Senate committee backs amendment to S.65 to clarify Efficiency Vermont priorities, sends bill forward

A Senate committee voted to amend and then advance S.65, a bill that revises how funds under Vermont’s electric efficiency framework may be used and measured.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee on a late-session motion adopted a strike-all amendment to S.65 and then voted to move the bill as amended out of committee. The amendment clarified how the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and Efficiency Vermont may account for building-code attainment, prioritized greenhouse-gas reductions in program design, and added provisions about participating in forward capacity markets. The amendment also set spending expectations for customers with low and moderate incomes and for small businesses and nonprofits.

The changes are intended to clarify language the committee and stakeholders said was confusing, and to fold findings from the ongoing Energy Efficiency Modernization Act pilot into the committee’s review of long-term practice.

Senator Hardy, the senator who presented the amendment, said the draft was produced quickly "at the request of the majority leader" and that it was intended to address concerns heard from senators rather than to be a negotiated compromise among all stakeholders. The amendment is a strike-all rewrite that, among other adjustments, removes…