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.

Vermont’s investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy over the past decades has helped to reduce climate pollution and reliably keep our electric rates among the lowest in New England. But cost pressures from federal policy rollbacks, multi-state transmission upgrades, and growing power needs for artificial intelligence threaten affordability and climate progress. Heating and transportation still depend primarily on fossil fuels, which consume three-quarters of Vermont’s energy spending, fluctuate wildly in price, and destabilize our climate and economy. An excellent overview of Vermont’s energy picture is Energy Action Network's (EAN) annual report. The key takeaway: household by household, when we invest in energy efficiency, from weatherizing homes to driving electric vehicles, we help Vermonters achieve measurable and durable savings over time.

A few facts from the EAN report:

• Vermonters spend over $2 billion per year on fossil fuels. With no state regulation of fossil-fuel prices, the cost can vary wildly for consumers. From 2021 to 2022, the price of fuel jumped 38 percent.

• Electrification can bring down overall household energy costs, even if your electricity bill increases. A family that heats with propane and buys vehicle gas at the pump, for example, can save $1,600 a year on its energy bill by switching to an electric vehicle and heat pumps.

The House passed H.527 (An act relating to extending the sunset of 30 V.S.A. § 248a), a bill to extend a streamlined process for siting telecom facilities, primarily cell phone and radio towers. Especially in rural areas, poor cell coverage presents a safety issue for residents and travelers, an economic issue for communities, and an equity issue for folks who rely on cellphone connectivity to access services.  Determining the best locations for towers is a complex process that is too difficult for towns and community members to navigate. This bill, now in the Senate, requires the Public Utilities Commission to recommend ways to make it easier for towns and the public to meaningfully participate in local siting decisions.

The House passed H.710 (An act relating to defining electricity generating facilities), now in the Senate, which updates the rules on expansions at existing electric-generation facilities. By requiring separate infrastructure, such as access roads and utility poles, Vermont law currently makes it hard to build solar arrays next to one another. This bill makes it easier to build new renewables on already-developed sites. It is a solar smart-growth approach that lowers the cost of renewable power, eliminates the need for more roads and poles, and promotes better land-use decisions. 

As the race to power artificial intelligence heats up around the country, legislators are working to ensure that any proposed data centers in Vermont are built responsibly, given their enormous power and water needs. Although there are no large data centers yet proposed in Vermont, H.727 (An act relating to sustainable data center deployment) strengthens regulation of large-load facilities by considering the environmental and cost impacts.