House committee previews S219 requiring consultant to design statewide energy navigator program

The House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure on April 1 heard a walk-through of S219, a Senate-passed provision that would direct the Department of Public Service (DPS) to contract with a third-party consultant to design a Vermont community-based home energy navigator and coaching program and to report the design to the House and Senate energy committees by March 1, 2027. The Office of Legislative Council summarized the bill and its funding contingency for the committee.

The Legislative Counsel told the panel the consultant would build on DPS’s ongoing evaluation of more than 100 publicly funded energy programs focused on affordability, including weatherization and beneficial electrification initiatives, and would consult with a range of stakeholders including the Climate Action Center of Addison County (CAC), Efficiency Vermont, the Vermont State Energy Office, the Vermont Climate Action Office, Vermont’s community action agencies and the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network, as well as electric utilities and peer programs in other states.

According to the counsel’s summary, the proposed program design should enable in-person and remote energy coaching for residential consumers (homeowners, landlords and renters), advise low- and moderate-income households about energy-efficiency and clean-energy investment options, help consumers access grants, rebates and financing, assist in prioritizing weatherization and other energy-saving measures, and connect residents with local contractors while helping review contractor recommendations.

The counsel said the bill requires the consultant to recommend options for ongoing program funding, identify grant or private-partnership opportunities to support operations, and provide an estimate of program costs, a target number of residential consumers to be served, projected energy and emissions savings, and a proposed implementation timeline.

Committee members asked about funding and logistics. The counsel reported that earlier draft language included direct appropriations but that the Senate Appropriations Committee replaced that with contingent-language: the duty for DPS to hire a consultant is contingent on a fiscal-year 2027 general-fund appropriation to the department. During the walk-through a committee member noted figures mentioned earlier in the drafting process — $25,000 for a DPS consultant and $10,000 for the community partner — and asked for those numbers to be confirmed in the formal testimony.

The committee also confirmed it will hear testimony the next day from DPS, the Climate Action Center of Addison County, and Efficiency Vermont, and members were advised to review written testimony that had already been submitted for related bills. No formal motion or vote on S219 occurred during the session.

Next steps: DPS is required by the bill text to submit a program design report "on or before March 1, 2027." The hiring of a consultant described in section one of S219 will proceed only if the Legislature appropriates funds in FY2027 to the Department of Public Service.