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For Immediate Release: March 11, 2009
Speaker Pingree presents legislation to revamp Maine’s energy conservation and weatherization efforts and extend efficiency programs to heating oil customers
AUGUSTA– A proposal before the Joint Select Committee on Maine’s Energy Future could put Maine on a path to a more secure economic future by establishing a robust new program to design and deliver the most effective energy efficiency for Maine consumers of heating oil, kerosene and propane, and build on the state’s existing efficiency programs.
A public hearing was held on the proposal, sponsored by Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree, on Wednesday. The proposal would establish a new Heating Fuels Efficiency and Weatherization Fund that will make energy efficiency programs available to Maine consumers of heating oil just as it is now available for consumers of electricity and natural gas. This legislation ensures that programs will be available for all income levels and for businesses as well as residential homes. In addition, the legislation would create a clearinghouse for consumers seeking to access efficiency programs.
“When the long-term risk becomes too much to ignore, when the consequences impact every community in every corner of the state, and every family of every income level, and businesses large and small, we cannot fulfill our duty by sitting back and waiting,” said Speaker Pingree. “This summer, we glimpsed our future, and saw the results of past generations of inaction. The time for action has come.”
Energy efficiency and weatherization programs already exist for electric and natural gas customers and are funded through surcharges known as systems benefits fees. Through these funds, electric customers have access to rebates from Efficiency Maine for compact fluorescent lights, high efficiency motors and HVAC systems and natural gas customers can get money back on insulation for their attic, storm doors, or upgrades to their furnace. However, for the 80 percent of Maine residents and businesses who heat their buildings and their hot water with heating oil, there is no assistance.
“We can all see the writing on the wall,” said Michael Stoddard, an attorney with Environment Northeast. “It is economically and environmentally unsustainable for our state to continue heating 80 percent of homes and businesses with a finite, high carbon, high priced fuel that is increasing in demand around the globe. Moreover, we can all see that efficiency programs offer a solution that is tested, cost-effective and hugely successful.”
The Heating Fuels Efficiency and Weatherization Fund will offer financial incentives -- like rebates and reduced interest loans and in some cases, direct grants -- to help heating oil customers get past the barriers to finding efficiencies. For those simply needing access to energy audits and technical assistance from qualified energy experts, the Heating Fuels Efficiency and Weatherization Fund will be there to help. Others who cannot afford the full cost of installing insulation in the attic and crawl space, a new storm door to keep out the wind, or an upgrade to a high efficiency boiler, the Fund will be there to offer financial assistance.
Pingree’s proposal would allow businesses relying on heating oil to utilize the Efficiency Fund. Ron Defoe, the Environmental, Safety, Health and Facilities Manager at Lyman-Morse Boat Yard in Thomaston testified in support of the bill, citing Lyman Morse’s efforts to increase their competitiveness through greater energy efficiency. “I remember the days of 99¢ oil when few were worried about the money being lost due to poor insulation and inefficient equipment,” Defoe said in his prepared testimony. “When oil hit $4.00, everyone frantically began exploring ways to run their businesses more economically. I firmly believe it will rise sharply again, so we must not stop finding ways to help us become less dependent on foreign oil.”
While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has made some short-term funding available for similar efforts, there is no long-term approach available to providing this funding. Speaker Pingree’s legislation seeks to keep these weatherization and efficiency efforts going for decades to come by implementing an ongoing 2.5 cent systems benefit charge per gallon of heating fuel at the wholesale level.
A number of energy auditors and energy efficiency consultants were on hand to weigh in on the measure, including Douglas Baston, Principal of North Atlantic Energy Advisors of Alna, who has operated his business for the past 15 years. “It is clear that the drafters of this bill looked closely [at] what has worked – and what has not – in those and other places and incorporated the lessons learned in the proposal before [the Committee],” Baston said in his prepared testimony. “Therefore I find little here to criticize and much to applaud. This bill includes most of the ‘best practices’ I would have recommended to you.”
Speaker Pingree has also proposed that Maine create “one-stop shop” for efficiency programs. By creating a centralized, independent administrator, the bill proposes to enhance the planning and operational independence of the administrator while strengthening accountability through checks and balances. Speaker Pingree has proposed to create the Efficiency Maine Trust. The Efficiency Maine Trust would have to justify public investments through budget submissions to the PUC. The Efficiency Maine Trust would be responsible for the planning and general administration of all of Maine’s currently dispersed efficiency programs. Low-income programs will continue to be run by Maine State Housing Authority.
Stephen G. Ward, who worked for 25 years in the Public Advocate’s Office before retiring, submitted testimony in favor of the measure, singling out the need to consolidate the many and varied existing efficiency programs scattered across state government. In his testimony Ward wrote: “LD 886 changes this fragmented and incomplete picture by putting the management of all non-low income energy efficiency programs – heating oil, natural gas, electricity and propane – under a single administrator. Placing these programs under one roof makes them subject to a single level of management oversight, with a great reduction in customer confusion due to conflicting agency agendas. This is also an essential step for avoiding the duplication of administration expense and for ensuring the biggest bang for Maine’s efficiency buck”
Pingree’s legislation, LD 886, An Act to Secure Maine’s Energy Future has not been scheduled for a work session at this time.
“We know that the high cost of heating is hurting Mainers across the board,” said Speaker Pingree. “While some groups will need significant help to participate and others need only a nudge, the program will seek to incentivize efficiency for all Mainers.”
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