Co-op focuses Tier III incentives to benefit income-qualified members; updates on regulatory requirements; a new legislative session; another competitive Board election
In encouraging a more direct connection to Efficiency Vermont, we’re trying to ensure WEC members get good access to Efficiency Vermont services they are paying for on their electric bills. – Stephen Knowlton
Our Member Service Representatives will be our in-house contacts for most inquiries about products and services, and those questions will either be fielded right away, or else members will quickly receive follow-up from the appropriate staffer by email or phone. – Louis Porter
Appreciation for Retired Energy Coach Bill Powell
Steve: Bill Powell retired after 33 years at WEC. He served as Director of Products and Services, and is known to most members as the Energy Coach. For most of us members, Bill was the face and voice of WEC when we contacted the Co-op with questions about our energy use or upgrades.
Louis: Bill has been the face of Washington Electric for members for a long time in a lot of different contexts. It wouldn’t be possible to replace him with one person, because he has so much knowledge and has been involved in such a wide variety of things at the Co-op. What he’s done has grown in importance and volume over the years. We are going to have a lot of different people at Washington Electric fill some of the individual roles Bill has filled, and that will be a different experience for members who have gone to Bill for everything from new connects, to net metering, to incentives.
Steve: I also want to note that Bill has been an enthusiastic and passionate proponent and driver of WEC’s pioneering engagement with electricity-related environmental issues. And he began this when environmental efforts by state utilities were largely voluntary compared to the legislative mandates of today. He’s a big part of the fact that people recognize WEC as a forward-looking utility when it comes to renewable energy.
Changes to Efficiency Incentive Process
Steve: Bill also dealt a lot with efficient use of electricity by our members. Every state ratepayer has access to Efficiency Vermont’s incentive programs, and Bill has done an excellent job of fielding requests from our members about incentives that are available. As Louis has mentioned in the past, WEC is restructuring our incentive programs to enhance the benefit to income-qualified members who might otherwise find it difficult to make improvements in efficient electric use without some financial support and technical assistance. So, going forward, we’ll be directing our members to go right to Efficiency Vermont for the incentives and help that they offer to Vermonters. Like all Vermont ratepayers, our members are required to pay a charge on their bills to support Efficiency Vermont programs and services. In encouraging a more direct connection to Efficiency Vermont, we’re trying to ensure WEC members get good access to Efficiency Vermont services they are paying for on their electric bills.
Louis: We’ll have some adjustments to make with this new approach, but basically, our Member Service Representatives will be our in-house contacts for most inquiries about products and services, and those questions will either be fielded right away, or else members will receive follow-up from the appropriate staffer by email or phone.
To Steve’s point, we’re also going to use Efficiency Vermont’s services more than we have in the past. That includes their advice and recommendations on incentives for different beneficial electrification tech options, and advice for members concerned about the amount of electricity they’re using and the amount of their bill. Bill kind of built this coaching model here at Washington Electric with his style and knowledge, and Efficiency Vermont uses it now to good effect. To Steve’s point, these are services members are paying for through the Efficiency Vermont charge on WEC bills, so we should make sure they’re getting the benefit they’re paying for.
Focus on Income-Qualified Programs
Louis: Steve mentioned changes to some of our programs at Washington Electric, and how we’re directing resources to help our members who really need those resources the most. I’d like to go into that a little more. One of these programs, that we’re offering in partnership with Vermont Electric Co-op, is the Affordable Community Renewable Energy program, or ACRE. We ran a story on this in the September Co-op Currents. The ACRE program is going very well: we’re very close to being fully subscribed, although we anticipate additional money and spots becoming available soon. Income-qualified members get significant discounts on their electric bills. The program is federally funded. We’re watching the developing Solar for All program created by Sen. Sanders: that would likely be an extension or expansion of the ACRE program, and we’ll participate in that. Also, as always, our Tier III incentive programs, and Efficiency Vermont’s incentive programs, benefit income-qualified members and many of these programs have an additional layer of incentive available for those who do qualify.
Steve: WEC also participates in the state’s WARMTH program where members can donate by rounding up the total on their electric bills. This is money that offsets some of income-eligible WEC members’ energy bills.
Louis: Great point, Steve, and of course members contribute to our Community Fund through their capital credit donations. Those grants go to local nonprofits. They’re not all income-eligible programs, but some of them are, and they benefit Vermonters and many of our members who need assistance.
Steve: It’s important to keep in mind WEC is a not-for-profit utility and its key responsibility is to provide electricity reliably, equitably, m and safely to all its members. That’s what a co-op is formed to do. We are grateful that we can channel members’ voluntary donations back to our community and to members in need. That’s what a co-op also does. We’re happy to participate in income-eligible programs, and collaborate in some that are developed with partial state or federal funding, like ACRE. Nonetheless, in managing most of WEC’s assistance and incentivization programs whether they are required by the state or not, we’re taking money from other members to pay for them. Most WEC members are aware that their electric bills tend to be somewhat higher than those in other Vermont utilities because WEC’s territory is rural, re-forested, more sparsely populated, and has very few industrial and commercial members to generate outsized revenue to offset utility expenses. WEC’s Board members, because they are rate-paying members themselves, are continually aware of the balances to be made between the cost of providing our members’ basic electricity needs, and those of social assistance and electrification incentivization programs. If our members want more or less of one or the other, it would be great to hear from them; the Co-op is run for their benefit. I occasionally talk to members who might remark, “Why doesn’t WEC incentivize more of this or that?”, and I’m obliged to respond, “We can do that, and recognize that you are paying for it.”
I read a study in a recent issue of the journal Science reporting that nationwide, about 70% of incentives for EVs went to people who would’ve bought an EV anyway using their own resources. So when using revenue provided by the members, I feel it’s important to prioritize the incentives and benefits that have real impact toward WEC’s income-sensitive members who need them.
Regulatory Requirements
Steve: The regulatory landscape has changed since WEC became a recognized leader of Vermont utilities in environmental concerns. Under the revised RES [Renewable Energy Standard], all utilities are now required to become 100% renewable in the near future under electricity procurement restrictions to benefit the Vermont renewable energy industry. As Louis tells me, I expect we’ll need more staff to manage the increased regulatory burden of this new landscape. I take Louis at his word that regulators will need more information and place more requirements on utilities as a result of the RES and other legislation.
Louis: The expectations and requirements of the IRP [Integrated Resource Plan; a regulatory requirement for all electric distribution utilities] increase every time there’s a three-year cycle they need to be done. That’s top of my mind considering we spent the last year working on that, and the Department of Public Service has made it clear the requirements will be bigger the next time. But that’s just one example of the regulatory processes and reporting we have to do as a utility in Vermont.
Another thing about regulatory compliance work: it’s repetitive from utility to utility. So if we add 10 members to our lines, it requires line work and administrative work, but that’s true whether 10 members were added in our territory or in a different territory. It’s true regardless of how many ratepayers are served by the utility where those new people are added. On the other hand, the regulatory work is repetitive across utilities. The costs are redundant and repetitive, so for smaller utilities like ours, it’s about scale, and not about the type of requirement.
And we have fewer members to pay for the work. I think there is room to adjust the regulatory reporting and compliance requirements in a way that will not diminish the protection for ratepayers or the ability for regulators to do their jobs, but could reduce costs significantly for members. That’s a project all on its own. Off the top of my head, we do a number of different reports and data collection related to net metering, all in different formats, on different schedules, with slightly different information. That’s an area where I could see us still providing regulators, grid managers, and members the information they need regarding net metering, but without producing redundant reports providing the same information.
Legislature Update
Louis: The legislative session has returned, and with a new legislature given there was an election last year. That’ll result in big changes in the world of energy legislation. The House has recreated a committee specific to energy, now called the Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee. The former Senate committee chair, Chris Bray, was defeated in the election last fall, so there’s a new chair, Sen. Anne Watson from Washington County, and many new members in both committees. With many freshman legislators, and the defeat or retirement of longtime incumbents, the legislature will have a lot to do to learn the basics all legislators need to know to make policy on these kinds of questions. It may be a slower start to the session as legislators come up to speed, and more time for the basic foundation-laying before the bills start moving and being written and amended.
We passed a huge Renewable Energy Standard [RES] bill last year, which sped up the schedule for the remainder of Vermont utilities to become 100% renewable. Of course, WEC already is 100% renewable. The new RES placed requirements on utilities like WEC to cover our load growth by buying new renewables instead of investing in old renewables. That bill also effectively ended group net metering, offsite net metering, as of the end of December. Renewable Energy Vermont [REV] is proposing, with Sen. Watson, a bill to require an extension of the Standard Offer power. That’s projects that go through a kind of a reverse auction for renewable power, and then the utilities that aren’t 100% renewable are required to purchase that power. WEC is exempt from that. The program is set to sunset, but REV would like to see it extended.
Rate Increase Response
Louis: We’ve heard quite a few objections to the January 1, 2025 rate increase of 2.91%. We’ve heard more than we heard for the last one, which was over 12%. We’re increasing 2.91% over a two year period, and given the rate of inflation is around 4% or more, 2.91% isn’t unreasonable—especially when most of that is based on a property tax increase we didn’t have any way to control. WEC pays property taxes to our towns, and those went up significantly, as they did to homeowners and businesses as well. As a reminder, we covered rate increase factors in the December-January issue.
Steve: Louis raises an interesting point. Our property taxes went up; that led the cause for the rate increase, and everyone else’s property taxes went up too. It’s not surprising people got upset; they feel they’re getting hit from both sides. But it’s for the same reason, and WEC is subject to the same forces. I think people are more dissatisfied now than they were several years ago, when we had the larger rate increase because costs appear to be rising on everything. Ratepayers and taxpayers alike are both concerned. I’m not surprised we’re getting some flak; we’re not joyful about it either.
Updates: Wrightsville Sale, Board Election
Louis: A quick update on WEC’s decision to sell the Wrightsville hydro plant: we have a purchase and sale agreement. However, it is contingent on the remaining hurdles getting cleared, such as approval from our regulators and lenders.
On the topic of our leadership: once again, Washington Electric has a competitive election for its Board of Directors. Members will receive a ballot in the mail with our Annual Meeting issue in April, which they may mail in or bring to our Annual Meeting on May 1. Members are tired of me saying this, but we’re lucky to have a lot of members running for the Washington Electric Board. We’re lucky that among our 12,000 or so members, there are people eager and willing to serve. We’ve had more candidates than spots in every election since I’ve gotten here. I encourage readers to read the bios on pages 4-5, and next issue, read the candidates’ policy statements. We’re lucky to have more people who want to do the job than we have seats.
Steve: Member participation on the Board is critical because the Co-op exists to serve its members who have their money invested in it. \not outside investors. Because the Cooperative makes financial and policy decisions on behalf of the entire membership, we benefit from engaged member participation, and we seek Board members who see their primary role to be loyalty and attention to the needs of all their fellow members during the time they serve on the Board. Ours is a democratic institution, and for better or worse it takes vigilance and commitment to make it work well.
Editorial disclosure: Bill Powell is a 2025 candidate for WEC’s Board of Directors.