Legislative push continues to address rising electricity rates, supply issues

More legislative remedies are being proposed in response to high bills for electricity and concerns about the availability of supply.

The latest package comes from Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Delaware State Senate. In recent week, legislative hearings have been been held on bills and rate-setting, as well as the reliability and adequacy of the state’s electricity supply.

A bill sponsored by Representative Mike Smith, R- Pike Creek Valley would reduce the Renewable Portfolio Standard from 25% to 10% and keep it there for ten years.

“Delaware does not have enough renewable energy to meet the current mandate, let alone the future,” Smith said. “But our state allows utilities that can’t hit the mark to buy their way out of it by paying a state fee. In each of the last two years, Delmarva Power has paid about $13 million annually in these compliance fees—costs it has passed along to consumers.”

Also, GOP lawmakers are again seeking to withdraw Delaware’s participation in the 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. States are required to make payments for CO2 emissions from fossil-fueled power plants, directing funds into renewable energy and efficiency programs. However, Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker, R- Ocean View and Representative Bryan Shupe, R-Milford South said it amounts to a hidden tax on Delaware rate-payers.

“Delaware has already surpassed the original emissions reduction goals set by RGGI, yet our residents and businesses continue to bear the burden of higher electricity costs,” Hocker said. “It’s time to step away from a program that no longer serves its intended purpose and instead focus on policies that promote economic growth and energy affordability.”

In the meantime, as PJM Interconnection stated during a legislative hearing last week, renewable sources of energy are not being created quickly enough to offset rising demand, and the retirement of power plants run by fossil fuels. Enter the potential of “combined cycle power plants — they utilize natural gas and steam turbines. According to Representative Kevin Hensley, R-Odessa-Townsend-Port Penn, these plants are highly efficient, relatively clean and quiet, and could be brought online quickly. Under Hensley’s proposal, operators could be incentivized with tax breaks.

“We should embrace combined-cycle power plants using natural gas and steam turbines. It’s a dull but proven technology that is highly efficient, relatively clean and quiet, and can be brought online quickly to meet demand,” Hensley said. “Delaware imports up to half of its electricity. Building these plants here could cut the power lost through transmission, increase local security, and reduce distribution costs.” 

Representative Lyndon Yearick, R-Camden-Wyoming-Woodside, is also sponsoring a bill that would eliminate what he called a zero- emission vehicle mandate.

“Our state is already struggling to update its electricity distribution systems, with ratepayers picking up the tab. We shouldn’t be forcing people into cars they don’t want to drive and adding insult by making them pay higher electricity bills to build a support infrastructure for these vehicles,” Yearick said. 

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