CUB’s Policy Director Jeff Bissonnette Says: Utilities Need to Eat Their Efficiency Vegetables…
Posted on August 1, 2014 by Samuel Pastrick
Tags, CUB in the News, Legislative & Political, Utility Regulation
We love it when CUB staff are able to send powerful (and sometimes tongue in cheek) messages to utilities via the media. Earlier this month, Jeff Bissonnette, our Policy Director made a strong statement on behalf of consumers through Clearing-Up, an industry newsletter, about issues surrounding the ability of Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to offer a Voluntary Renewable Energy Tariff (VRET) to industrial customers. Our thanks to Energy NewsData Corporation for their permission to use this article. You can find Energy NewsData at www.newsdata.com.
From Clearing Up, July 3, 2014, No. 1653, article “Oregon’s Green Tariff Sausage” by Jude Noland
…Something else is at stake here, too, as CUB’s Jeff Bissonnette has pointed out. “Whenever you talk about renewables, you are talking about ways to clean the energy mix, and the cheapest ways to do that is through energy efficiency.”
Utilities “are fond of talking about the hard stuff that’s keeping them from offering specially designed boutique [ renewable] products, but they haven’t been talking about the hard stuff” associated with making additional investments in energy efficiency, especially in the industrial sector, Bissonnette said.
“Eat your efficiency vegetables before your renewable cookies. Utilities are having the cookie conversation before the veggie conversation.”
Bissonnette acknowledged the current docket probably won’t solve the industrial energy efficiency issues. But he also wants to make sure a VRET doesn’t involve any cost-shifting to customers that don’t sign-up for the tariff.
“If utilities say they are able to offer these tariffs at a lower price than what’s otherwise available in the market, they need to be really clear as to how that’s possible.”
And if developing a VRET means leaving least-cost efficiency resources on the table and going after higher-cost renewable options, “that’s not good for anybody.”
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09/05/22 | 0 Comments | CUB’s Policy Director Jeff Bissonnette Says: Utilities Need to Eat Their Efficiency Vegetables…