Climate Change

WPUDA supports emissions legislation, with guidelines

The Washington Public Utility Districts Association supports federal efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provided that such policies allow for the continued reliable operation of the electric grid, local flexibility, and implementation in a manner most cost-effective for electric consumers and the economy.
WPUDA is concerned about the price impact on ratepayers and power markets from any policy that monetizes carbon emissions through auctions or taxes. We also believe any federal legislation targeting a reduction on greenhouse gas emissions should:

• Focus on achieving feasible reductions in the manner most cost-effective for electric consumers and for the economy.
• Be economy-wide and not require the electric utility sector to reduce emissions more than its proportional share.
• Be as simple and transparent as possible to avoid opportunities for market manipulation and fraud.
• Avoid the price volatility of an auction to raise revenues for public purposes – but if Congress insists on raising revenues for public purposes, it should so through the price certainty of a carbon tax or systems benefits charge.
• Limit the “auction” mechanism to no more than five percent of total allowances, to allow utilities to direct their capital to carbon reductions, and minimize opportunities for market manipulation and protect consumers against unnecessarily high and volatile costs.
• Ensure that revenues created by an auction be used only for targeted research and development of clean technologies, energy efficiency and mitigation of costs impact on consumers;
• Give credit for utility efforts required by state renewable portfolio standard programs, to avoid duplicative or conflicting requirements that increase costs to consumers;
• Reconsider the value of a stand-alone RPS, in the context of crafting the most cost-effective climate-change program possible.
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