Ybarra energy bill heads to governor after unanimous approval in Senate

OLYMPIA — Lawmakers are pushing for changes in how Washington calculates the electric load of utilities. Proposed legislation on the issue passed the state Senate on Feb. 27 with a unanimous vote of 49-0 and heads to the governor’s desk for approval. 

Under the proposed legislation, House Bill 1948, lawmakers are attempting to make it easier for consumers to support renewable energy. When purchasing renewable energy through a green energy program or directly from renewable resources the bill ensures that contributions don’t negatively impact the utility’s renewable energy targets under the Energy Independence Act. 

“This measure aims to make more renewable energy resources available on a larger scale. It allows utilities to create voluntary clean energy programs, where they can combine renewable energy credits and retire them for participants,” said Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, prime sponsor of the bill and assistant ranking member of the House Environment and Energy Committee. 

The Energy Independence Act requires larger utilities with more than 25,000 customers to meet specific targets for energy conservation and the use of eligible renewable resources. 

Eighteen utilities fall under this category, these utilities must hit an annual target of at least 15% renewable energy in their overall load. Grant County PUD is one of those utilities.

Under the proposed bill when a retail electric customer makes a voluntary energy purchase won't be counted against the utility when it comes to meeting renewable energy goals. 

“Currently, the Energy Independence Act forces municipal utilities to buy extra renewable energy credits to replace those used by participants. HB 1948 addresses this issue while sticking to the main goals of the Energy Independence Act,” said Ybarra. 

Proponents argue that this change will encourage consumers to invest in renewable power without birding utility companies with additional compliance costs. One does not need to purchase extra Renewable Energy Credits to meet EIA requirements. 

“If a customer is already buying 100% clean electricity through a special program that a utility has, under existing law, the utility still has to go out and get another 15% of renewable energy for its compliance purposes. This would allow the utility to stop at 100% for that particular customer and then still be subject to the 15% requirement for all of its other customers. We think it’s a useful update to the law,” said Glenn Blackmon from the Department of Commerce. 

Ybarra said there is a need to make things simpler and prevent duplicate rules in various energy laws, such as the Energy Independence Act, the Clean Energy Transformation Act, and the Climate Commitment Act. 

“Some requirements in these acts overlap to some extent, and we want to avoid that,” said Ybarra.

The proposed legislation will take into effect ninety days after the adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Renee Diaz is a University of Washington graduate and serves as the Columbia Basin Herald’s legislative intern for this year’s Washington legislative session.