That's Michigan Agency for Energy Executive Director Valerie
Brader, describing the benefits of the state's new energy law, which goes into
effect tomorrow.
The law removes the cap on how much utilities can use energy
efficiency and renewable energy to meet the state's energy needs, says Brader.
She says energy efficiency projects have already saved the
state $4 billion since 2008, and there's the potential for even more,
especially if energy efficiency is the cheapest way to meet demand for
power.
"We're either going to use less energy or we're going
to buy more coal and more gas from other states to fuel our power
stations," says Brader.
The new law also removes a prohibition against on-bill
financing, a method for residential customers to pay for energy efficiency
improvements in their home over time, rather than paying the whole cost up
front.
"Let's say you put new insulation in your house,"
Brader says. "There's an upfront cost to that, but you'd have lower energy
bills right away. Well, if you could pay the cost over time while you're paying
your energy bill, you could end up with the overall the same bill for a while,
and then lower bills later."
The details of how on-bill financing will work statewide
have yet to be finalized, says Brader. But Holland's city-run utility is
preparing to offer the financing option first, and that could become one of the
models for Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, should they decide to offer the
option.
The law also gives customers the option of demanding more
renewable energy, even if it's not the cheapest option. That means companies
like General Motors, which plans to use 100% renewable energy by 2050 for all
its operations, can opt to pay more for it -- and utilities will have to
provide it.
Brader says that's an example of the flexibility of the
law.
Another example of the law's flexibility, she says, is
utilities will no longer be locked into projects that turn out to be more
costly than anticipated. Either the utilities or the Michigan Public Service
Commission can pull the plug on projects that are not offering the benefits
they promised.
She says that will avoid situations that have happened in
other states -- where utilities have had to continue construction of new coal
or nuclear power plants despite staggering cost overruns, when solar and wind
costs are plummeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment