Committee hears Department of Public Service on H.125 report to track energy transition

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee heard testimony Feb. 19 from TJ Ford, director of regulated utility planning at the Vermont Department of Public Service, about H.125, legislation that would assemble statewide reporting on the ongoing energy transition.

Ford told the committee the Department of Public Service supports the bill’s high-level goal of providing policymakers with the information they need, but cautioned that much of the requested data already exists in separate reports and agency files. "A lot of the information that you requested...is already collected, published, and provided to developing committees of jurisdiction, but not in one place," Ford said.

Committee members said they want a single, accessible view that flags towns or regions likely to be disadvantaged during the transition from delivered fuels to electrification. Representative Michael Southworth, who asked for geographic detail, said, "What I am looking for is understanding where...people are potentially, at risk," noting differences in fuel access, electric rates and EV charging availability across towns.

Ford listed existing publications and data sources the department already publishes: the annual energy report; a yearly clean energy industry report produced via the Clean Energy Development Fund; a weekly fuel price report supported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration; and an energy-burden study the department has used to map relative household energy costs. He also said the department tracks standard residential electric rates by utility and maintains datasets of sector sales (residential, commercial, industrial) that could be aggregated to derive commercial rates.

On EV charging and transportation electrification, Ford said current utility reporting aggregates sales by sector and that transportation is an "emerging" class in the data. He said the department can likely parse EV charging network revenue and kilowatt-hour data, but that it may not yet be reported to the department as a distinct rate class and would require additional work to separate from commercial aggregates.

The committee pressed several other practical limits. Ford said fuel dealers (propane, fuel oil, cordwood suppliers) do not operate under regulated service territories like electric utilities, so a dealer may stop serving an area without formal notice. He described cordwood and pellet pricing as difficult to capture reliably on a frequent basis because many purchases are occasional or self-supplied; the department has historically included cordwood and pellet prices in its annual report based on a one-time survey rather than weekly calls.

Members discussed map-based tools that overlay multiple layers—energy burden, EV chargers, grid capacity and income—to identify pockets of need. Ford pointed to existing GIS-style products already used for EV infrastructure and to utility circuit-level maps utilities provide in integrated resource planning. He said the department is pushing utilities to collect more granular, circuit-level data to show where distributed energy resources and electrified loads (heat pumps, EVs) are clustering on distribution systems.

Ford and the committee agreed on next steps: Secretary Moore and the agencies will propose a prioritized list of indicators and a short plan for a near-term deliverable and a phased, longer-term reporting approach. Ford said DPS will work with Secretary Moore and other agencies and expected to return with concrete ideas in the near term.

Ending: The committee framed H.125 as an enabling tool for policy decisions rather than a prescriptive mandate. Members asked the department to identify which indicators are already available, which require modest work to compile centrally, and which would need new data collection. The committee left the request open for a follow-up proposal to clarify scope, cost and implementation timing.