JJ Vandette previews the opportunities and efficiencies he’s focused on for next year and beyond
About a year in as WEC’s first-ever Director of Special Projects and Innovation, JJ Vandette is already well-seasoned. He’s helping lead the Co-op’s process to switch to advanced meters, and he assembled WEC’s Integrated Resource Plan—a comprehensive strategic document required by regulators. He’s also keeping track and making priorities based on what tech is available today, what tech advances are coming soon, what incentives and investments members are asking for the most, what funding is accessible to WEC for certain projects, and what projects align with WEC’s cooperative values. Sounds like three-dimensional chess, but shortly after he joined WEC, JJ explained that his job is really about optimizing resources: “More impact, less effort,” he said at the time.
Vandette selected three topics of member interest to forecast into 2025. The first is a thoughtful refocus of the incentives WEC offers members to switch from vehicles, appliances, and heat sources that burn and emit greenhouse gases to those that are powered by WEC’s 100% renewable electricity. These are offered by distribution utilities to their ratepayers per state law.
The second two topics include a new battery storage access grant program and an update on the rollout of advanced meters—and, eventually, time-of-day rates. These are both forecast out to 2026 —this is an early look at the sketches on Vandette’s drawing board—but it’s an opportunity to learn about how WEC is planning to use its resources for member benefit over the coming years.
Incentives for Members
Vandette and other WEC leaders have edited WEC’s incentive offerings with a commitment to economic fairness. In October, WEC filed its annual Tier 3 plan: no major changes, said Vandette, but there is some reorganization of priorities members may notice. For example, rebates for e-bikes and e-mowers are cycling out because, Vandette said, data showed WEC’s rebates weren’t a decisive factor for members choosing to buy these items. And while e-bikes and e-mowers may certainly improve quality of life, they are not as essential as heat, shelter, and, in much of rural Vermont, cars.
Instead, said Vandette, “we’re going to push our chips toward low-income fuel switch support.” WEC will partner with Efficiency Vermont to help income-qualified members change polluting home heating systems to electric. The fuel switch program was piloted by Efficiency Vermont and Burlington Electric Department after the passage of Act 151 in 2020. At the time, the heads of all of Vermont’s distribution utility signed a letter in support of the legislation that would create the program.
In addition, WEC will continue offering $500 incentives to any member who purchases a new electric vehicle (EV), and $250 for used EVs and new plug-in hybrids (PHEV). On top of that, income qualified members receive another $500 incentive on any EV or PHEV purchase. Learn more: wec.coop/energy-coach-home
Battery Storage Access Grant
Together with the Vermont Public Power Supply Agency (VPPSA) and Burlington Electric Department, WEC received an energy storage access grant to start bringing battery storage to members. How that will look is still in development: Vandette explained that each utility will adapt the program. It will be “an opportunity for one municipal building and a handful of members to have battery storage at their home paid for by the grant,” he predicted. Then, WEC will use what it learns to shape more battery storage opportunities in the future. Members will have to wait until 2026 for the Co-op to unveil opportunities for programs related to battery storage at home. Vandette understands members’ eagerness for battery storage. In addition to outage resilience, a network of batteries connected to WEC’s grid would offer the Co-op a way to access stored power at times when market power is most expensive: during hot summer days and cold winter nights, when demand for power from the grid is greatest.
Advanced Meters and Time-of-Day Rates
New advanced meters are a good example of Vandette’s biggest-bang-for-the-buck strategy: The cost to upgrade will be substantially covered by state and federal grants. Advanced meters will accomplish several Co-op goals, like a better understanding of its own network and an ability to respond to outages with greater speed and accuracy. But it will also allow WEC to implement time-of-day rates, which could save members, and the Co-op membership as a whole, a great deal of money.
When electricity demand is high, market power is expensive. Every distribution utility is impacted by spikes in market power costs, and at WEC, members pay that premium cost. Through most of its history, WEC saw its greatest electric use during cold spells: it’s known as a “winter peaking” utility. As a changing climate brings hotter, muggier summers through WEC territory and the whole northeast US, WEC is susceptible to high peak costs throughout the year.
And even when the weather is steady, there are daily peaks. “Power is more expensive when the sun goes down than in the middle of the day,” explained Vandette. “Power costs different amounts at different times of day.” A time-of-day rate would be built by analyzing data from new advanced meters that sense precisely when members are using power. The rate would reward members for minimizing their power use during peak times: members would pay a lower rate to charge their vehicles and large appliances at low-use times. “This incentive is worth it to offset peak power costs—and it’s a big benefit to individual members and to the Co-op as a whole,” said Vandette.
But who can remember to unplug or plug in devices at the right time? The PowerShift program is designed to lower peak electricity costs through community participation, in which members agree to an EV charging schedule in an app, and don’t think about it again. In the future, other devices and appliances may be able to be enrolled in PowerShift to take advantage of time-of-day rates, Vandette suggested.
But that’s a few years ahead of today. WEC is close to selecting a vendor to build out the advanced metering system, Vandette reported, and he’s at work analyzing data that could help the Co-op provide the flexible rates of the future.