Conference Report: NWEC’s Clean & Affordable Energy Conference

In early November, I had the opportunity to represent CUB’s membership in the NW Energy Coalition (NWEC) at their Fall 2017 NW Clean & Affordable Energy Conference in Seattle. NWEC is an alliance of about 100 environmental, civic, and human service organizations, progressive utilities, and business in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. NWEC focuses its work on renewable energy and energy conservation, consumer protection, low-income energy assistance, and fish and wildlife restoration on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

The conference provided a platform for representatives from a broad range of energy stakeholders to discuss issues, challenges, and a larger vision for transitioning to a clean and affordable energy future in the Northwest. Key to these discussions were ensuring a just and equitable transition for low-income communities and communities of color, working to re-tool utility business models to align with this vision, and leveraging new and existing technologies and policies to help ensure a smooth transition.

The morning’s equity panel drew perhaps the most raucous applause and energy from the audience, where the panelists spoke at length about the need to bring underrepresented communities to the table in the discussion and formation of future energy policy. Many of these communities—often low-income communities of color—are frequently most at risk to be adversely affected by climate change and pollution associated with energy generation and waste. Also, incentives and policies that are meant to drive positive change can often carry unintended disparate impacts—rebates and incentives can be positive for those who can afford them while creating an economic burden for those that cannot, and do not receive the benefit.

In the next panel, representatives from government, utilities, NGOs, and private law firms—including CUB’s own Bob Jenks—discussed the potential paradigm shift the utility sector is facing as new trends are explored to change the fundamental utility business model and regulatory construct. In Oregon, that conversation is picking up steam as the Oregon Public Utility Commission grapples with how to meet the Legislative directives of Senate Bill (SB) 978, which was passed in the last Legislative session. SB 978 directs the PUC to investigate developing utility trends, technologies, and policy drivers and to potentially consider changes to the existing regulatory system and incentives. Stakeholders hope to glean valuable lessons from states like New York that have already begun similar work.

Innovation in technology and policy punctuated the afternoon’s discussion. Spencer Reeder of Vulcan discussed the Smart City Challenge in which the Paul Allen funded organization is working with communities to expand clean energy and transportation electrification. In Oregon, potential SB 1070 is currently being drafted for examination in the upcoming Legislative short session, and would establish a carbon price and a cap-and-invest system to curb carbon emissions in the state. Finally, utilities and various stakeholders examined the ongoing role of natural gas in an increasingly carbon constrained world.

The conference was a worthwhile and thought-provoking exercise that brought together experts from many different sectors of the energy industry. CUB applauds its colleagues at NWEC for putting on such a robust and well-attended event. The future is bright for energy policy in the Northwest, and this is an exciting time in which we may see far-reaching and fundamental changes to the way that utilities do business.

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