A pool of state money generated through the auctioning of carbon-emissions allowances could be used for broader purposes, if a bill before state lawmakers makes it through the legislature this session.
The money, generated by the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), is largely used for electric efficiency programs in the state. RGGI generated $98 million for Connecticut between 2008 and 2013.
The proposed bill would clarify that state entities are permitted to use RGGI funds to also fund gas and heating-oil-related efficiency projects.
Both the Connecticut Green Bank and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection support the measure, which would also allow other “clean” technologies to receive funds. Currently, only Class I technology like solar, wind and fuel cells qualify for RGGI-related efficiency funds in Connecticut.
The Home Performance Alliance of Connecticut, which represents efficiency companies and contractors, is also backing the proposal.
“HPACT believes that all electric ratepayers should have access to efficiency programs, regardless of their heating fuel type,” Leticia Colon de Mejias, the alliance’s advocacy co-chair, wrote in testimony this week.
Environmental groups are concerned that the proposal could steer funding away from renewable technologies. William Dornbos, the Acadia Center’s Connecticut director, wrote that electric ratepayers fund RGGI compliance costs through the generation component on their electric bills.
“The other major fuels — natural gas, heating oil and propane — do not contribute,” Dornbos wrote.
Claire Coleman, climate and energy attorney for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, told legislators that expanding the use of RGGI funding to “dirty fossil fuels” would go against the carbon-trading program’s purpose.
