Concerned about climate change?
Want to make sure NYS moves to Renewable Energy and that it is affordable? Want to transform the energy system so that it is more democratic?
Raise your voice at the NYS REV Hearings!
The Public Service Commission (PSC) will be accepting testimony concerning the important Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) plan in 8 cities from January 28 through February 12, 2015. We are encouraging our members to attend the sessions and make oral comments. To submit comments online, click here.
Hearing Dates and Locations:
All hearings start at 6pm (6-7pm Information Session, 7pm Public Statement Hearing)
January 28 - Syracuse (The Oncenter, 800 South State St, Syracuse, NY 13202)
January 29 - Buffalo (Buffalo Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203)
February 3 - New York City (Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers St, New York, NY 10007)
February 4 - Kingston (Council Chambers, City Hall, 420 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401)
February 5 - Albany (State University of New York at Albany, Page Hall, 135 Western Ave, Albany, NY 12203)
February 10 - Yonkers (Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch, 1500 Central Park Ave, Yonkers, NY 10710)
February 11 - Rochester (Rochester City Hall, City Council Chambers - Room 302A, 30 Church St, Rochester, NY 14614)
February 12 - Binghamton (Binghamton City Hall, 38 Hawley St, Binghamton, NY 13901)
1. Achieve 50% Renewable Energy for New York by 2025.
NY needs to transition to more clean, renewable energy to address climate change, reduce pollution, reduce public safety risks from fossil fuel infrastructure, and to protect New Yorkers from the volatile price swings of oil and gas. To make sure the REV effort is moving in the right direction, it should be conducted in the context of a Commission Order committing NYS to 50% renewable electricity by 2025. After this commitment is made, all the REV initiatives should be moving towards this goal. NY’s current renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) expires this year, and it must be replaced by a new policy that will require utilities to buy renewable energy and get NY to 50% renewable energy by 2025.
2. Build a More Energy Efficient New York for all.
New York has a strong record on energy efficiency, and REV rightly recognizes that this has to continue and grow. New York needs to affirm new energy efficiency goals of 2% reduction per year. REV efforts to foster energy efficiency should continue on a parallel track with continuation of the existing EE programs (either at NYSERDA or implemented by utilities), so that there is a smooth transition to a more market–based REV end vision. Backstop mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that clean energy deployment is not permitted to falter if the new marketplace does not develop. In the short term, distributed utilities should be required to pursue all cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities, and the rate system should provide both a carrot and a stick to utilities to meet and exceed energy efficiency goals. Other REV initiatives should ensure that utilities are not the only route through which New Yorkers can pursue energy efficiency projects for their home and business; there should be a thriving separate market for EE. Utilities shouldn’t have too much power over the market to push out other EE businesses and contractors. Finally, low and medium income New Yorkers should have access to EE programs, either through targeted or subsidized programs.
3. Conduct REV so that New Yorkers Can Speak Out.
We appreciate these hearings and the first opportunity for regular New Yorkers to weigh in on REV. Allowing for public participation should be a central principle of the REV process. There should be more Hearings around the state before major decisions are made. There should be more public outreach to advertise public comment periods. And all major, important decisions should be decided in this generic REV proceeding rather than in individual rate cases for the utilities. Participation in rate cases is enormously time consuming and complex, and severely limits participation by regular New Yorkers.
4. New York needs a Next Generation RPS.
New York’s current renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) expires in 2015, and we have yet to make it to our goal of 30% renewable energy. To attract land based and offshore wind, micro-hydro, and fuel cell projects to New York – and to reassert its leadership role – New York needs the next generation RPS that will get New York to 50% renewable energy. Analysis has shown that there is still significant renewable energy development potential in New York and we need to realize its value and continue to progress NY towards a clean energy future. The Commission should commit to 50% renewable energy for NY and start a proceeding to define the utilities’ role in purchasing renewables through power purchase agreements and other flexible renewable energy contracts such as contracts for differences and feed in tariffs.
5. REV should introduce a price for carbon.
We strongly support that the reduction of carbon emissions is a policy goal within REV, as New York needs to contribute to a solution that will help avoid the dire impacts of climate change as projected in the 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Climate Assessment. Climate must remain central to REV. REV promises to use a new cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that incorporates all of the values for clean, distributed energy. This CBA should value carbon emission reductions – that is, if a distributed resource like solar or energy efficiency is going to reduce carbon emissions, the project should get “paid” for those emissions reductions. Meanwhile, New York also needs a comprehensive plan to address climate change and carbon emissions reductions from the electricity sector – and other sectors -- to demonstrate how New York will achieve the 80% carbon reduction goals by 2050 outlined in the Draft State Energy Plan.
6. Don’t prop up old, polluting power plants.
REV can be a revolution in energy system oversight, by changing the game for utilities and giving them every incentive to promote EE, clean DG, and demand response, and invest in grid-tied clean energy that will allow them to meet new carbon goals. In the midst of this potential process, New York shouldn’t be extending the life of old, polluting power plants. Any efforts to keep these plants operating should be very short term, or there will never be opportunities for the entrance of new clean technologies into the portfolio. etc. Doing so allows the pollution to continue and prevents new, clean generation from getting built.
7. The Goals of REV are Good; the Transition Must be Smooth.
Clean energy organizations strongly support the REV vision, including a growth in clean, distributed energy resources like energy efficiency, demand response, on-site wind and solar, and battery storage; as well as more customer choice; lower electricity bills; and pollution reductions. With careful planning and thoughtful execution, REV could really break new ground and bring New Yorkers less carbon emissions and cleaner energy. The transition to this end vision should be careful;programs that are working shouldn’t end until we can see that new REV programs have begun to work.
8. Allow New Yorkers to Pursue ‘Shared Renewables’ projects.
Allow groups of New Yorkers to jointly own a renewables project and take advantage of net metering. This should be part of an overall effort to ensure that the maximum number of New Yorkers can gain access to clean energy, even if they are of moderate income, don’t own their roof, or live in the shade. Groups of individuals, farmers, churches, schools, or small businesses could together invest in fuel cells, solar energy, small wind power, micro-hydro, or anaerobic digester gas projects and share in the power generated and together take advantage of net metering. Shared renewables projects could be further incentivized in areas of the grid that would otherwise require expensive grid investments.
9. Keep Net Metering - It’s Working!
Net metering is a policy that has allowed New Yorkers that invest in on-site clean energy technologies, like solar, to sell excess energy back to the grid. While it is not a perfect tool (It does not, for example, have increased incentives for solar energy in a location that needs it the most), it is working. The REV framework of valuing and incentivizing clean distributed generation (DG) should not replace net metering immediately, but be offered as an alternative that customers will choose if it is a better deal than net metering. This will allow this successor tariff structure to be tested and tweaked, and then fully launched when there is certainty that it is a better tool than net metering to meet all of New York’s policy goals.
10. Give Utilities the right incentives.
The new REV regulatory structure must give utilities the incentive to reduce the demand for electricity and aggressively encourage wind, solar, geothermal, microgrids, and storage. How utilities are rewarded needs to change to promote clean energy, both distributed and grid-tied, and efficiency. The distribution utility should be compensated in accordance with its performance toward metrics like the percentage of clean energy distributed, the amount of kWh demand avoided through efficiency measures, or the amount of carbon emissions reductions. This is an important foundational aspect of REV: to change the traditional way utilities are regulated to a system that rewards performance based on metrics related to clean energy, affordability, carbon reductions, and customer participation.