Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Lawmakers Hear Split Views on House Bill 3309, Omnibus Energy Measure
Summary
Stakeholders including conservation groups, solar developers, consumer advocates and utilities told a Senate subcommittee that House Bill 3309 contains provisions that could speed resource deployment but also shift costs or reduce regulatory protections; witnesses urged amendments on planning, procurement, rate design and efficiency.
House Bill 3309 (H 3309), a wide-ranging energy bill pending in the General Assembly, drew sharply different testimony at a Senate Energy Subcommittee hearing where witnesses urged more protections for ratepayers, stronger procurement rules for renewables and clearer metrics for energy efficiency.
The bill “contains constructive amendments,” said Taylor Allred, coastal policy director for the Coastal Conservation League, but as written he warned H 3309 could “increase ratepayers’ risk of paying higher bills than necessary and delay the growth in clean energy resources.”
Why this matters: Lawmakers must balance two aims that several witnesses described as competing priorities — ensuring affordable, reliable power while enabling investment to meet rapid demand growth from large customers such as data centers. Multiple witnesses told the subcommittee that H 3309 could be improved with changes to integrated resource…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
