Committee hears H.125 data-reporting bill; agencies say device-license data is available but analysis will take work

The Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Energy on April 23 took testimony on H.125, a bill that would require the state to compile and report data on fuels and electric-vehicle charging as part of the energy transition.

The bill, sponsored in the Senate as H.125, would direct the Secretary of Natural Resources to collect and report specified data on commercial measuring devices, fuel sales and charging equipment. The committee heard that some of the requested information — annual license lists for devices such as gas pumps and public electric vehicle supply equipment — is already in agency databases, but that assembling five-year histories and producing new analysis would be more work.

Steve Collier, a representative of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (AAFM), told the committee that the AAFM’s Weights and Measures program inspects and annually licenses commercial weighing and measuring devices used in retail sales. “When they buy a gallon of gas, are getting a gallon of gas,” Collier said, explaining the program’s consumer-protection role. He added the agency has begun testing electric-vehicle supply equipment available to the public and is acquiring tools to test fast (level 3) chargers.

Scott Nolan, a measurement specialist with AAFM, provided details on test energy use and procedures. “Typically it’s less than a kilowatt hour. It’s usually 2 tests…a full load test…that’s usually around, like, 0.4 kilowatt hours,” Nolan said, and described a separate light-load test of roughly 0.2 kilowatt hours. Nolan and Collier emphasized that AAFM tests devices for accuracy of the unit sold (gallons or kilowatt-hours) rather than measuring total volume or total energy dispensed by a station or network.

Committee members asked whether the agency could supply the committee’s requested fields. Collier said the agency can “pretty easily provide the annual licensees for the meters that I have described” and business addresses, but that compiling five-year historical data and drawing analytical conclusions from it would be harder because commercial ownership and reporting practices change over time.

Matt Coda, owner of Meadow Hill and representing the Vermont Communications Union District Association, the Mott Fuel Association and the Vermont Beyond Oil Distributors Association, told the committee he already publishes some fuel and vehicle data and urged fixes to an existing state registry. “We sold 5,025 electric cars in Vermont in 2024,” Coda said, and read figures for state fuel sales that he said are publicly available on his website. Coda told the committee the existing Clean Heat Registry “is broken” and tracks the “wrong data and the wrong people,” and he suggested the committee consider amending H.125 to correct the registry.

The committee’s discussion also covered which data sources best capture retail sales. Witnesses noted that wholesale distributors often remit excise taxes and that distributor-level tax collections may not map cleanly to gallons sold at individual stations. Committee members and witnesses discussed the Energy Information Administration as a source of average fuel prices collected across states for publication, and noted tradeoffs between dollar-value reporting and volume reporting for planning purposes.

No formal amendments or votes were recorded during the hearing. The committee chair said members would consider potential changes and planned a markup session the following day.

Why it matters: committee members said consolidated, state-curated data could help planners track the pace of electrification and fuel use, identify gaps in charging infrastructure and validate private-sector data sources. Witnesses cautioned that making raw license lists available is straightforward, but producing validated multi-year analyses would require additional staff time and clearer specifications from the committee.

What’s next: the committee signaled interest in moving H.125 forward but asked members to propose specific edits before the scheduled markup.