Policy and PUC Update

OSEIA LRT bill passes unanimously through the Oregon Senate!

We were proud to watch SB 1563, which updates the LRT license, pass unanimously out of the Oregon State Senate on February 11th.  The bill headed to the House Committee on Business and Labor where it had its hearing on February 17th.  Thank you OSEIA board member Ryan Mayfield for testifying in support of the bill.  The bill should move out of the committee on February 19th and head to the House floor for a vote soon after. 

Other bills

First, the good – HB 4067, a bill to allow the PUC to create new rate classes for low-income and other rate groups, as well as allowing community groups to access intervener funding at the PUC, passed the Oregon State House of Representatives on February 14th with bipartisan support.  The bill moves to the Senate next. Thanks to board member Oriana Magnera for her leadership on this bill.

Then the bad  - HB 4049, the bill to allow the Marion County Waste Incinerator to generate REC, passed out of the House Energy and Environment Committee on February 13th and was sent without recommendation to the House Rules Committee.  This means there is a chance the bill may pass, but we won’t know until the end of session.

And lastly, the good but very uncertain – SB 1530, the Clean Energy Jobs bill, is moving through the legislature.  The bill is weaker than in past years, but still has some benefits for solar.  However, the bill has become very partisan and Senate Republicans are still threatening to walk out.  It’s unclear what will happen if they do walk out!

Stay tuned for what should be an interesting end to this short legislative session!

Happenings at the PUC

Distribution System Planning workshop February 26th

OSEIA participated in the February 12th workshop regarding Distribution System Planning and will be at the next one on February 26th.  OSEIA is grateful to Vote Solar’s Ed Smelnoff, who traveled to Salem from the Bay area to support OSEIA during the workshop.

RVOS up at the PUC public meeting February 13th

The Public Utility Commission considered the staff report and recommendation on RVOS during its public meeting on February 13th.   Angela provided testimony arguing that the utilities did not correctly comply with the RVOS order and the Commissioner agreed to delay the adoption of their compliance filing to further investigate.  The Commission also decided to delay the decision of whether or not to use the RVOS framework for other dockets.  OSEIA will continue to strongly oppose these efforts.

Community Solar Concerns

As community solar moves forward, OSEIA continues to stay engaged in order to make the program run smoothly.  Unfortunately, some roadblocks have popped up concerning PGE PPAs.  If you’d like more information or want to get more engaged, contact Angela to join the Community Solar Subcommittee.