Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee

The House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure considers matters relating to energy, utilities, telecommunications, broadband, information technology, cybersecurity, and other similar policies.

Affordable Heat Act And The Proposed Clean Heat Standard

A lot of misinformation surrounded the legislature's work on energy and climate last year, especially relating to the Affordable Heat Act and its proposed clean heat standard. The Public Utility Commission's report on implementation, delivered on 15 January, confirmed that projected price impacts on heating fuel had been wildly overblown, and would be about 8 cents per gallon the first year rising to 58 cents after 10 years. 

The report also concluded that creating a “clean heat credit” market, similar to renewable energy credits in the regional electric sector, is not viable for Vermont to do on its own. Therefore,  the legislature is not moving forward with the clean heat standard at this time. 

The vision of the clean heat credit market was to raise money to help interested Vermonters, through discounts and incentives, to do things like weatherize their homes and install more efficient heating equipment. That is important work. It not only reduces climate pollution, but helps families to save a lot of money on their heating bills in the long run. This session the legislature hopes to work with the Governor on other strategies to help people with the upfront cost, especially for those who are most vulnerable and/or are not able to take advantage of money saving alternatives. Too many Vermonters are being left behind as we move toward a more efficient and less expensive energy future.

Tracking The Energy Transition

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee is working on H.125 (An act relating to reporting on the energy transition) to pull together existing data to understand the impact of the energy transition. As society shifts away from fossil fuels, the goal is to understand how Vermonters are being impacted. Are weatherization services available in all rural areas? Are any areas in danger of depending on a sole fuel supplier? Are there communities that lack grid capacity to support heat pumps, electric vehicles, or distributed solar generation? With this proposed annual report, we can spot trends and make policy to ensure that no communities are left behind.

Climate Action - Helping Vermonters Save Money

We often talk about climate action in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It is true that carbon pollution is an important high-level metric. It is how we measure our progress, here in Vermont and around the world, in combating the worst impacts of climate change. But emissions only go down when we do the real work of climate action. That effort happens one person and one household at a time, right here in Vermont.

Climate action is not distant or intangible. We reduce emissions by helping people to transition away from dirty, price-volatile fossil fuels and shift to clean, renewable, sustainable, and more affordable ways to heat their homes and get around. 

Climate action means helping Vermonters buy electric vehicles (EVs) or more fuel-efficient cars so they can spend a lot less on gasoline and car maintenance. It means expanding our charging infrastructure so that EVs and plug-in hybrids are not just a money-saving long-term investment, but also convenient to drive. It means helping people save a lot of money in their budget and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels by weatherizing drafty homes, installing heat pumps, or buying a heat-pump hot-water heater and clothes dryer.

Slowly but surely, the global economy is shifting toward renewable energy. It is a massive economic transition from the polluting energy of the past to the renewable energy of the future. And this transition is happening right now. Vermonters who can afford the upfront costs are buying EVs, installing solar panels, weatherizing their homes, and installing new and much more efficient heating systems. Once they make this investment, they can save hundreds (perhaps thousands) of dollars on their monthly household budget, not just now but into the future. It is the folks who cannot afford to switch - low-income, moderate-income, rural, older and marginalized Vermonters - who are being left behind and are stuck paying the prices at the pump and to the fuel dealer. 

Fossil fuels are not only dirty, they are extremely price volatile. It is a global market that is subject to fluctuating supply and demand, extreme weather, and geopolitical events. For example, in November 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the price of heating fuel shot up by $2 a gallon. Vermonters reliant on fossil fuels had no choice but to pay that monthly bill. While Vermont regulates electric rates - and has the lowest electricity prices in New England - the fossil fuel industry (gas, oil, propane) is not regulated. 

Renewable energy is less expensive and more stable. That is why Vermonters benefit when we help them make the transition. That is why climate action has real household budget implications. Climate resilience means more than protecting Vermonters from severe storms and floods.  It means helping them to navigate the energy transition.

This requires a commitment to getting the work done. It is challenging and expensive to make sure that all Vermonters - not just those who can afford it - can make the switch to the energy of the future. Other states are making progress. If we are not moving forward, we are quickly falling behind.

Oversight Of State Government Information Technology (IT) Systems

The new House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee is building effective oversight of Vermont’s state government information technology (IT) systems. The scale of the spending is formidable. Currently, the Agency of Digital Services (ADS) lists total IT costs of more than $760 million in 53 projects over the next several years. Many agency and department systems are decades old and in desperate need of replacement.

ADS is a new agency, established in statute six years ago to coordinate projects across the Executive Branch. In that time, it has had three Secretaries and minimal legislative oversight. The current Secretary, Denise Reilly-Hughes, is focused on improving and standardizing our IT systems and procurement. She’s working collaboratively with the committee on a bill to improve the ADS dashboard. It is an important tool for legislators and Vermonters to see how major IT projects are progressing and whether they are on time and on budget.