Bill calls for more renewables

(Published Monday, January 30, 2006 08:58:58 AM CST)
By Todd Richmond
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - More renewable energy. More energy-efficient buildings. Maintain grants to help the poor pay their heat bills.

State Sen. Robert Cowles and Rep. Phil Montgomery, both Republicans from Green Bay, are tweaking a bill they think would help hold the line on swelling energy prices in Wisconsin.

The measure calls for utilities to increase the percentage of energy they produce from renewable sources over the next nine years, would set up new building codes to increase energy efficiency in structures and would prohibit lawmakers from taking money out of the public benefits program, which provides grants for low-income people to meet their energy bills.

"We're hitting a critical mass of concern" over energy prices, Cowles said. "Is it (the bill) the be-all, end-all? No. It's a partial solution to a very big problem."

Electricity and natural gas prices have spiked over the last decade in Wisconsin, driven by construction of power plants and transmission facilities, expensive imported power and skyrocketing natural gas prices.

Dan Ebert, chairman of the state Public Service Commission, which regulates Wisconsin utilities, said natural gas prices are the primary driver behind rising rates. The commission doesn't regulate the price of the commodity, he said, leaving conservation as the best option for keeping bills down.

"We don't have a lot of tools at our disposal. The one tool we do have at our disposal is conservation. If we can reduce our reliance on natural gas, and other states do similar action, we can have an impact on the market," Ebert said.

Cowles and Montgomery are finalizing the language, but drafts before the energy committees in the Senate and Assembly have these provisions:

-Every electric utility and cooperative must produce enough energy from renewable sources by the end of 2015 to bring the statewide average percentage of renewable-sourced energy to 10 percent.

-Utilities wouldn't be able to sell renewable energy credits to one another starting in 2012. Under current law, utilities that exceed required renewable-sourced energy percentages can get credits that can be sold to another utility to satisfy its renewable-sourced percentage.

-Ten percent of the power used by state agencies must come from renewable sources by the end of 2006. The agencies must get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by the end of 2011.

-The state Department of Commerce must review energy-use standards for public buildings to increase conservation. The department also must review the standards every three years. The department now looks at them every five years to see how they can be improved.

-The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection must ask for more funding for development of anaerobic digesters in the 2007-09 state budget. Anaerobic digesters use manure to create methane, which can provide energy. Whether the agency would get that money would be up to the governor and the Legislature as they craft the final version of the budget.

-Forbids legislators from using money in the public benefits program to cover other areas in the state budget. The program is funded largely by fees and contributions by gas and electric utilities and voluntary donations from customers. The money helps pay poor people's energy bills, funds energy conservation programs and promotes the use of renewable energy sources.

"The way to ride out these price hikes ... is to ensure your portfolio of all energy sources is diversified between coal, natural gas and renewables," Montgomery said.

The bill could save about 40 megawatts a year, eventually negating the need to build new power plants, Cowles said.

"There's no question that conservation and renewables, which is a big part of this bill, can have a denting effect, a blunting effect on rates," Cowles said. "Natural gas (prices) will trail off. But I'm not sure electric rates are going to trail off. That's where you attack it. If you don't do conservation, you go with the plants, and the plants are just killers on rates."

The Senate could take up the bill by mid-February.
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