This Thursday, the Senate Business and Commerce Committee heard nine energy and utility market-focused bills that, if passed, will drastically impact ratepayers’ pockets and the future of renewable energy in Texas.
Starting at 8 a.m. and continuing until 6 p.m. last night, Texas Impact heard various public testimonies from a combination of energy stakeholder groups, individual representatives, and environmental advocates.
And while most of this legislation can negatively impact energy consumers, public testimony from Cyrus Reed and Emma Pabst from the Sierra Club stood out as a reminder that Texans need a secure, reliable, and resilient grid driven by renewables.
Emma Pabst’s testimony called upon the need for increased energy efficiency and building code legislation in order to support our homes’ ability to efficiently heat and cool. Her testimony is a true reminder of the need for demand-side legislation that focuses on changing consumer behavior to address the energy crisis.
The bills heard yesterday attempt to “fix the grid” after its historical instability during Winter Storm URI.
Senate Bill 6 is the centerpiece of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s legislative priorities and aims to establish a Texas Energy Insurance Plan, ultimately distributing all future costs of the program to ratepayers. Senate Bills 7, 1287, and 2012 aim to support natural gas and the performance credit mechanism (PCM), with no incentives for renewable energy.
However, SB 2014 and 2015 are some of the worst attempts to directly disincentivize renewable energy generation with the removal of renewable energy credits (RECs) and the renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The RPS and RECs are both energy market tools that encourage renewable energy generation and have lead to the rapid increase of renewable growth in Texas.
The Senate Business and Commerce Committee will continue to consider more energy-related legislation this Tuesday to evaluate non-dispatchable sources of generation. The upcoming 11 bills will not focus on natural gas and fossil fuels, but further target renewable energy. Texas Impact will continue to monitor these upcoming hearings and more as energy bills move through the Senate and House.