Committee considers S65 to refocus efficiency utilities on emissions reductions and equity

The Vermont Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee took up S65 on Feb. 12, a draft bill that would revise 30 V.S.A. §209 to expand the statutory mission and funding rules for the state’s efficiency utilities to include greenhouse‑gas emissions reductions, electrification and energy storage, and to add explicit equity targets.

Legislative counsel Ellen explained that the draft inserts emissions‑reduction priorities into the 30 V.S.A. §209 framework and clarifies that the Public Utility Commission (PUC) may appoint independent efficiency utilities to develop, implement and monitor electric and thermal efficiency, electrification, active demand management, and energy‑storage programs. The draft would also consolidate supplemental revenues — including forward‑capacity market payments from ISO‑New England and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) proceeds — into a single “efficiency fund.”

Ellen told the committee the draft makes three notable structural changes: it adds electrification and energy storage explicitly to the utilities’ mission; it moves existing supplemental‑funding language earlier in the statute so those funds feed a single efficiency fund; and it requires the PUC to prioritize greenhouse‑gas reductions when…