PUC chair outlines standard-offer history, litigation and net‑metering changes as state shifts toward utility procurement

Ed McNamara, chair of the Vermont Public Utility Commission, told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 7 that Vermont's centrally administered standard-offer procurement and the state's net‑metering rules have evolved substantially since their inceptions and now face legal and policy tensions with the Renewable Energy Standard.

McNamara said the standard-offer program, created in 2009, was originally a 50-megawatt cap with individual project limits of 2.2 megawatts and generous fixed prices (about $0.30 per kilowatt-hour in early rounds). Competitive procurements introduced after 2012 drove prices down; the most recent PUC reverse-RFP in 2022 produced prices a little over $0.08 per kilowatt-hour, he said. "The price of solar has declined considerably in the last 20 years," McNamara said, noting national cost declines documented by federal laboratory studies.

Why it matters: McNamara said the Renewable Energy Standard (RES), adopted in 2017, requires utilities to procure in‑state renewable generation and has made parts of the standard-offer program redundant for solar. That redundancy, plus the PUC's continued state-administered contracting role, has produced sustained litigation and regulatory scrutiny. "Standard offer is somewhat of a target because it's not typical," McNamara said, explaining that many states rely on utilities to procure renewables rather than the state setting contract terms directly.

Program background and litigation

McNamara described the program mechanics: the PUC sets program rules and hires a third‑party facilitator to run contracts; standard-offer contracts have fixed purchase terms (typically 25 years for solar, 20 years for most technologies and 15 years for landfill gas), with the facilitator allocating contracted generation and associated renewable energy credits to the…