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Public Service Department opposes naming Division of Fire Safety as energy-code authority, warns of housing-cost impacts
Summary
Kelly Lager of the Public Service Department testified that PSD does not support the working group's recommendation to make the Division of Fire Safety the authority over energy codes, citing resource constraints and potential adverse impacts on housing affordability; PSD also said it would not back continuation of the working group or the majority of recommendations in its dissenting comments.
Kelly Lager, assistant director of the Efficiency and Energy Resources Division at the Public Service Department (PSD), told the working group the department generally supports recommendations that "encourage code compliance without significant additional costs," including a task force to assist OPR, contractor registry updates and targeted training. Lager said PSD staffed this year's effort internally after federal funds used previously were no longer available.
However, Lager explicitly dissented on the central recommendation to designate the Division of Fire Safety (DFS) as the authority having jurisdiction over energy codes. "The department does not agree with the main recommendation to designate the division of fire safety as the authority having jurisdiction over the energy codes," she said, adding concerns about the "financial impacts that would have on the housing market" and the scale of the work required to reconcile current modifications.
Lager told the group that DFS would face a substantial administrative burden to align existing state modifications with a residential construction code, and that PSD is focused on competing priorities such as housing, education reform, health care and ongoing demand-resource planning for EEUs. For those reasons, PSD "would not support continuation of this working group" and did not support moving forward with the majority of the recommendations as noted in PSD's dissenting comments in the final report. Lager said PSD will provide written testimony and supporting materials.
The department also noted that the Public Service has initiated rulemaking and that a hearing notice was filed (hearing date noted in the meeting as Feb. 2). Lager encouraged stakeholders to consult the working-group materials on PSD's website and offered to submit written comments.
The working group did not take any formal vote changing statute or enforcement authority during this meeting; Lager's testimony establishes PSD's formal position for the record.
