401Gives Day 2022

Acadia Center is pleased to announce that it will be participating in 401Gives Day 2022. Powered by United Way of Rhode Island and presenting sponsor, Papitto Opportunity Connection, 401Gives brings people together to make a difference for local nonprofits that deliver vital services to communities throughout Rhode Island. We are excited to join for the first time and highlight some of the work we’ve been doing in Rhode Island.  

Working at the intersection of government, industry, grassroots organizations, advocates, and communities, Acadia Center develops courageous solutions for our region’s systemic energy challenges. In Rhode Island specifically, Acadia Center was a lead organization supporting the landmark Act on Climate law signed in 2021 and has been a leading advocate for the Transportation Emissions and Mobile (TEAM) Community Act and 100% Renewable Electricity by 2030 bills. When signed into law, the 100% Renewable Electricity bill will put Rhode Island on track to be the first in the nation to meet all of its electricity needs with clean, renewable resources. We were also instrumental in stopping the building of a new, expensive, and unnecessary gas pipeline on Aquidneck Island and will continue to demonstrate how investments in energy efficiency, decarbonized heating, and equitable, clean mobility will better serve all Rhode Islanders for generations to come.  

401Gives presents an opportunity for Rhode Islanders to magnify their efforts combatting the climate crisis and unlocking funds for Acadia Center. By giving on Friday, April 1 (4-01) starting at 6am your gift will make Acadia Center eligible for additional funds from 401Gives and it’s sponsors, and will help spread the message about Acadia Center’s work and the importance of bold climate solutions. 

To participate, supporters can visit our Acadia Center 401Gives Page and support starting at 6am on 4-01, or keep an eye on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and share our posts on 4-01 to spread the word. Every bit helps, and we are so grateful for the support of our community on this special day and throughout the year.  

The clean energy future has the potential to improve quality of life and human and environmental health while lowering greenhouse gas emissions that are pushing the climate towards an unstable and dangerous state. Acadia Center is working now to build the energy system of the future in Rhode Island and throughout the region, and we are grateful the 401Gives community is working with us towards this worthy goal. 

Acadia Center Raises Concerns over Proposed Sale of Narragansett Electric

Background

In Spring 2021, National Grid petitioned regulators to approve a proposed sale of its Rhode Island electric and gas utilities to PPL, a Pennsylvania-headquartered corporation. Acadia Center intervened as a party in the regulatory proceedings case to ensure the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (DPUC) properly evaluated the proposed transaction’s impacts on climate change, energy justice, and public safety. Throughout the hearings, Acadia Center built an evidentiary record that demonstrates the transaction could set back efforts to meet Rhode Island’s climate mandates. In particular, PPL lacks National Grid’s experience with regard to climate-forward regulatory environments, energy efficiency programs, decarbonized heating approaches, and remediation of hazardous fossil gas leaks. Click here to read Acadia Center’s full closing brief in the regulatory proceedings .

Despite this, in late February, the DPUC approved the transaction, disregarding application of Rhode Island’s Act on Climate to the regulatory proceeding. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha immediately appealed the decision, asserting the DPUC applied the incorrect legal standard in not considering climate impacts as required by the Act on Climate. Acadia Center applauds the AG’s swift action in working to ensure the Act on Climate is not overlooked, and is working to ensure that, regardless of the corporate ownership structure, the Narragansett Electric Company is on track to achieve the GHG emissions reductions mandated by the Act on Climate.

PPL Currently Lacks Experience in Climate-Focused Jurisdictions

PPL Lacks Experience in Climate-Focused Jurisdictions

Acadia Center is a lead advocate supporting Rhode Island’s 2021 Act on Climate law, championed by Senator Environment Committee Chair Dawn Euer and Representative Lauren Carson. The Act on Climate requires greenhouse gas emissions reductions across the economy, and includes new mandates that explicitly require state agencies, instrumentalities, and other state bodies to address the impacts of climate change. Utilities are also affected by these mandates insofar as they require regulatory approval for various system operation plans. . National Grid, as a corporation, has far more experience than PPL operating in jurisdictions like Rhode Island that have legally-binding climate laws and is better prepared to leverage that expertise to develop plans that ultimately strive to comply the Act on Climate.

In fact, under Acadia Center’s cross-examination at the DPUC hearings, key PPL witnesses testified they were not familiar with the specifics of PPL’s own climate strategy, updated just weeks before the start of these proceedings. Meanwhile, National Grid has established a corporate wide Net-Zero by 2050 climate commitment consistent with laws in each of its current operating jurisdictions, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, including specific commitments to decarbonize its natural gas distribution system. While Acadia Center may disagree with specific elements of National Grid’s Net-Zero strategy, having a utility with experience developing Net-Zero approaches in conjunction with state laws is a significant value to Rhode Islanders.

In thousands of pages filed in the proceeding, PPL did not offer any proposals or plans for helping Rhode Island meet its climate mandates, only promising to offer such ideas within a year of the transaction’s approval. Rhode Island needs climate action immediately to meet its 2030 requirement to reduce greenhouse gases by 45 percent below 1990 levels.

PPL Lacks Experience Administering Top Tier Efficiency Programs

Acadia Center introduced evidence demonstrating National Grid has far more experience than PPL in designing and operating nation-leading Energy Efficiency programs. The American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE) ranks all three of National Grid’s jurisdictions—Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island in the top five nationally. Meanwhile, efficiency programs in PPL’s current jurisdictions of Pennsylvania and Kentucky rank 19th and 33rd respectively. Under Acadia Center’s cross-examination, PPL executives acknowledged that when comparing Pennsylvania efficiency investments to Rhode Island, “just the dollars invested…it appears that Rhode Island’s is pretty aggressive.” If regulators approve the transaction, PPL will face a steep learning curve with regards to energy efficiency—a cornerstone of Rhode Island’s decarbonization efforts.

PPL Has No Experience with Decarbonized Heating Approaches. National Grid is a Leader.

Acadia Center established an overwhelming weight of evidence in the record demonstrating National Grid’s experience in studying, considering, and pursuing decarbonized heating technologies would better prepare Rhode Island to decarbonize its natural gas heating network. National Grid’s geothermal networking pilot was actually approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities during the course of the Rhode Island hearings. National Grid also announced during the hearings that it will build one of the first and largest clean hydrogen blending projects in the country, to decarbonize gas heating networks in New York.

Rhode Island’s gas network has a number of distribution system challenges in Rhode Island that could be well served by similar pilots and business models. If this transaction is approved, Rhode Islanders, will lose the benefit of National Grid’s experience with this opportunity. Acadia Center’s discovery requests and cross-examination of PPL executives found PPL has no experience with geothermal networking technologies or hydrogen blending and there are no plans to pursue that in Rhode Island.

PPL Trails National Grid’s Performance on Fixing Hazardous Gas Leaks

PPL’s subsidiary gas utility in Kentucky operates a program to repair hazardous gas leaks throughout its distribution system. Based on PPL’s own data, their program has underperformed National Grid’s efforts to address these dangerous and climate damaging leaks in Rhode Island – by over 40% in some areas. Further, PPL failed to demonstrate experience coordinating addressing gas leaks with strategic electrification programs, using money that would otherwise be buried with the pipes to move away from fossil fuels entirely. Gas leaks can lead to sudden and tragic consequences for communities, including explosions and fires. Leaks also contribute significantly to climate change by venting methane, the primary component of natural gas into the atmosphere where it has a Global Warming Potential over 80 times worse than carbon dioxide. Gas leaks are prevalent in the Northeast as our region has some of the oldest gas infrastructure in the country, with portions dating back to the Civil War! Gas leaks require utilities to adopt proactive approaches of detection, categorization, remediation, and abandonment, as well as coordination with electrification.

Acadia Center Urges Conditions for Any Transaction Approval

Throughout the docket, Acadia Center established significant concerns with the proposed transfer of Rhode Island’s utility operations from the National Grid corporate family to the PPL corporate family. Acadia Center recommended the Division apply a set of additional conditions to protect Rhode Islanders, including:

  • PPL must adopt and build upon National Grid’s Net Zero by 2050 Decarbonization Strategy
  • Pause New Gas Connections Until Gas Decarbonization Strategy Filed and Approved
  • Maintenance of Effort on Rhode Island’s Energy Efficiency Plans
  • Maintenance of Effort on Rhode Island’s Hazardous Gas Leak Remediation Program
  • Accelerate Updates to National Grid’s Advanced Metering and Grid Modernization Plans Stalled by the Transaction Review
  • Protect Ratepayers from Increased Costs of New Advanced Metering and Grid Modernization Plans
  • Honor Regulatory Process for Long-Term Aquidneck Island Energy Solution

Acadia Center looks forward to continuing its work with The Narragansett Electric Company to achieve the GHG emissions reductions mandated by the Act on Climate, regardless of corporate ownership. If the transaction’s approval is ultimately upheld, Acadia Center commits to continue this work with PPL throughout the transition period and beyond and to serve as a critical connection to the communities PPL will now serve.

For more information: Hank Webster, RI Director & Senior Policy Advocate, hwebster@acadiacenter.org, 401.276.0600 ext.402

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Media:

Providence Journal February 24, 2022
https://providencejournal-ri.newsmemory.com?selDate=20220224&goTo=A01&artid=4

Energy News Network February 24, 2022
https://energynews.us/2022/02/24/rhode-island-attorney-general-seeks-emergency-order-to-block-utility-sale/

Older coverage of case: Providence Journal February 18, 2022 https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/02/18/what-happens-ri-storm-response-if-narragansett-electric-sold-ppl/6830486001/

Providence Journal January 18, 2022
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/2022/01/18/implications-narragansett-electric-proposed-sale-ppl-corporation/6514373001/

Massachusetts’ Energy Efficiency Plan: Environmental Justice Implications

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has approved the state’s Three-Year Energy Efficiency Plan. Spanning 2022 through 2024, the plan intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by curbing 845,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions while providing over $9 billion in statewide benefits. In addition to meeting the twin statutory mandates of achieving all cost-effective energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 2030 Clean Energy and Climate Plan, the 2022-2024 efficiency plan focused on three areas: equity, electrification, and workforce development. 

Over the years, the Commonwealth has been audacious and forward-looking with its climate plans. A significant stride in the state’s commitment to an equitable and just transition was in establishing the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC) and Mass Save in the Green Communities Act of 2008. Acadia Center strongly supported the formation of the Equity Working Group (EWG) by the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council to sharpen policies beneficial to vulnerable communities and groups but declined a spot on the EWG to make room for more representation of underserved communities. The Equity Working Group and program administrators were instrumental in listing 38 targeted environmental justice communities for particular attention during this three-year plan. Moreover, a portion of the program administrators’ performance incentives was tied to how well they served these underserved communities. In the order on the three-year plan by the DPU, however, the DPU amended the criteria for environmental justice communities agreed upon by the Equity Working Group, EEAC, and program administrators.  

Instead of the criteria being based on income criteria and race or English isolation, a requirement that the whole community has a median income of less than 100% of state median income, and the requirement that greater than 33% of the community resides in an EJ census block group, the DPU revised the criteria to admit the whole municipality (except Boston) even if only one census block has only one EJ criterion. The net result is that an estimated 60 municipalities and Boston neighborhoods will qualify – rather than the 38 deemed most in need of effective efficiency program delivery by the EWG, EEAC, and program administrators. 

The necessity of defining environmental justice communities in the context of race, socioeconomic class, indigenous status cannot be overemphasized. Historically, the impact of energy generation and transmission has been disproportionately borne by black and brown communities and low-income communities. For an equitable transition to a clean and renewable energy system to be feasible, communities and groups that have been marginalized and, in many instances, now face hindrances in accessing energy incentives and programs must be given utmost consideration. The Equity Working Group—and EEAC— exemplify a model for the smooth incorporation of equity solutions in the state’s energy policies and climate goals. But the effectiveness of their policy suggestions in sharpening the future of the state’s energy efficiency plans depends on whether their expertise is valued and their solutions undisputed. 

Equity advisory councils are needed to center equity in state policies and legislatures. But their role can be stymied by lack of agency and authority of the councils to effect relevant changes. Equity advisory forums often represent members of the communities in various capacities and have members ranging from environmental and climate advocacy organizations, environmental justice communities, and community-based groups as well as small businesses. State and regional leaders must learn to trust the expertise of equity advisory forums to yield equity-informed solutions. Acadia Center understands how policies can become even better when public agencies focus on their mandate with equity guidance. We will continue to advocate for equity and climate goals to take center stage in all policy reforms at local and state agencies, and the overall regional progress of the northeast.  

 

Climate Advocate Training: How to advocate for a strong Act on Climate plan

Acadia Center’s Rhode Island Director and Senior Policy Advocate, Hank Webster, presented an advocacy training for over 160 climate activists, sharing tips on how to inject climate concerns into a plethora of state agency decisions. Joined on the panel by Dr. Carrie Gill from the state’s Office of Energy Resources and Professor Dawn King from Brown University, Webster provided a detailed look at key provisions of the 2021 Act on Climate law and encouraged attendees to engage in a wide variety of regulatory opportunities to demonstrate how climate action is required across all levels of government, from the Department of Transportation to the Building Code Commission. Webster also issued an open invite to all attendees join the ongoing Act on Climate Implementation group convened by Acadia Center last year to help guide the development of the 2022 Climate Action Plan. You can watch a recording of training here and view Acadia Center’s slides here.

Massachusetts Proposed Three-Year Energy Efficiency Plan Would Deliver Record-Setting Benefits For a Modern Energy Economy

Massachusetts is on the verge of having another nation-leading Three-Year Energy Efficiency Plan, this time specifically aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reaching environmental justice communities. Thanks to the requirements of the Climate Act of 2021 and the efforts of the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council (EEAC), on which Acadia Center is a voting member representing the environmental community, the proposed plan introduces new elements to energy efficiency planning in the Commonwealth that will deliver record-setting ratepayer benefits and drive meaningful greenhouse gas emissions reduction to help meet our state’s climate targets.

The proposed plans call for a $3.94 billion investment in energy efficiency, which will provide around $13 billion in ratepayer benefits, the highest levels in New England. The Climate Act of 2021 set a greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirement for the plans for the first time ever. The expected reductions that this plan offers (845,916 metric tons of CO2e) will exceed the target set by the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (845,000 metric tons of CO2e).

To meet these targets, the program administrators (PAs) set the social cost of carbon at $393 per ton and the discount rate at 1%, treating the future impacts of climate change as more significant than in prior plans. These figures were appropriately set to “account for the intergenerational nature of climate change,” based upon a study commissioned by the PAs. Under the Climate Act of 2021, the D.P.U. must prioritize equity and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in its decisions. Utilizing these values provides a way in which the D.P.U. can appropriately value the health of future generations in compliance with its expanded mandate.

Following more than a year of work with the Equity Working Group subcommittee of the EEAC, the Three-Year Plan includes an innovative commitment to closely monitoring participation, expenditures, savings, and benefits in 38 environmental justice communities around the state. The EEAC also got the PAs to agree to link a piece of their bonus (or performance incentive) to the amount of ratepayer benefits they generate from these 38 communities and how well they meet their electrification targets.  These performance incentives can induce PAs into behavior they would not normally prioritize and to align with the Commonwealth’s policy choices. A different approach to give the PAs a bonus based on how well they served renters in the last Three-Year Plan was rejected by the D.P.U., but Acadia Center is confident that this essential proposal will survive scrutiny.

Acadia Center is participating in the dockets (D.P.U. 21-120 through 21-129) as full intervenors, actively appearing in evidentiary hearings and submitting both Initial and Reply Briefs. Acadia Center believes these groundbreaking plans are well within the authority for the D.P.U. to approve.

The D.P.U. is set to make its decision on this plan in late January. The plan represents an unprecedented opportunity to provide benefits to ratepayers, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and critical advances in equity and electrification. Acadia Center urges the D.P.U. to approve these groundbreaking plans as they are.

Pressing for Environmental and Climate Justice for a Just Transition as we celebrate MLK Day

This week we remember the foremost civil rights leader, Rev. (Dr.) Martin Luther King Jr., and the giant strides of the civil rights movement in cementing justice and equity into the fabric of our society. The impact of the movement was not limited to social justice, it informed the tenets of environmental justice, and it is shaping clean energy solutions and policies for a just transition.

When institutions and agencies fail to build in equity, justice, and the plight of disadvantaged communities, the failure in policies is glaring. Historically, this has been the course of environmental injustice in the United States. From the siting of power plants and waste facilities, the concentration of industries and factories, and housing discrimination, policies that segregate and primarily benefit affluent white communities are still hampering progress on environmental and climate justice alike. This disproportionate burden of environmental pollution and harm suffered by mostly people of color through unjust policies and practices is environmental racism.

The absence of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) lens as we transition to clean energy and meet climate goals could lead to a repeated pattern that compounds environmental racism, leaving black and brown communities behind from thriving in a clean environment and a safe climate. Equity and justice in the energy and climate landscape is a consideration of high energy burden people in low-income communities and communities of color experience; policy forums with more representation and voices from the most impacted communities of environmental and climate inactions; specific programs catered to renters for housing retrofits as well as the enactment of legislatures that meets their needs. From building decarbonization and electrification to public transportation to diversity and representation in policy forums, policies and laws that cater to all must be put in place for a truly just transition.

Across the country, states, municipalities, and agencies are incorporating equity and justice into their climate policies and action plans.  Our goal at Acadia Center is to ensure that agencies, policymakers, and public officials at all levels are held accountable to the enacted climate goals, and provide research and solutions that address climate inequities and pitfalls to climate inactions and injustice. This was why we advocated that the third program review of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) centers equity by prioritizing the needs of environmental justice communities. In Maine, Acadia Center is keeping tabs on the LD1682 implementation process as the state progresses on defining “environmental justice”, “environmental justice populations”, “frontline communities” in the context of Maine. We are providing equity-centered solutions to connect regulatory silos and help regulators and the grid provide services to consumers while prioritizing equity and environmental justice through Reforming Energy System Planning for Equity and Climate Transformation (RESPECT).

Our efforts stem from the understanding that climate solutions are most impactful when guided by the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. The success in tackling emissions and creating a future that relies on clean energy depends on a transition that is well planned to lift and benefit all communities, regardless of race, class, and ethnicity. As we celebrate the legacy of Rev. (Dr.) Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions today, we are reminded of our commitment to environmental justice and a clean and safe carbon-neutral economy that benefits all people.

Next Generation Energy Efficiency – New PUC Order Represents a Bygone Generation Addicted to Fossil Fuels and Useless Against Climate Change

A new order by New Hampshire’s utility regulator stops the state dead in its energy efficiency tracks and shackles it to its outdated previous plan. After a year of delay and opposition by some legislators and business groups, the NH Public Utilities Commission rejected a new energy efficiency plan developed as a consensus by utilities, government entities, consumer groups, and Acadia Center and its partners. Order No. 26,553 in DE 20-092 Electric and Gas Utilities: 2021-2023 Triennial Energy Efficiency Plan, released 11/12/2021. 

New Hampshire has some of the oldest and leakiest housing stock in the nation and a high dependency on fossil fuels for heating. Building heating is also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in New Hampshire. The new plan was an opportunity to save millions of additional dollars by helping residents and businesses more aggressively reduce energy costs and pollution. The proposed consumer-friendly energy efficiency would have reduced energy costs, increased energy efficiency, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and provided economic development opportunities. Other Northeast states are making tremendous progress in their energy efficiency programs by maximizing the use of weatherization and beneficial electrification, reducing economic insecurity from the inefficient use of fossil fuels, and creating new jobs and businesses to deliver affordable energy efficiency products and services. New Hampshire can and should do so, as well. Instead, it will remain dead last in New England on energy efficiency policy and programs. 

A robust, escalating energy efficiency resource standard would have sent a clear signal to the market in residential, commercial, and industrial programs and a level of certainty that encourages more investment in cost-effective energy efficiency. Instead, the NH PUC has undercut the progress the state had made in saving consumers’ energy and growing good, green jobs in the industry by denying such certainty. 

Energy efficiency represents the largest block of energy workers in New Hampshire. The 10,838 Energy Efficiency jobs in New Hampshire represent 0.5 percent of all U.S. energy efficiency jobs. The median wage for all energy workers in New Hampshire is $26.13, which is 37 percent above the national median wage of $19.14. [1] All NH counties have energy efficiency workers in more than 2000 energy-efficiency-related businesses. The future of energy efficiency in NH was looking promising, with ~ 6800 new EE construction jobs needed just to retrofit NH homes by 2030. [2] The expanded efficiency programs could have created 17,500 job-years and produced $3.5 billion in increased economic output in New Hampshire.   

Given the international impetus on global climate change and renewed federal action on clean energy and efficiency investments, this was no time to move backwards on robust energy efficiency programs and projects in New Hampshire. New Hampshire deserves to reap the benefits that a more robust NHSaves program can provide. Past progress shows that investments in efficiency grow the economy, create jobs, enhance public health, improve housing, and increase access to low-carbon heating.  

But the Commission’s order sends a signal to the market that additional investment in cost-effective energy efficiency is unwanted. Counter to the PUC’s findings, far more must be done to improve the efficiency of NH homes and businesses and to ensure that all overburdened and underserved communities reap the full benefits of efficiency offerings. Many consumers face unequal access to benefits under existing efficiency programs, and underserved communities that face the worst impacts of climate change and poor housing quality have not been able to take full advantage of efficiency programs. Clean electric heating and whole house electrification must be priorities to support the acceleration of clean energy resources and the transition away from fossil fuels.  

Acadia Center’s Next Generation Energy Efficiency initiative seeks to tackle these challenges through a new approach – one that focuses on energy savings as a core consumer and energy system resource, but is also centered around meeting climate, environmental justice, and electrification goals. It is an approach that recognizes the interrelatedness of these efforts, which can work in concert to bring Northeast communities the future of energy efficiency. We hope New Hampshire will eventually rejoin other New England states in moving forward to all cost-effective energy efficiency to the benefit of all citizens. 

 

[1] U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy & Employment Jobs Report, 2021, Energy Employment by State 2021. 

[2] E4TheFuture, Energy Efficiency Jobs in America, October 2021.

Want to Avoid Painful Price Spikes? End the Dependency on Fossil Fuels

Many New England electric and gas utilities will be charging customers more this winter because of sharply rising fossil fuel prices. These price spikes come when families and businesses are already facing increased costs due to historic inflation. Both inflation and rising oil and gas prices stem in large part from the impact of the global pandemic.[1] But volatile fossil fuel prices are nothing new, and the region must use the tools at hand to protect consumers from these impacts, including decoupling the economy from fossil fuels as rapidly as possible. The answer is not to double down on more gas, oil, and pipelines — which will always be volatile – but to electrify buildings and transportation and to bring more solar, wind, flexible load like electric vehicles, and storage into the region’s energy mix.

Why Are Prices Spiking?

The pandemic, extreme weather, and international instability are driving price spikes in New England and around the globe. Spikes in natural gas prices not only mean higher heating costs for those who heat with gas, but also rising electric rates because New England is over-reliant on natural gas as a fuel for electricity generation, in addition to heating. It is this reliance that the region must eliminate to decouple its utility bills from the risks and price volatility of fossil fuels.

New England is not the only region paying more. The entire country faces rising natural gas prices in part due to increased exports abroad. Because prices for gas are even higher in Europe and Asia, U.S. producers have an incentive to export large quantities of gas, further driving up domestic prices.[2] In addition, earlier in the year, U.S. natural gas production dropped by its largest monthly decline due to a record-breaking cold snap in the lower 48 states.[3] That freeze event paralyzed many states, resulting in substantial loss of life as well as economic damage. It simultaneously reduced gas production in the affected states.[4] By summer, just a few months later, parts of the U.S. were experiencing life-threatening summer heat waves that caused higher than normal air conditioning demand.[5] Already-diminished gas supplies were consumed at higher rates than normal to fuel electricity for cooling. European gas prices have also been surging because of supply issues, including threats from non-democratic Belarus to cut off gas supplies to the rest of Europe.[6] All of this has contributed to volatile pricing and constrained supply for natural gas in the U.S. and around the globe.

What Impacts Does New England Face from Price Spikes?

Here are some of the impacts New England faces right now:

  • Electricity rates are rising with little notice in Maine. Starting January 1 Central Maine Power will increase its standard offer rates by 83% and Versant Power will raise its standard offer rates 88%.[7]
  • Liberty Utilities plans to raise rates for natural gas customers in New Hampshire, including customers who already locked in fixed prices for the winter.[8] Liberty says it didn’t predict this level of price volatility when it originally set its fixed prices.
  • Eversource has already raised rates for some heating customers in New England by about 14% and is urging customers to take advantage of weatherization and energy efficiency programs to control rising costs.[9]
  • The EIA estimates that the cost of heating oil will increase by 33% this winter. Prices are already on the rise in New England.[10]
  • The fuel oil often used as backup for certain power plants in case of polar vortex-like weather events is reportedly not well-supplied.[11] Although meteorologists aren’t anticipating a severe winter for the region, it’s never clear when a polar vortex might develop.[12]

In the Near Term, Is There Any Relief in Sight?

What help is there this winter to keep costs down? Here are some rays of hope:

  • Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Reduce Costs. Weatherization and energy efficiency will help control costs even when prices spike. Fortunately, the region is already reaping the cost- and energy-savings of past energy efficiency investments, keeping costs and energy demand lower than they otherwise would be.[13] There are efficiency programs right now that will help more families and businesses weatherize and conserve energy to cut costs.[14] Even in New Hampshire, where state energy regulators recently made the poorly timed decision to cut funding for cost-saving weatherization investments and customer support programs, there are options to control costs.[15]
  • Federal and State Relief Programs Target Middle- and Low-Income Residents. The federal government has announced a new program that will use part of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief budget to help with utility bills, directing additional funds to utility financial assistance for both low and middle-income families, as well as emergency rental assistance.[16] In addition, most New England states have state-specific relief programs such as the UniteCT program in Connecticut to help residents stay warm and safe.[17]
  • Mild Weather Could Lower Costs and Relieve Pressure on Supplies. Warmer than average weather in New England or other parts of the world could reduce stress on supply, and new oil deliveries could replenish backup fuel sources. Although prices are still up over 2020, they fell in November as compared to October in response to relatively mild weather.[18] Meteorologists are now predicting that temperatures will rise 10 to 20 degrees above average for an extended time across most of the U.S. this winter, including New England.[19] If this proves true, it could provide substantial relief.

What Is the Long-Term Solution?

Fossil fuel price volatility is not new in New England and won’t be solved by more gas pipelines. Fossil fuel supply and price volatility is an old phenomenon that has raised anxiety and stoked fear mongering about New England’s winter electricity prices and reliability for decades. Sometimes, politicians and companies that stand to benefit from the expanded use of natural gas argue it means we should install more gas pipelines. But pipelines would place a massive financial burden on New England consumers and could never eliminate the volatility that comes with resource-constrained fossil fuels imported into the region. In addition, more fossil fuels would cause more extreme weather events, driving up the costs of climate change further for New England’s communities. Common sense says no to any more costly fossil fuel infrastructure. On the contrary, the long-term solution is to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.

Acadia Center is working with decision makers and communities across the region to advance solutions to fuel price volatility and the other energy challenges that affect New England. These solutions include weatherization, energy efficiency, and rapid decarbonization of the region’s energy mix.

 

[1] See U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), Short-Term Energy Outlook, Winter Fuels Outlook, October 2021, available at https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/WinterFuels.php.

[2] See id. (“Despite the high U.S. natural gas prices, futures prices for Henry Hub have traded at steep discounts to prices in Asia and Europe… This price differential has led to record volumes of U.S. LNG exports, especially to destinations in Asia and Europe. In addition, high prices in Europe and Asia have contributed to upward price pressure for U.S. natural gas, as those markets import more U.S. LNG cargoes.”).

[3] EIA, Today in Energy, February 2021 weather triggers largest monthly decline in U.S. natural gas production (May 10, 2021), available at https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=47896.

[4] L. Brun Hilbert and J.F. Hallai, Natural Gas Production in Extreme Weather, Pipeline & Gas Journal, June 2021, Vol. 248, No. 6, available at https://pgjonline.com/magazine/2021/june-2021-vol-248-no-6/guest-commentary/natural-gas-production-in-extreme-weather.

[5] Suzy Khimm and Joshua Eaton, NBC News, As deadly heat waves spread, access to air conditioning becomes a lifesaving question (Aug, 20, 2021), available at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/deadly-heat-waves-spread-access-air-conditioning-becomes-lifesaving-question-n1277213.

[6] BBC, Belarus threatens to cut off gas to EU in border row (Nov. 11, 2021) (Alexander Lukashenko: “If they impose additional sanctions on us… what if we halt natural gas supplies?”), available at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59246899.

[7] https://www.necn.com/news/local/maine-electric-bills-set-for-big-jump-amid-worldwide-crunch-in-supply-and-demand/2619580/

[8] https://www.wmur.com/article/liberty-utilities-plans-to-increase-price-for-natural-gas-fixed-rate/38295359

[9] https://www.courant.com/business/hc-biz-winter-rising-energy-prices-20211103-sh7qkz2hivcchne4e47dssnpny-story.html

[10] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50116&src=email

[11] S&P Global Platts, ISO-NE Updates Power Generators Ahead of Winter Amid Supply Chain Constraints (October 1, 2021).

[12] https://www.nbcboston.com/weather/stories-weather/noaa-winter-snow-cold-forecast-for-massachusetts-new-england/2529727/

[13] https://acadiacenter.org/next-generation-energy-efficiency/

[14] E.g., https://www.masssave.com/saving/residential-rebates/home-insulation

[15] https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2021/11/25/the-high-cost-of-home-heating-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/?fbclid=IwAR3og4gqemK_GlwJLSXcp08VPFMj9Co2E5O06BlbIHce5X2Nh-tWVUYrNFU

[16] https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/politics/heating-costs-biden-administration/index.html

[17] https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2021/11-2021/Governor-Lamont-Advises-Residents-of-Efforts-To-Mitigate-Impact-of-Global-Increase-in-Energy-Costs

[18] EIA, Short-Term Energy Outlook (Dec. 7, 2021), available at https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/.

[19] https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/12/07/warm-winter-weather-united-states/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2wb7RzXLEHNeOGOovtokV7c1wJx4MV_4kqqKUaNENyBKDCKq6OEbRFz7o

 

Massachusetts Needs Innovation and Efficiency – So Why Did The DPU Just Kill One of The Best Ideas?

One of the most forward-looking pieces of the Massachusetts 2022-2024 three-year energy efficiency plan now filed at the Department of Public Utilities is the brainchild of the Cape Light Compact – the proposed Cape and Vineyard Electrification Offering (CVEO). The CVEO would result in retrofitted low-income housing that is all-electric, powered by solar panels, and resilient in storms thanks to onsite storage. It’s exactly the sort of thinking that we need to be doing more of – how to make homes healthier and safer, lower carbon pollution, and make communities more resilient. Plus it’s targeted at the households that still have the least access to heat pumps, solar and storage, even with all the programs we have in those areas. So why did the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) just kill it? On November 5, the DPU requested that it be removed from the programs before it can even be considered. 

Cape Light Compact (CLC) is a municipal aggregator that provides energy to the citizens of towns on the Cape and Vineyard, as well as administering their electric energy efficiency programs. As a municipal aggregator, CLC is different from the other utility program administrators – and often provides more customized offerings to its customers, including higher incentives (though still cost-effective) that drive, not surprisingly, higher customer participation rates. 

Acadia Center has enthusiastically supported CLC’s proposed CVEO since it was first presented to the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council in 2018. It’s exactly what the efficiency programs should be doing to address the intersectional crises of climate, affordable housing, spiking fossil fuel prices, resiliency, and the fact that low- and moderate-income customers aren’t reaping the benefits of solar and storage, despite the SMART program’s best intentions. But the DPU decided on November 5th that it’s just not possible under existing law. Why? 

Through the CVEO, CLC proposed to weatherize and install heat pumps, solar PV, and energy storage in 250 low- and moderate-income homes, heated with oil, propane, or electric resistance heat. The offering combined the existing statewide incentives for weatherization, heat pumps with controls, and demand response through thermostats, with an innovative way to pre-pay existing incentives for energy storage and a third-party ownership model for storage and PV that leverages outside incentive funding to offset the overall ratepayer impact. In other words, it takes the programs the Department has already approved and stretches them farther and deeper to truly serve the best interests of customers of the Cape and Vineyard. Homes would be warm, free of combustion byproducts, cheaper for residents to operate, and resilient in the face of increasing storms and outages – all within the cost-effectiveness screening of the efficiency programs.  

The DPU has already approved incentives for use of energy storage for demand reduction, including allowing 5-year contracts for daily dispatch incentives (i.e., beyond the length of the 3-year plans). But the CVEO’s twist on this idea to pre-pay 10 years of incentives to enable the purchase of a new energy storage system (which would also provide resiliency benefits to the residents) went too far for the DPU – mostly because resiliency benefits are outside the scope of the energy efficiency plans.  

The Green Communities Act was amended in 2018 to include “programs that result in customers switching to renewable energy sources or other clean energy technologies;” as one of the types of offerings that could be included in the 3-year plans. Despite that amendment, the DPU held that energy efficiency funds cannot be used to pay for solar. Because the CVEO proposed to use energy efficiency funds to essentially operate a power purchase agreement with the 3rd party solar developer, the DPU determined that it was just too close to using EE dollars to fund solar panels for its comfort. But what about the comfort of the residents who would benefit from this program? What about the benefit to communities by lowering of emissions with the switch to clean energy sources? What about the recently changed DPU mandate requiring them to factor equity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their decisions? 

The DPU’s statement that “[it] agrees that facilitating low-income customer access to solar PV while electrifying heating is consistent with Commonwealth policy but doing so requires the intersection of multiple programs” is fairly telling. At the moment, our regulatory system just wasn’t set up to allow this kind of innovation. There are too many silos for money – efficiency, SMART tariff, net metering, demand response, developer funds, and investment tax credits – where the streams cannot be combined. Even though all the money comes from the same place and goes to fund programs that help the same people – Massachusetts ratepayers.  

That’s a problem. But Acadia Center has a solution.  

Acadia Center’s new report Reforming Energy System Planning for Equity and Climate Transformation (RESPECT) takes on some of these regulatory silos and proposes a new way of looking at planning for the future of our grid and consumers. Under RESPECT, regulators could encourage innovative solutions that take on multiple problems and make something even greater than its component parts for the ratepayers. Rather than being bound by the solutions of the past, innovative programs like CVEO could become a guiding example for how to think differently.  

We need to do better for the ratepayers of Massachusetts. We need to be able to use programs that we have, bend them slightly, and feed two birds with one scone. Otherwise, we have no hope of being able to take on the climate crisis with all we’ve got. 

FERC and ISO-NE: Help or Hindrance to Reaching State Clean Energy Goals?

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the federal agency that regulates energy markets and electric transmission lines, has a big impact on whether New England can effectively fight climate change. FERC’s control over energy markets and transmission influences New England’s ability to eliminate dirty power plants from communities that have suffered the health impacts of pollution for too long, and to replace those dirty plants with climate-safe energy and green jobs. That’s why Acadia Center is recommending that FERC adopt new rules for transmission planning that will help support New England’s climate and equity goals instead of standing in the way.

FERC can empower New England by helping to create a strong inter-state transmission grid that brings clean, affordable energy to homes and businesses, along with good-paying green energy jobs for New England’s communities. The transmission grid is the central artery for transmitting electric power, determining where energy comes from, how much that energy costs, and to whom it can be delivered. The region needs transmission lines that bring clean energy to homes and businesses to replace the energy from dirty fossil fuel-fired power plants that now pollute population centers across the region. Because transmission lines link multiple states, FERC has federal authority over planning and regulating these lines, though the states retain control over siting.

Given the significant role FERC plays, Acadia Center is encouraged that FERC has launched a new forum to reconsider how it plans electric transmission, including the role that states should play in determining what transmission is needed for the clean energy transition. In this new proceeding, entitled “Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation and Generator Interconnection,” FERC is taking input on what policies it can adopt to help states and regions better integrate important public policy – including decarbonization laws and environmental equity – into transmission planning. With input from Acadia Center and others, FERC can help change the course of history across the country and here in the northeast.

Bringing new large-scale clean energy to homes and businesses across New England isn’t the only benefit of better planning. Planning improved transmission will help communities across New England withstand the increasingly frequent storms and volatile weather patterns the climate crisis is already bringing, while integrating flexible and lower-cost solutions like rooftop solar and battery storage into the energy system.

Acadia Center is working with partners across New England and around the country to help FERC develop new rules governing what the transmission grid of the future should look like. On October 12, Acadia Center and its partners submitted opening comments outlining what’s going wrong, what’s going right, and what needs to be improved.

Part of what needs to change is ISO-New England (ISO-NE). ISO-NE is the regional organization that FERC has designated to manage New England’s energy markets and transmission system. Right now, ISO-NE doesn’t consider state climate goals in its energy markets or its transmission planning, and that’s a huge obstacle to the clean energy transition. It is critical that ISO-NE take input early and often from both states and stakeholders in all regional planning, otherwise the region will fail to meet its critical clean energy goals.

Acadia Center has cried foul on ISO-NE before, New England Governors’ Energy Vision: Shifting Power on the Regional Electricity Grid arguing that ISO-NE is hanging onto the dirty fuels of the past. To their credit, the New England Governors have also started to object to ISO-NE’s backward-looking practices, demanding that ISO-NE conduct a study that shows what the energy system will look like in 2050 with state decarbonization goals as a guiding factor.

Acadia Center strongly supports the New England states in their efforts to press ISO-NE for policy accountability, including incorporating state decarbonization goals into transmission planning and regional energy markets. Without these changes, ISO-NE will continue to support dirty gas plants and entrenched interests over the new wind, solar, and storage solutions that should be leading the way. So far, ISO-NE continues to make its decisions behind closed doors, relying mostly on input from entrenched interests including the dirty fuel companies themselves. ISO-NE gives short shrift to the communities that are impacted by its decisions. As Acadia Center has argued before, this needs to change.

Acadia Center is asking FERC to implement reforms that cement the requirement to take state input early on in all regional energy planning, and to help states meet their policy goals, not hinder them. Acadia Center is also asking FERC to instruct ISO-NE to weigh community input and environmental justice, so that New England’s energy systems start to serve the people who rely on them.

The bottom line is that regional energy planning must reflect the policy of the states that make up the region and must protect the interests of the people who live there. Regional energy planners can’t do an end run around democratically determined state policies by hiding behind FERC-delegated federal authorities. FERC should unambiguously direct all its planning organizations across the country, including ISO-NE, to work with the states for the benefit of our communities.

Another benefit of the changes Acadia Center recommends is that through increased coordination and improved planning of both the energy markets and transmission systems, the region can avoid wasting time and money on projects like Northern Pass or NECEC, only for those projects to be canceled. The region should be working toward energy solutions that benefit everyone. This should include energy markets that let clean energy compete on a level playing field, so that states can rely on the markets instead of going it alone when they’re in search of clean energy. It should also include a transmission infrastructure that meets multiple states’ needs and provides benefits for communities across the region, not just in one area.

Acadia Center looks forward to providing more feedback to FERC on what needs to change and working with state leaders to ensure that clean energy and equity no longer take a back seat in New England’s energy planning, including on the transmission grid and in energy markets. As the states work hard to address the climate crisis, it’s time for ISO-NE and FERC to stop standing in the way and start treating the states like real partners.