Hopeful News on Energy Efficiency Front

January 18, 2008

The Vermont House is focusing its attention on S.209, the incarnation of the bill — minus the funding mechanism — that passed handily last session by the Legislature but was later vetoed by Governor Douglas.

The primary reason Governor Douglas gave for vetoing the bill was the tax it imposed on Vermont’s sole nuclear power company, Entergy Nuclear. Legislators responded quickly after the veto to answer the funding mechanism question. Yesterday, the experts hired by the Legislature to study how the state might structure and fund an expanded energy efficiency program delivered their findings to the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

The Montpelier-based Regulatory Assistance Project outlined several options for lawmakers to consider but sent one strong, overarching message: There’s tremendous opportunity to save Vermonters money if the state takes action soon.

By RAP’s estimate, a ramped up energy efficiency program would save Vermonters significantly by lowering fuel costs in existing homes by between $600 and $1,000 per year (about 25 percent savings in heat per building). This would equate to about $100 million a year in savings on Vermonters fuel bills. RAP also noted that for each public dollar invested, there would be a $4.80 savings through efficiency.

“The savings from efficiency are so powerful that its well worth the investment,” RAP’s co-director Richard Cowart said in his closing remarks.

“We need to break our increasingly expensive addiction to oil. An efficiency program like this one will go a long way toward doing that in Vermont,” said Elizabeth Courtney, VNRC’s executive director.

The report suggests that the lawmakers fund the program from four sources: private capital, existing revenues, money that flows to Vermont through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and a new, phased in tax on fuel oil. The current tax is 0.5 percent, and the report calls for that to increase over time to 1.5 percent by 2014.

To read the Burlington Free Press story, click here.

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