Committee hears amendment to S.50 to change renewable energy standard to clean energy standard

Members of the House Energy Digital Infrastructure Committee met April 30 to hear an amendment to S.50 that would convert Vermont’s renewable energy standard into a clean energy standard and allow utilities greater flexibility to count nonrenewable, low‑carbon resources — including nuclear and some large hydro — toward compliance.

The change, presented by Representative Jim Harrison, would replace references to a “renewable energy standard” with a “clean energy standard,” alter distribution requirements and shift certain alternative payment tiers to lower projected compliance costs, Harrison said. He cited joint fiscal office estimates that the earlier renewable standard would raise electricity costs for Vermonters by “between a low of $150,000,000 to a high of $450,000,000,” and said the clean energy approach could reduce those costs while keeping the statutory greenhouse gas goals intact.

Harrison said the amendment would allow utilities to count generation such as nuclear — currently about 18 percent of the regional supply, he said — and some large hydro facilities when existing contracts expire. “It would allow, for such things as nuclear, which are currently about 18% of our portfolio. And, that alone, will reduce the cost to Vermonters,” Representative Jim Harrison said.

Representative Veil pressed for context on the magnitude of savings and cited a separate estimate that converting to a clean energy standard could save about $4 million statewide on roughly $950 million to $1 billion in annual energy spending — “about 38¢ a month” per household on average, Veil said, noting that the figure is modest relative to overall spending. Veil also urged caution about quickly adopting a broad policy change. “I feel like for that level of savings, it’s something I really want to be careful about,” Representative Veil said.

The amendment also would resurrect a previously proposed option — rejected on the House floor last session — to let utilities purchase credits regionally rather than paying higher local distribution costs tied to siting new in‑state generation. Harrison said the amendment lowers the alternative‑payment tier that applies when utilities can’t meet specific procurement requirements, which he said would further reduce expected costs.

Several members raised process and scope concerns. Committee chair Representative Kathleen James said the underlying bill had been crafted narrowly to address an expedited registration process, and one member said the amendment’s broader policy changes could be ruled not germane on the House floor. “My sense is that … this will be ruled not germane, because we took great care in the committee to make sure that we were crafting a pretty narrow bill,” Representative Kathleen James said.

The committee conducted a nonbinding straw poll on the amendment; members were told the straw poll would not count as a recorded vote. Committee members did not adopt a formal, binding action on the amendment during the session.

Representative Sebeli, who has taken testimony on clean energy topics in the committee, described himself as “enthusiastic about including nuclear power in our energy portfolio” but said the amendment was not the right vehicle to pursue that discussion further. “I just want to say that I am enthusiastic about including nuclear power in our energy portfolio and just feel that this amendment wasn’t the right vehicle or venue, to explore that further,” Representative Sebeli said.

No formal committee motion to adopt the amendment was recorded in the meeting. Committee members said next steps could include further floor consideration, and members signaled differing views on whether the proposal should proceed as drafted.