I voted to override the veto on S. 5, the Affordable Heat Act for a lot of good reasons. But the biggest reason is, it will not raise your home heating costs
This bill is intended to help Vermonters transition away from fossil fuel heating at a pace that works for them. No one will be forced to change the way they heat their homes.
Love your oil furnace, keep it! But remember in the last two years heating oil increased $2 a gallon because of the market economy, not because of anything the Legislature did.
Lobbyists and even our own Governor are repeating erroneous expenses with this bill. Right now, we have no idea what the costs will be. In Oregon, the average cost of heating oil went up less than 6 cents a gallon when they implemented a similar program. This is far lower than the .70 cents our Governor keeps repeating.
This bill does not change anything for Vermont residents or businesses. All this bill does is start the process of designing a clean heat standard, because we need more information in order to enact policy that makes the transition away from fossil fuels affordable and accessible to all, while building our collective climate resilience. This design will be presented to the legislature for review in 2025 where it can be voted down, voted into law or sent back for more information gathering.
S.5 tasks the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with determining the economic impact of the proposed program, including how much Vermonters are expected to save in fuel costs, potential changes in the price of fuel, and the overall cost of the program. Field experts and a wide range of stakeholders, including fuel dealers and the general public, will help inform the findings and refine the proposed program. If you would like to give public comment, please email me and I can help get your voice heard ([email protected])
The passage of S.5 in this legislative session does not bind a future Legislature to do anything. All we’re doing is learning.
I was one of the people responsible for getting an amendment added to S5 to protect folks who live in mobile homes. No one will be left behind with S5.
In the fall I will be hosting a panel discussion on S5. Stay tuned for details.
Please reach out to me ([email protected]) if you’d like to share your concerns or ask questions.
This bill is intended to help Vermonters transition away from fossil fuel heating at a pace that works for them. No one will be forced to change the way they heat their homes.
Love your oil furnace, keep it! But remember in the last two years heating oil increased $2 a gallon because of the market economy, not because of anything the Legislature did.
Lobbyists and even our own Governor are repeating erroneous expenses with this bill. Right now, we have no idea what the costs will be. In Oregon, the average cost of heating oil went up less than 6 cents a gallon when they implemented a similar program. This is far lower than the .70 cents our Governor keeps repeating.
This bill does not change anything for Vermont residents or businesses. All this bill does is start the process of designing a clean heat standard, because we need more information in order to enact policy that makes the transition away from fossil fuels affordable and accessible to all, while building our collective climate resilience. This design will be presented to the legislature for review in 2025 where it can be voted down, voted into law or sent back for more information gathering.
S.5 tasks the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with determining the economic impact of the proposed program, including how much Vermonters are expected to save in fuel costs, potential changes in the price of fuel, and the overall cost of the program. Field experts and a wide range of stakeholders, including fuel dealers and the general public, will help inform the findings and refine the proposed program. If you would like to give public comment, please email me and I can help get your voice heard ([email protected])
The passage of S.5 in this legislative session does not bind a future Legislature to do anything. All we’re doing is learning.
I was one of the people responsible for getting an amendment added to S5 to protect folks who live in mobile homes. No one will be left behind with S5.
In the fall I will be hosting a panel discussion on S5. Stay tuned for details.
Please reach out to me ([email protected]) if you’d like to share your concerns or ask questions.
