The bill requires the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) to provide an annual report on the electric rates of KS public utilities by sector and those of utilities in surrounding states.

Regulatory

On January 18, Commissioner Dwight Keen was elected to serve as Chair of the Kansas Commerce Commission.

On December 17, Evergy filed its application for an energy efficiency proposal in Kansas under the Kansas Energy Efficiency Investment Act.

On December 6, the Kansas Corporation Commission issued an order approving a settlement and agreement on Evergy’s Transportation Electrification Portfolio (Docket No. 21-EKME-320-TAR) proposal. The approved agreement will allow Evergy to implement the portfolio from February 1, 2022 through January 31, 2027 and includes:

  • Commercial EV Charger Rebate program
    • Program budget $10 million, $1.6 million required to be spent in underserved areas.
  • Residential Rebate program
    • Aims to understand charging impacts and incent Level 2 charging adoption (managed charging) including 240V outlet or hardwired charging
    • $250 base rebate for installing an EV charger; additional $250 rebate if the customer enrolls in a time-of-use (TOU) rate program
  • Customer Education program
    • Program budget of $2.3 million and includes education on TOU rates

Evergy is expected to file an application for energy efficiency programs under the Kansas Energy Efficiency Investment Act in the coming months.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Kansas or to get more involved, contact Samarth Medakkar.

Executive

Governor Beshear and the state’s Energy and Environment Cabinet recently released a new state energy plan, Kentucky Energy, Environment & Economic Development: Designs for a Resilient Economy. The plan outlines community-centric initiatives and design goals for the future of Kentucky’s energy economy. A guiding principle for the plan is to address the energy sector holistically and promote the utilization of all the state’s energy resources, namely energy efficiency and conservation.

The plan also highlights more specific components, including future incentivization of advanced manufacturing opportunities in key sectors like EVs, rapid apprenticeships and certifications for a skilled workforce and encouragement of resilient, grid-connected buildings.

The full plan is available to read here.

Legislative

The Kentucky legislature convened for the 2022 regular session on January 4. Republican Senator Hornback sponsored SB 69, a proposed amendment to KRS 278.216 that will prohibit a utility from beginning construction on an electric generating facility that either operates at an aggregate capacity in excess of 10 megawatts or occupies in aggregate 10 acres or more of land without first obtaining a site compatibility certificate from the Public Service Commission. SB 69 also puts forth an amendment to KRS 278.708 to require the site assessment report submitted by a person proposing to construct a merchant electric generating facility to include a decommissioning plan to explain in detail how the facility and its components will be removed at the end of their useful lives and require the decommissioning plan to be reviewed as needed, but at least every 5 years.

The House introduced HB 195 to create a new section of KRS 100.273 to 100.292 that includes newly established notification requirements for developers that are locating developments within 660 feet of natural gas transmission pipelines and requires a notified pipeline operator to provide pipeline location information to the developer.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Kansas or to get more involved, contact Amanda Caloras.

Executive

In fall 2020, Governor Whitmer announced a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 through an executive order and an executive directive. Through the order, Michigan will work towards carbon neutrality by reducing emissions from public buildings, emphasizing carbon neutrality in utility IRPs and adding renewable energy in state facilities and lands.

The executive order created the Council on Climate Solutions. The Council has created five workgroups: Buildings and Housing, Energy Intensive Industries, Energy Production, Transmission, Distribution and Storage, Natural Working Lands and Forest Products, and Transportation and Mobility. These workgroups will help the Council identify and recommend strategies to reduce the state’s emissions and help communities most impacted by climate change. MEEA is participating on both the Buildings and Housing and Energy Intensive Industries working groups.

The Council released its draft MI Healthy Climate Plan on January 14th. The Council announced two public listening sessions on January 26th and February 8th. Members of the public can attend the sessions or submit comments online. More information on commenting can be found here.

Legislative

Representative Outman recently introduced HB 5619 which would extend the energy waste reduction standard. The standard sunset for municipal and cooperative at the end of 2021, but this bill would extend the standard to 2026. The bill was referred to committee.

Additionally, House Democrats introduced HB 5578 (SB 749 in the Senate) which deals with weatherization. Current law states that Michigan must use at least $6 million but no more than 15% of its federal low income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP) funds for weatherization. The bill would change this and mandate that the state spends at least 10% of LIHEAP dollars on weatherization. Because Michigan has not come near the 15% cap, this would effectively increase the amount of LIHEAP funds the state spends on weatherization. The bill was referred to committee.

Regulatory

MI Power Grid workgroups continue to meet. The MPSC recently released a status report on MI Power Grid, as the initiative has wrapped up its second year. The report summarizes the efforts of each workgroup to date and also highlights what additional work can be done in the initiative’s third and final year. The Energy Programs and Technology Pilots workgroup recently unveiled the Michigan Pilot Directory to increase transparency around the results and learnings from utility pilot programs. Additionally, the Advanced Planning Processes workgroup hosted a meeting on Integrated Resource Planning on December 16.

Guidehouse completed and released the state’s Energy Waste Reduction Statewide Potential Study (2021-2040), which can be found here. The Demand Response Statewide Potential Study can be found here. More information on the potential studies, including methodology and modeling results, can be found on the MPSC topic page.

Energy Waste Reduction plans were filed in the fall with the MPSC. Many utilities contract with the statewide administrator, Efficiency United, to run their programs. Thus, proceedings often focus more on overall budgets and energy savings goals as opposed to details of individual programs. The dockets for the EWR plans can be found here:

  • U-20874: Alpena Power Company
  • U-20875: Consumers Energy Company
  • U-20876: DTE Electric
  • U-20877: Indiana Michigan Power Company
  • U-20878: Northern States Power Company
  • U-20879: Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO)
  • U-20880: Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation (UMERC)
  • U-20881: DTE Gas
  • U-20882: Michigan Gas Utilities Corporation
  • U-20883: SEMCO Energy Gas Company

How to Get Involved

For more information about Michigan or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.

Legislative

The Minnesota legislature is set to reconvene on January 31st.

During last session, the Minnesota legislature passed the Energy Conservation and Optimization Act, which modernizes and expands the state’s energy efficiency framework, the conservation improvement program. To explain the details of the Conservation Improvement Planning overhaul, MEEA wrote a summary analysis of ECO. Additionally, the legislature passed an energy omnibus bill in a summer special session, which had many elements that dealt with energy efficiency.

Regulatory

The ECO Act tasks the Department of Commerce with forming several pieces of guidance. Commerce has begun a stakeholder process to help determine energy efficiency program eligibility for low-income customers in multifamily buildings. It has also created the ECO Act Implementation Coordinating Committee and three workgroups—electric vehicle sales, load management and efficient fuel-switching—where stakeholders will work to provide ideas and draft guidance for consideration. More information on the Coordinating Committee and the workgroups can be found here. The electric vehicle sales group submitted its draft proposal in early December, and Commerce has since filed its proposed decision on EV sales in docket 21-837. The other two workgroups will continue to meet in January.

The investor-owned utilities have also submitted modifications to their triennial CIP plans to comply with the new low-income spending requirements of the ECO Act.

The PUC has opened a few dockets to fulfill requirements in legislation that passed this session.

  • Docket 21-565- The PUC will evaluate changes to natural gas utility regulatory and policy structures needed to meet or exceed Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals.
  • Docket 21-566- Natural gas utilities will have the opportunity to present the commission with plans to study and utilize alternative and innovative energy resources, like renewable natural gas, biogas and hydrogen.
    • Great Plains Institute is leading stakeholder meetings on this docket. The meetings aim to help Commerce understand how to evaluate the cost effectiveness of renewable natural gas and other resources, including energy efficiency. This stakeholder group will continue to meet every Friday (except holidays) through January 28.
  • Docket 21-548- The Minnesota Efficient Technology Accelerator (META) program seeks nonprofits to apply to run the accelerator, which will accelerate the deployment and reduce cost of efficient technologies. CEE filed its intent to apply in this docket.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Minnesota or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.

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Executive

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources – Division of Energy (MoDNR) has completed its second of three rounds of regional State Energy Planning (MoSEP) meetings. Meetings focused on refining proposed initiatives and identifying champions. In the early part of 2022, MoDNR will develop work groups based on priorities shared during meetings.

  • Interested parties are encouraged to engage through meetings and the project’s Basecamp, which can be accessed by reaching out to staff’s email.
  • See the plan page to join MoDNR’s mailing list, register for meetings, submit inquiries and receive recordings of meetings.

Legislative

Missouri’s legislative session convened on January 5.

Regulatory

On January 12, the Commission approved Evergy's suite of Transportation Electrification pilot programs designed to spur electric vehicle adoption. The programs are expected to be offered in the second quarter of 2022 and includes rebates for level 2 charging installation, special rates for electric buses and expansion of Evergy's Clean Charge Network to include a streetlight charging project.

On December 15, the Commission issued an order approving Liberty-Empire Utilities' application for energy efficiency programs under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. The stipulation and agreement that was approved includes one year of programs for 2022-2023. Liberty intends to use this first cycle to build momentum towards a subsequent 3-year portfolio. The proposed plan includes programs for the residential, commercial, industrial and income qualified sectors. Full descriptions of programs can be found in exhibit A of the stipulation and agreement.

Ameren Missouri, Commission staff and the Office of Public Counsel reached a non-unanimous stipulation and agreement that extends the utility’s MEEIA portfolio through 2023. The stipulation includes an agreement on total budget for 2023, changes to certain programs, additional commitments and agreement to performance incentives.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Missouri or to get more involved, contact Samarth Medakkar. 

Legislative

House Bill 389 (Leland, Seitz) would allow voluntary EE portfolios by the electric distribution utilities, allowing for cost recovery and for the proposal of incentives and lost revenues. It contains provisions for low-income program funding, a 0.5% annual electric energy savings target, a cost cap and an all customer opt-out provision.

  • Status: Sub HB 389 was reported out of committee on Nov. 18 but was not brought to a floor vote before the 2021 session ended. Negotiations on the bill are ongoing.

The Ohio Energy Jobs & Justice Act (House Bill 429) would renew the repealed EE standard as an Energy Waste Reduction (EWR) standard that ramps up to the previous target of 22% cumulative savings. It would also create a statewide collaborative to facilitate the EWR planning process, a cabinet-level Office of Energy Justice and a carbon reduction plan for the state, among other provisions.

  • Status: The bill has been referred to the House Public Utilities Committee on October 12, but no hearings or votes have been held.

Regulatory

PUCO has announced a series of energy efficiency workshops to “solicit the views of stakeholders on whether cost-effective energy efficiency programs are an appropriate tool to manage electric generation costs, and how those fit into Ohio’s competitive electric and natural gas marketplaces.” The five workshops will take place March–April 2022 focusing on different customer segments for each workshop as noted below. In addition to speaking opportunities shown on the workshop site, there is also an opportunity to comment on a series of 14 questions that PUCO has posed on EE policy, portfolio and program design and other aspects of EE and DR delivery. Written responses to the PUCO questions are due by January 28, 2022.

  • March 9 – Business sector, part 1
  • March 22 – Electric & natural gas industries
  • March 23 – Consumer sector
  • March 30 – Business sector, part 2
  • April 6 – Environmental sector

How to Get Involved

Please consider writing a response to some or all of the PUCO energy efficiency questions linked above. It is important that PUCO hears from a wide variety of voices with experience in the EE industry.

For more information about Ohio or to get more involved, contact Greg Ehrendreigh.

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Executive

The Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy is currently working on developing a clean energy plan which will help Wisconsin adapt to future changes in the climate as mandated by Governor Evers’ executive order. Additionally, this plan will outline ways for the state to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. MEEA is participating on the plan’s advisory council. The plan is expected to be released in the next few months.

Legislative

Building off of the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change, a coalition of Wisconsin legislators recently unveiled a package of 22 bills pertaining to energy and the environment. Many of these bills would impact energy efficiency and Focus on Energy, including:

  • AB 798: School weatherization and energy efficiency grants
  • AB 795: On-bill financing
  • AB 793: Focus on Energy funding increase
  • AB 792: Focus on Energy low-income program
  • AB 789: Climate change local planning
  • AB 786: Commercial and residential stretch codes
  • AB 784: Green jobs training grants
  • AB 782: Energy innovation grant program

Regulatory

The Wisconsin PSC issued a Notice of Investigation in Docket 5-EI-158 to consider the commission’s role in the state’s transition to zero-carbon electricity generation. MEEA’s response to this docket can be found here. At the PSC’s September 2 meeting, the commissioners voted to consider some of the recommendations on resource planning and energy efficiency in the upcoming Strategic Energy Assessment and Quadrennial Planning process.

The commissioners also voted to hold a workshop on performance-based regulation, which will include discussions on energy affordability. The workshop was held on January 11. Presentations from the meeting (including MEEA’s) can be found in the docket. Next steps were not announced at the meeting, but any future activity will also appear in the docket.

The Commission ruled on the initial scope for the Quadrennial Planning process in Docket 5-FE-104 on December 2. In that ruling, the PSC outlined which policy topics will be covered in each phase of the Quad Plan process. Phase 1 is expected to launch in March with a PSC staff memo on the following topics:

  • Alignment of Focus performance goals and program offerings with decarbonization goals
  • Electrification programs and offerings
  • Programs and offerings for low-income customers
  • Collaboration between Focus and Utility Demand Response Programs
  • Utility Voluntary Programs

Additionally, Cadmus and the PSC released the 2021 Focus on Energy Potential Study Report. Recordings of stakeholder meetings and additional information can be found here.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Wisconsin or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.

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Executive

On December 3, the Department of Energy released a pre-publication version of its proposed rule on efficiency standards for general service lamps (GSLs) under the Energy Independence and Security Act (2007). The agency determined that the 45 lm/W efficiency standard for sales of GSLs (“backstop requirement”), expected to be triggered in January 2020 but subsequently delayed by the agency at the time, has indeed been triggered. If the ruling is finalized, it would effectively codify the transition of sales of virtually all bulbs to LEDs, excluding certain lamps for special purposes. The agency is not expected to meet the end of year deadline for this ruling.

This draft ruling follows DOE’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from August on the definitions for GSLs and general service incandescent lamps. DOE proposed reverting the definitions back to those established by the Obama Administration in January 2017 after the Trump Administration withdrew these revised definitions and delayed the backstop requirement. The revised definitions would no longer exempt five categories of specialty incandescent lamps efficiency standards.

Legislative

President Biden’s Build Back Better Act (Budget Reconciliation Bill) passed the House on November 18 in a 220-213 vote. The bill has been met with resistance in the Senate, most notably by Senator Manchin who announced in December that he cannot support BBB’s passage, citing debt and inflation as his primary concerns and rationale. Efforts to pass the bill are expected to continue this year; however, negotiation methodology is unknown. Potential avenues include scaling back the cost of the bill once again, abandoning the reconciliation package and instead working through annual spending bills or separating the $555 billion climate section from the rest of the package. As it stands, the climate component focuses on tax credits for companies and consumers that make energy efficiency- and renewable energy-related improvements. One energy-related sticking point has been a federal clean energy portfolio standard for utilities. Energy efficiency pieces include mobilization of funds for GHG reduction, residential efficiency rebates and critical facility resilience. For a summary of key energy efficiency pieces of this package, see the Alliance to Save Energy’s Build Back Better Act Summary. Note that this summary includes provisions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee mark-up from September and may be subject to revision.

On November 15, President Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill into law. It includes substantial investment in energy efficiency across sectors of the economy: for example, key provisions from the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, the Heat Efficiency through Applied Technology (HEAT) Act and the Promoting American Energy Jobs Act. The law also includes a grant for states to make energy sector cybersecurity improvements, additional funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades in public schools. See the Alliance to Save Energy’s summary of all energy efficiency pieces in this bill.

How to Get Involved

For more information about Federal issues or to get more involved, contact Nick Dreher.

resources

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