NEEP Notes: Efficiency Leadership Through Partnership

Leadership through Partnership

By Jim O’Reilly
Public Policy Director

When a comprehensive energy bill was unveiled in Massachusetts last spring, the first reaction from just about all parties who advocate for the advancement of energy efficiency policies was one of alarm. NEEP joined a steady chorus of witnesses to testify at the bill’s hearing, warning that this legislation – though well-intentioned – would, in fact, set the state back immeasurably by effectively undoing many years of successful energy efficiency program implementation.

But something else occurred with the release in March of that energy bill. An unprecedented coalition of interests was born, and was able to illustrate clearly the power of partnerships.

NEEP Board member and Conservation Services Group (CSG) President Steve Cowell reached out to a number of parties whom he recognized would have a stake in the fate of this bill, the Green Communities Act. And on a Wednesday in early April, this group – which would come to be known as the “Save Energy Coalition” – came together in downtown Boston to discuss and strategize as to how collectively we could hopefully react to this bill in a way that could turn a threat into an opportunity.

Under the steady and able leadership of Paul Gromer of Peregrine Energy Group, who facilitated the process, the Coalition met regularly – sometimes in person, sometimes by phone – over the next seven months. Among those groups represented in the Save Energy Coalition were NEEP, CSG, Environment Northeast, Environment Massachusetts, Conservation Law Foundation, National Grid, NSTAR, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., the Cape Light Compact, Comverge, Low-Income Energy Affordability Network, and the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council.

Consensus among the group was not always easily attained, and all involved had to learn to check individual agendas at the door. But the results were nothing short of historic.

And in early November, representatives of the Save Energy Coalition were able to join House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (the sponsor of the Green Communities Act), Governor Deval Patrick and members of his administration, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Rep. Brian Dempsey and Sen. Michael Morrissey, the respective chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, to unveil a revamped energy bill that will greatly increase the role of clean energy resources – including energy efficiency – in meeting the Commonwealth’s energy needs for years to come.

Among the energy efficiency advancements included in the provisions of the Green Communities Act were:

A mandate for electric and gas utilities to procure for their customers all cost effective energy efficiency that’s less than the cost of comparable amounts of supply;

The establishment of an Energy Efficiency Advisory Council to improve upon energy efficiency program oversight that has traditionally fallen to the non-utility party collaborative process;

A requirement for the Commonwealth to upgrade its building energy code to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), and to do so on a schedule consistent with IECC upgrades, as well as to ensure training and certification of qualified energy code inspectors; and

A dedication of funds realized through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the ratepayer funded programs bid into the ISO-New England Forward Capacity Market back into the state’s energy efficiency programs budget.

When coupled with the renewable energy provisions, the bill’s overall clean energy goals will require the Commonwealth to:

Meet at least 25 percent of its electric load, including both capacity and energy, by the year 2020 with clean, demand side resources, including energy efficiency;

Meet at least 20 percent of the Commonwealth’s electric load by the year 2020 through new, renewable generation;

Reduce the use of fossil fuel in buildings by 10 percent from 2007 levels by the year 2020 through the increased efficiency of both equipment and the building envelope;

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2020; and

Develop a plan to reduce total energy consumption in the Commonwealth by at least 10 percent by 2017 through the development and implementation of the Green Communities Program that utilizes renewable energy, demand reduction, conservation and energy efficiency.

The bill still awaits action by the Senate, which is expected to take up the measure as soon as it reconvenes after the first of the year. With strong support from Governor Patrick, the Green Communities Act could be signed into law in early 2008.

At the revamped bill’s unveiling in November, Speaker DiMasi noted the Coalition’s work with the legislature to take what had been a highly controversial measure when first unveiled last March and help turn it into legislation that will return Massachusetts to a position of national leadership on energy issues.

The value of the partnerships realized through the Save Energy Coalition was not lost on its members, either. Several remarked how they hoped this would be just the start of a new dynamic in public policy cooperation among utilities, municipal aggregators, environmental groups, clean energy advocates and energy services professionals.

But what was most readily apparent from the results of the work of the Save Energy Coalition was that in some cases, leadership doesn’t mean standing alone, but understanding the time to stand together.