The State Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy Jobs introduced an amendment Tuesday to the Clean Energy Jobs Act to remove certain standards regarding vehicle emissions, low carbon fuel and appliance efficiency.
Implementing the changes would reduce the projected cumulative cost of electricity over the next 15 years by $1 billion, according to the Public Service Commission report conducted at the Committee's request. In addition, they said that under the amendment, taxpayer savings are as much as $6.4 billion over the next 15 years, compared to the status quo.
The PSC said ""the proposed changes to the legislation are significant, but the remaining components continue to represent sound energy and economic policy for Wisconsin.""
The Committee spent 30 hours in hearings, listening to concerns from the public and the legislators who drafted the original bill, according to Committee Co-Chair, Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison.
The PSC said its the report that some revisions have greater impact than others. It highlighted the provision ""allowing a specified amount of conservation to count toward the Renewable Portfolio Standard"" as having the most significant impact on the cost of the legislation.
Black said the bill, even with the substitute amendment, ""will invest in energy conservation and energy efficiency to a level sufficient to cut our energy use by 2 percent per year.""
At that rate, Black said the bill would cut greenhouse emissions causing global warming by 25 percent by the year 2022 and by 75 percent by 2050 by requiring 25 percent of all energy used comes from renewable sources.
According to Black, the bill was made to effectively create jobs and ""to make sure the bill saved consumers—electric ratepayers—the maximum amount of money and that it was the most effective bill we could have to reduce Wisconsin's dependence on out-of-state fossil fuel.""
Some Republican lawmakers have been critical of the overall bill in recent weeks. State Rep. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said in a statement the renewable energy mandates in the bill had the potential to cost Wisconsin utility companies $1 billion annually, which could be passed onto consumers.""We hope it will be passed within the next two weeks, by April 22, which is the last day of the legislative session and coincidentally the 40th anniversary of Earth Day,"" Black said.
