Energy Efficiency Bill Hits Senate Roadblock

A bill that would require most of the state's municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives to set aside some of their revenues to fund energy conservation efforts was derailed, at least temporarily, in a Senate committee Wednesday.

HB 1107 applies to municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives that have at least 5,000 customers. The bill specifies that those entities would have to dedicate one percent of their revenues in 2009 and two percent of revenues in succeeding years to programs aimed at encouraging their customers to use less electricity.

A similar requirement affecting Colorado's investor-owned utilities, such as Excel, is already in effect. The General Assembly mandated such programs for the IOUs in 2007.

During Wednesday's hearing before the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee, Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, succeeded in amending the bill to limit its applicability to rural electric cooperatives with more than 85,000 members. Romer's amendment entirely removed the municipal utilities from the mandate in the bill.

However, the committee then voted 2-2 on the bill. Without a majority of the five-member committee voting to send it to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill is in limbo.

According to a report by John Ingold in the Denver Post's Colorado Capitol Insider blog, committee chair Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said he worries about the impact of the bill on utility rates for lower-income families but that he would keep an open mind about moving the measure out of committee.

According to the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, the bill would inject about $32 million per year into energy conservation programs around the state, resulting in a reduction of electricity use by 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours (KwH) by 2020, an amount equivalent to the annual use of electricity by 170,000 average Colorado households. Colorado residential and business utility consumers would save $600 million in electricity rates between 2008 and 2020.

The bill was approved by the House, 33-32, on Feb. 27. It was sponsored in the House by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder. The Senate sponsor is Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver.

Net Metering Bill To Be Signed Next Week

A bill that would require all municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives in the state to offer "net metering" programs to customers who generate "home-grown power" from solar panels, wind turbines or the like is likely to be signed into law next week, according to House speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Romanoff said during his weekly press conference Monday afternoon that HB 1160, which he called "one of the most significant bills of the decade," would be approved by Gov. Bill Ritter at a solar energy facility.

The proposal would limit the amount of customer-generated power for which utilities subject to its requirements must grant credit on an electricity bill. For residential customers, the maximum is ten kilowatts. For commercial or industrial electricity users, the limit is 25 kilowatts. A utility could choose to grant credit on an electric bill for generation of more than that specified maximum amount of power.

HB 1160 does not apply to all municipal utilities. Only those with more than 5,000 customers are subject to the law. Rural electric cooperatives would be authorized to require customers seeking to take advantage of net metering programs to meet specified interconnection standards and provide appropriate insurance.

The lead sponsor of the bill is Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton. It was carried in the Senate by Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus.

According to a website maintained by the American Wind Energy Association, 30 states currently require utilities to grant net metering credit to at least some customers who generate their own power. The U.S. Department of Energy has published a map that shows a state-by-state summary of net metering laws around the nation.

Net Metering Bill on Way to Senate

The House gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would require rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities to grant credit on electric bills to customers that generate renewable energy.

HB 1160 passed with only one "no" vote, which came from Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs.

The bill requires municipal utilities that serve at least 5,000 customers and all rural electric cooperatives to offset customers' electricity use by the amount of power that customer generates, subject to certain caps.

The bill also sets standards by which rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities must decide whether to allow generators of "home-grown" energy to interconnect to the grid. It also requires residential and business generators to meet certain insurance requirements in order to interconnect.

HB 1160 is sponsored in the House by Rep. Judy Solano, D-Thornton, and in the Senate by Sens. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, and Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus.