Governor should veto bill that kills energy efficiency

Indiana, for many years, has wrestled with the question of what policy, if any, to pursue to advance new, alternative visions of how we deal with waste, move around and grow our food. Fortunately, we’ve seen tangible signs of progress in the Indiana General Assembly with respect to recycling, mass transit and local food systems.

But the positive changes stand in contrast to the general approach toward energy legislation. In this realm, we see hallmarks of last century’s politics: respectful, well-prepared stakeholders don’t have equal access to key lawmakers nor do they have equal time to review complex legislation. Most concerning, there’s an unhealthy, disproportionate influence by one specific group — Indiana’s monopoly electric utilities — in shaping public policy.

Consider the double standard afforded utility-sponsored bills and those championed by public interest organizations, including those carefully tested in multiple other states.

The House Utilities Committee chair, refused to allow a hearing on an energy-efficiency financing “PACE” bill that has enjoyed strong support in conservative states for its effectiveness in cutting energy costs. He said it hadn’t been carefully vetted by all parties.

In contrast, there’s a controversial energy bill (SB 560), pushed by the electric power lobby, that will reduce regulatory scrutiny, and accelerate recovery, of billion-dollar transmission investments. It took just a single legislative session to become law.

This legislative session, our state’s monopoly utilities, while disavowing their intentions in the media, aggressively are working to end Indiana’s ambitious, mandatory energy-efficiency program – a program that took years to develop and may take just three weeks to kill. The backers of SB 340 characterize this effort as a “moratorium” or a “pause” in a program advanced under Gov. Mitch Daniels. But there is little doubt they seek to eliminate this program aimed at cutting energy waste and saving consumers money and replace it with a voluntary program run by the very monopoly utilities that have little financial incentive to continue the pace and scale of the current program.

Despite the sweeping nature of SB 340, the core part of the bill was advanced outside of the committee process, allowing no opportunity for public testimony, a troubling approach to policymaking that exemplifies why many civic-minded Hoosiers are turned off by politics.

The easier path for Gov. Mike Pence would be to sign the bill. After all, why go against the legislators who overwhelmingly voted for it? Why be at odds with Indiana’s power companies? Why not go into the 2014 elections telling the public that you helped cut their energy bills (when the likely alternative won’t yield energy savings of the same magnitude)? Why not say that you’re advancing a new approach to energy efficiency (when it will likely end up being a reinvention of the wheel?)

But an act of great leadership would be for the governor to veto SB 340.

Gov. Pence has an opportunity to set a new tone for how energy policy is made in Indiana. The governor has begun to send a signal of reform by inviting a diversity of voices to provide input into the formulation of his energy plan. But to make good on creating a new era for energy policy in Indiana, Gov. Pence ought to veto SB 340. The prospects for Indiana’s clean-energy sector will be brighter with such a wise choice.

Kharbanda is executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.