WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Morris Introduces Package of Energy Bills to Reinvent Energy Sector in Washington

With the topic of climate change a major focus of the governor’s agenda, there is much talk and debate about the state’s energy policies — very little of which sheds much light on the real issues facing Washington state’s energy sector today.

In contrast, Rep. Jeff Morris (D-Mt. Vernon), a leader on energy policy in the House of Representatives since 1996, introduced his energy policy bill package late last week on topics ranging from aligning electric utility ratemaking with customer values, promoting distributed generation, encouraging thermal efficiency and adopting appliance efficiency standards, and building the clean energy sector of the state’s economy.

“I’ve worked for nearly two decades to reduce this state’s carbon footprint,” Rep. Morris said. “Day-to-day policy work results in few political speeches, but it lays the foundation for real bottom-up change we need, in order to create jobs and reduce all of our pollution levels. I hope the Senate and governor will engage in the debate on these highly technical, and perhaps ‘unsexy’ energy topics for Washington state’s future.”

The Morris package of bills reauthorizes a successful solar production tax incentive that grew the solar sector by 13 percent during the great recession, authorizes third party leasing of renewable systems that provides more access to renewable energy to all income classes of people, and provides an intermediary tool box of options for alternative forms of net metering to help promote distributed generation.

A convergence of different market pressures from customers and clean energy policies are starting to squeeze revenue for our state’s electric utilities, Morris explained. The way utilities currently make money is by how much electricity you use. Current electricity rates are calculated largely on a system that was developed for the railroads during the 1800s. Many argue that we may have hit peak electricity in 2012, meaning on a per capita basis individual energy consumption is going down.

Rep. Morris issued the following statement:

“Every new appliance you buy today uses less energy than its predecessor, every consumer that generates their own electricity and provides it back to the electric grid, and every customer that integrates smart energy technologies to use our existing system more efficiently is making our state stronger economically. But at the same time, our local utilities are losing money—their business models are being challenged by these changes.

“Do you value your lights being on reliably? That you your utility is using its infrastructure as efficiently as possible? Do you value how many local jobs your utility creates? Performance-based regulation is key to achieving these values. While still ensuring affordable electric rates, it will reward utilities for their performance in working with customers to achieve important policy goals, like conservation and efficiency—and not just reward utilities based on how much product they sell.

“The correct course for Washington is to respond to what utility customers demand, and implement state policies that create green and clean jobs close to home. However, without healthy utilities, we won’t be able to implement these priorities.

“I was a lead sponsor of the state’s net metering law, which required utilities to connect customer-owned renewable energy systems, like solar photovoltaic panels, to the grid and ensured that customers would receive compensation for the electricity they produce. But we can’t just rest on our laurels. It’s time to advance state legislative proposals that move our utilities to performance based regulation away from the 19th century and into the 21st.”

Here is a list of the bills that have been introduced:
HB 1093 – Unmanned aircraft
HB 1094 – Biometric identifiers
HB 1095 – Thermal energy efficiency
HB 1096 – Electric distribution system
HB 1097 – Renewable energy/job growth
HB 1098 – Electric utility regulation
HB 1099 – Contracts over the Internet
HB 1100 – Appliance efficiency