letter to Delegate Wilt 4/2012

April 14, 2012

Senator Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. Delegate Tony O. Wilt Delegate R. Steve Landis

P.O. Box 2 P.O. Box 1425 P.O. Box 12

Mount Solon, VA 22834-0002 Harrisonburg, VA 22803 Verona, VA 24482

Dear Gentlemen:

As supporters of clean energy in Virginia, we want to express our thoughts on various bills to

reform Virginia’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) this legislative session.

Thank you for voting for SB 382/HB 1166, the successful bill that creates basic reporting

requirements for utilities who request a renewable energy reward under Virginia’s voluntary

RPS. We are very happy that we will soon be able to learn more about the energy that utilities

are being rewarded for through our electricity bills.

We support the original vision of the RPS, which was to spur utilities to erect wind turbines and

solar panels in Virginia, creating jobs and homegrown clean energy. We know that instead,

utilities are receiving renewable energy rewards from ratepayers by buying credits for projects in

other states, many of them decades old. We need to strengthen the requirements of the RPS to

make sure companies have to build new renewable energy projects in Virginia to get these

rewards.

Therefore, we are disappointed that you voted for SB 413/HB 1102, the bill that allows utilities

to get RPS credit for research and development of renewable energy, just as though they were

actually generating energy. This bill further weakens the RPS, making it into even more of a

giveaway for electric utilities.

We need to strengthen, not weaken, Virginia’s RPS. Please work to make sure that electric

utilities develop wind and solar power in Virginia, spurring new job growth, rather than investing

in fossil fuel industries that are on the decline.