Regulators, utilities warn S.65 changes to efficiency charge could raise electric rates and shrink weatherization

At a Senate committee hearing on S.65, regulators, utilities and business groups expressed widespread concern that the bill’s proposed changes to how the state’s electric efficiency charge is used could push up electric rates and reduce funding for weatherization and other low‑income energy programs.

Tim Perrin, director of energy management at Vermont Gas Systems, told the committee Vermont Gas serves about 56,000 customers in Franklin, Chittenden and Addison counties and that the company has delivered weatherization and efficiency programs for more than 30 years. He said S.65 “introduces the potential for increased customer confusion” and that defining energy‑efficiency budgets in the bill without a preliminary potential study “does not align with the principles of least cost utility planning.”

The testimony mattered because the electric efficiency charge currently funds programs that reduce electricity demand statewide; witnesses said those investments lower long‑term supply and infrastructure costs and also generate revenue in the regional forward capacity market. TJ Poor, director of regulated utility planning at the Public Service Department, said the Public…