Hi,
I got this email from a friend in the Sierra Club.
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Dear friends concerned about the environment,

State Rep. Charlie Hoffman was good enough to introduce House Bill 567, which would reform certain outdated policies of the Ky Public Service Commission and could lead to dramatic improvements in the energy efficiency of all sectors of Kentucky’s economy. Below are some talking points – descriptions of the effects the bill would have if it passes. This bill would complement HB 408 which would create clean energy jobs across Kentucky and help our families and businesses save energy and money.

Senator Alice Forgy Kerr is working on introducing the identical bill in the Senate; I’ll let you know when that gets a SB number. This type of issue is truly bipartisan because virtually everyone benefits when there is less energy waste.

ACTIONS:
1) Please thank Rep. Charlie Hoffman for introducing this concise but potentially important bill
2) Please contact the House leadership and ask them to assign the bill to the Energy & Tourism Development Committee for a hearing
3) Please ask your own Rep to cosponsor it, or at least to contact Rep. Hoffman and tell him he can count on your Rep's support. Feel free to ask your Rep to support HB 408 as well.

The Legislative Message Line toll-free number is (800) 372-7181.

Thank you,
Geoff Young

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Concise Talking Points on HB 567
March 2, 2010

The existing statute on how the PSC is supposed to treat energy efficiency has been in place since 1994 and has not worked very well. There are some programs offered by Kentucky’s electric and gas utility companies that help customers use energy more efficiently, but they are small, underfunded, and not very effective. There are also virtually no such programs in the industrial sector because KRS 278.285 has a major loophole in it.

The fundamental regulatory problem is that the more energy the utilities sell, the more money they make. That gives them a powerful disincentive to promote major energy savings by customers. Several other states have solved the problem through innovative regulatory policies, and those states have become more energy-efficient as a result.

Kentucky needs to adopt the Federal standards on energy-efficient regulatory policies because they make more sense and will work better than what Kentucky has put in place via KRS 278.285 and 807 KAR 5:054.

If the PSC were to provide leadership in promoting energy efficiency and combined heat and power, energy waste would be reduced and Kentucky residents would have higher disposable incomes; our businesses would have lower energy costs and be able to compete better in the world market; economic activity (gross state product) would increase; and there would be more good, sustainable jobs in Kentucky than if we were to continue business as usual. This bill is ultimately a jobs bill. It has no negative impacts on the state budget, so it should appeal to legislators and voters of both parties.

The PSC’s current policies damage Kentucky’s economy in another way as well. When deciding what types of power plants to allow utilities to build, the PSC treats environmental impacts as if they have no economic effects on Kentuckians. That violates one of the basic principles taught in Economics 101, enables utilities to dump some of their costs onto the public at large, tilts the playing field unfairly in favor of burning coal, damages our health, and damages the environment, which is the essential basis for a sustainable economy in the long run. This bill would require the PSC to take the economic impacts of environmental damage into account. (It would not, however, require the PSC to regulate air quality: we already have another state agency that does that.)

The bill would require the PSC to update its regulation on combined heat and power in such a way as to eliminate any barriers the utility companies have created over the years to block such energy-efficient facilities.

The bill would require the PSC to treat environmentalists as a legitimate interest group that has something to contribute to their deliberations. It would require the PSC to facilitate the full intervention of environmentalists in cases that could affect the environment. The PSC’s current policy frequently seems to bar environmentalists from full intervention.

If you have any questions about this proposed legislation, please contact the sponsor, Rep. Charlie Hoffman (Scott County), and/or
Geoff Young in Lexington, (859) 278-4966, email energetic@windstream.net