Louisiana's public utility regulators gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a voluntary statewide energy-efficiency program. While efforts to make the program mandatory have been dropped, the state's three largest energy companies said they would sign on to the optional initiative as a show of good faith. Quick Start, the first phase of the program, was approved by a majority of...
Louisiana's public utility regulators gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a voluntary statewide energy-efficiency program. While efforts to make the program mandatory have been dropped, the state's three largest energy companies said they would sign on to the optional initiative as a show of good faith.
Quick Start, the first phase of the program, was approved by a majority of the Public Service Commission members Wednesday. During this one-year program design phase, electricity and gas companies will be able to work with third-party contractors to lay out the specifics of their programs before implementation.
Louisiana's three largest utility companies -- Entergy, Cleco and SWEPCO -- have indicated they intend to opt into the program before the Oct. 1 deadline. Quick Start is not applicable in New Orleans, which has had its own energy-efficiency program in place since 2011.
During debate on the issue Wednesday, commissioners exchanged heated arguments. On one hand, Chairman Eric Skrmetta, R-Metairie, echoed his previous concerns that enacting the program as written in Wednesday's proposal would ultimately pass on the costs to consumers.
In response, commissioners in favor of the move said the Quick Start phase was only a first step. An entire separate discussion would take place after the first year about how to formally implement the nascent energy-efficiency programs.
Wednesday's proposal, by Republican Commissioner Scott Angelle, was a heavily amended version of one introduced and passed in December. In February, the panel retracted that decision, killing the energy-efficiency program until it was revived this week.
Skrmetta was the only commissioner to vote against the proposal. Clyde Holloway, R-Forest Hill, was absent for the vote because he was signing up to run in a special election to fill the 5th District congressional seat. Democrats Foster Campbell and Lambert Boissiere III voted in favor of the proposal.
After the vote, Skrmetta said he was especially concerned about the involvement of third-party contractors in the first phase, the program design. "There is no accountability in this program," Skrmetta said, calling it a move to put money in the pockets of contractors chosen by NGOs such as the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Affordable Energy.
After Quick Start, Skrmetta added, Phase II would see customers' rates increase as they are assessed fees to pay for losses to energy companies that opt into the program. He brushed aside arguments that the blanket fees -- used to encourage companies to increase their energy efficiency infrastructure -- would be outweighed by lowering energy costs.
"You can't say that the fees are going to outweigh the usage," Skrmetta said. "The ratepayers in this state were treated extremely poorly in this matter."
But Forest Bradley-Wright, utility policy director for the Alliance of Affordable Energy, was pleased with the outcome and said Skrmetta's characterization was false. "It is simply seriously inaccurate to claim that Louisiana is pursuing energy efficiency in uncharted territory," Bradley-Wright said after the meeting, noting that 46 other states have similar programs. "The chairman simply has not done his research and doesn't have the facts right."
While noting that every program of this kind has initial costs, Bradley-Wright said the first year of Louisiana's initiative does not include implementation of any fees on consumers. He said he was heartened by statements from the three utility companies that they intend to opt into the program, saying they had "gone on record" as supporting the initiative.
Also during the utilities commission meeting Wednesday, panel members voted to allow New Orleans residents who installed solar energy systems on their homes or signed contracts to do so up to Aug. 21 to be grandfathered in under old rules. This would allow those residents to take advantage of rebates available under previous net-metering provisions.
Finally, the commission has delayed a decision on whether to approve a request by Entergy to turn over control of its energy transmission business to another company, Michigan-based ITC Holdings Corp.
Louisiana's panel decided to push back the decision until regulators in Texas worked through concerns they had with the deal. Texas regulators delayed their decision on Aug. 9, less than two months after federal regulators OK'd the deal.
The next PSC meeting will be held in Baton Rouge on Sept. 18.