Testimony of Claire August
Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter
Hearing on Six Utility Affordability Bills
Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Councilmember Allen, thank you for the opportunity to testify at this legislative hearing. My name is Claire August, and I’m representing the Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters, including 7,000 DC residents.
The Sierra Club supports legislative efforts to help reduce utility rates in this time of rising energy costs. We provide our assessment of the legislation this committee is considering today later in our testimony. But we want to start by noting the underlying problem with electric and gas rates: poor regulation from the Public Service Commission (PSC) and poor oversight of utility regulation from the Council during the eight years that former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie had oversight of the utilities. The poor regulation and poor Council oversight has made the utilities rich, with both Washington Gas and Pepco seeking massive rate increases that the PSC slightly reduced and then approved.
Emile Thompson, the PSC chair, told the Washington Post that the PSC has “shaved off” a small amount from each utility rate increase, but he defended “huge infrastructure projects we agree are needed.” The Sierra Club submits that it is safe to say the only people who agree with Washington Gas and Pepco that wasteful infrastructure charges on DC residents “are needed” are Emile Thompson and fellow commissioner Ted Trabue. We don’t think gas and electricity ratepayers agree that rising rates for wasteful spending are “needed.”
Chairman Thompson has stated via a PSC press release and a LinkedIn post that he has little control over utility rates. It’s true that issues within the PJM regional grid, such as electricity demand from data centers, are a partial cause of higher rates. But it’s also true that DC’s electricity rates have increased twice as much over the last eight years as the rates of Dominion Energy, which powers the data centers in Virginia. We don’t have data centers in DC, so why are our rates doubling twice as much as those in Virginia, “the data center capital of the world”? The Sierra Club submits that DC residents are paying so much more because of poor regulation from Emile Thompson and Ted Trabue, and poor oversight from Kenyan McDuffie.
The chart below, published by the 51st, shows how much more DC’s electricity rates have risen compared to other utilities within the PJM grid.
The Sierra Club supports the energy affordability measures before this committee today. But we think it’s time for the DC Council to address the significant underlying problem for gas and electric utilities: poor utility regulation by the PSC and practically non-existent DC Council oversight of utility regulators from 2017 to 2025.
Improving solar Interconnection and promoting plug-in solar energy
The Sierra Club commends Councilmember Allen and the co-sponsors of the GRID Amendment Act of 2026 (B26-0602) for recognizing and tackling the problem of unexpected costs and protracted delays in interconnecting solar arrays to the grid and thus allowing residents to begin producing renewable electricity. We also strongly support the ability of DC residents to generate their own solar energy through what we colloquially call “balcony solar.” The Sierra Club supports the GRID Amendment Act as an important step in creating and growing more accessible and affordable options for our community to mitigate soaring energy bills while generating local, zero-carbon electricity.
First, residents and businesses should have a clear understanding of the costs and timelines of interconnecting newly installed solar arrays, and those costs and timelines should be reasonable, fair, and consistent. Solar owners should not be billed a much higher interconnection fee than originally estimated, and they should not have to shoulder the entire cost of a grid upgrade. These extra, unexpected, and unexplained costs disincentivize the growth of local solar electricity deployment in DC, at a time when utility costs keep rising and residents and businesses may be choosing to control their costs through installing solar.
By officially delegating the Public Service Commission to set up a fair system for Pepco to quote, explain, and charge interconnection fees, the District is creating and enforcing fair “rules of the road” to ensure these fees aren’t an undue burden on folks wanting to install solar and therefore reduce emissions and costs. And by requiring Pepco to publish and maintain median interconnection costs online, anyone who is solar-curious can better understand the full picture of the costs associated with installing solar from the start.
We also appreciate that this bill addresses “balcony solar,” a growing energy source popular in Europe. Balcony solar can provide the financial and environmental benefits of solar energy to those who for one or more reasons can’t install solar on their home. For those who rent their home, live in a condo or co-op building, can’t afford to pay upfront for or lease solar on their home, or have a roof too shaded to install solar, traditional residential solar might not be accessible to them. Balcony solar is a solution that provides access to a smaller amount of locally-generated renewable energy for a much lower upfront investment of as little as $600, with costs likely to drop. In January of this year, UL Solutions launched a testing and certification program for balcony solar systems, meaning that there is equipment in the U.S. market that has met nationally-recognized safety standards, with features protecting against electrical malfunctions.
In the United States, only Utah has made balcony solar legal and exempt from utility interconnection fees. DC should be the second state to do so, affirming that utilizing a small, plug-in solar panel that can offset even a little bit of our daily energy use should not encounter the same interconnection and permitting process as a rooftop solar installation. With the GRID Amendment Act, DC can empower residents with the most accessible and affordable form of renewable energy generation while reducing demand on the grid.
Ensuring low-income residents benefit from affordability programs
Sierra Club strongly supports B26-0243, the Automatic Enrollment for Utility Affordability Programs Act. This bill will require that the Department of Human Services (“DHS”) and the Department of Health Care Finance (“DHCF”) provide the Department of Energy and the Environment with enrollment data for any income-qualified programs administered by those agencies, including SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid. DOEE will then use this information to enroll households in its own utility affordability programs.
It is important to note that several other states, including Maryland, have already made similar efforts. In 2023, Maryland passed legislation that made participants in SNAP, TANF, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or means-tested Veterans Affairs benefits eligible, without additional proof of income, for the Maryland’s two major low-income energy assistance programs: the Maryland Energy Assistance Program (Maryland’s version of LIHEAP) and the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP). As a result, qualifying participants are automatically enrolled in LIHEAP and EUSP.
Maryland’s Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP) facilitates enrollment through an integrated data management system that includes TANF, SNAP, and SSI participants’ information. This program is still new but is already showing results. OHEP monthly reporting shows a notable increase in applications for Maryland’s energy assistance programs since the automatic enrollment began.
Address energy burden
Households that spend 6% or more of family income on energy are considered by the U.S. Department of Energy to be high energy burden households. Low-income households are more likely than other households to experience high energy burdens. A 2024 report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy found that in DC, half of low-income households spent over 8% of their income on energy, and 25% of low-income homeowners had energy burdens of over 16%. Passing this law will directly help low-income households by providing them with easy access to already-available energy efficiency programs that can directly lower the household energy burdens, providing immediate financial relief.
Create ease of enrollment
Automatic enrollment into energy assistance programs would mean that qualifying households would no longer have to proactively seek out information about the existence of DOEE’s energy assistance programs or go through multiple applications to access all of the services for which they qualify. This would significantly lower the barrier for entry for households who are already historically vulnerable and underserved, including those with language barriers, those who lack easy access to the required documents and information, and those who lack the technologies to upload the required documents. This bill would also reduce the administrative burden on DOEE, since the agency would no longer have to process multiple support program applications per household.
Automatic enrollment in energy support programs will allow low-income households to better take advantage of already available energy support programs while reducing the stress and burden of having to navigate multiple program applications. This is particularly important because it is difficult to be poor: low-income households must already expend a huge amount of time and energy just to survive. They do not need additional burdens to access support.
Reduce collateral damage relating to energy insecurity and the inability to pay utility bills
Inability to pay utility bills puts families at risk of additional harm. Utility shut-offs create health risks for all household members, and especially the most vulnerable–children, the elderly, and those with disabilities. Bill non-payment can create credit issues and be a major source of stress for households who must worry about utility disconnections and juggle paying for utilities and other household essentials with limited funds. DOEE’s energy assistance programs are designed to alleviate this stress. Automatic enrollment in these programs would bring relief to even more households.
B26-0243: Good policy in the context of DC’s commitment to the clean energy transition
The DC government has committed to implementing a once-in-four-generations energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy to make DC net-zero by 2045. Long-term, moving to a clean, highly efficient energy system will generate enormous energy cost savings, lower healthcare costs due to less air pollution, and reduce climate related damage to the ecosystem on which we rely. But in the meantime, it is important that DC provide adequate support to help its residents weather this period of change, and help those who have not yet transitioned to clean energy.
Help low-income households with the energy transition
As more and more households transition to clean energy, the cost of maintaining the gas infrastructure will fall to a dwindling number of rate payers, so delivery charges will increase. DC’s higher income households have greater ability to navigate this transition, but low-income households will need more help. DC has made a good, proactive start by establishing programs to support energy efficiency and home electrification for low-income households. But making sure that low-income households have access to the support they need while they still rely on gas is also crucial for a well-planned energy transition.
Low-income households with high energy burdens are more likely to be stuck just trying to keep their heads above water. It is extremely difficult for them to plan to switch to electric appliances and also difficult to save for the upfront cost of switching. Providing easy-to-access financial support gives these households a fair shake at moving forward instead of leaving them behind on an old, outdated, and increasingly expensive gas system.
Sierra Club strongly supports the passage of B26-0243, the Automatic Enrollment for Utility Affordability Programs Act, which will provide immediate just and fair relief for low-income households, assistance that will be especially critical as DC navigates the huge transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Protecting vulnerable DC residents from gas and electric disconnections
We urge the Council to enact the Utility Disconnect Protection Act (B26-0124). This legislation will:
- Protect our most vulnerable citizens from loss of gas and electricity during the hottest and coldest months of the year.
- Provide realistic payment plans for households struggling to pay their utility bills.
- Ensure that the payments needed for reconnection are feasible. And,
- Generate the data needed to guide energy equity programs.
Energy is a basic necessity in today’s world. Without energy, people cannot heat or cool their homes, preserve or cook their food, carry on their lives after sunset, or use a phone or computer to perform any of the myriad business and personal tasks that must be handled on-line these days.
Power outages are highly disruptive for the most fortunate of us. To people living on the edge, disconnection from energy can be anything from a major setback to a tipping point leading to homelessness. When someone can’t sleep because their home is unheated or extremely hot, their work or schooling is compromised. The inability to eat at home, because everything in the fridge has spoiled and you can’t turn on the stove, forces you to choose the costly option of eating out, putting you further in debt. It is under these circumstances that utilities expect the customer to pay all past-due amounts before reconnecting. That is neither realistic nor conscionable. It could lead to prolonged disconnection or to borrowing money at excessive interest rates, putting a family even further behind.
Despite several utility affordability programs, far too many DC households are “energy burdened,” meaning they spend more than 6% of gross income on power. And to our shame, it is mostly Black and brown people who experience that burden. Data from the Mayor’s Office of Racial Equity show that in the 5 years ending in 2022, 18% of Black households were energy burdened, 7% of Hispanic and Latino were burdened, while only 3% of white households were in the same situation.
Washington Gas and Pepco are highly profitable. Washington Gas had net income of $246 million in 2025. PEPCO’s net income for 2025 was $401million. PEPCO’s income comes from taking 11.6% of every bill for profit. Moreover, utility rates have been going up. In 2025, Washington Gas and Pepco rates rose almost 13 and 18 percent respectively. These profits are made by distributing fossil fuels -- fuels that drive climate change and make energy disconnection even more dangerous for vulnerable households. Certainly these utilities can spare some income to buffer those vulnerable households from temperature extremes.
Requires landlords to give tenants information about their utility payments
The Sierra Club supports the Transparent Rates and Utility Expenses Amendment Act of 2026 (B26-0595), which gives tenants the right to information about all mandatory fees that the landlord or housing provider will impose, what they are for, and how they are calculated. Specifically, the bill will require the following:
- Require landlords to disclose all mandatory fees to prospective tenants before they pay an application fee. Under current law, landlords do not have to provide them until right before the prospective tenant signs a lease.
- Landlords must also disclose how they are going to calculate the utility fees if they are split between tenants, e.g. are utilities charged on a per unit basis, per bedroom basis, or some other way.
- If landlords bill tenants for utilities, then tenants must have access to copies of the bills.
- If a landlord wants to add a new fee or change the way a fee is calculated, he or she must first get the tenant's written consent.
- If landlords willfully violate these notice requirements, they cannot enforce the utility charges on the affected unit.
- Current law already gives tenants the right to avoid eviction if they pay back rent due at any time before the Marshals Service comes to evict them. This bill would extend that same protection to tenants from being evicted based on nonpayment of utilities.
Implementing protections for tenants regarding water bills and disconnections
The Improving Tenant Access to Water Bills Amendment Act of 2025 (B26-0105), ensures residential tenants can access their water bills and make use of utility payment programs that are intended to prevent low-income residents from service interruptions. It is reported that a low percentage of eligible households participate in water assistance programs. This bill makes it easier for tenants to enroll in these programs and benefits both the tenant, as well as D.C. Water, if fewer tenants ultimately become delinquent.
The DC Water Billing and Disconnection Modernization Amendment Act of 2025 (B26-0443) institutes a fairer billing and disconnection process for tenants subject to water disconnection at rental properties where the landlord has failed to pay the water bill, even though the tenants have paid their rent. The loss of water service is a gateway to homelessness and should be a tool of last resort. However, the existing provisions for dealing with landlords who fail to pay their water bills has led to over $36 million in unpaid water bills that puts upward pressure on rates for all customers, disproportionately impacting low-income residents.
The Sierra Club agrees with the desirable and recommended outcome on billing for utility services described in bills B26-0105, 0443, and 0595, which address different aspects of utility bill affordability and downstream consequences to utility customers from unpaid charges. We recommend a careful review of the information provisions in the bills to ensure cost-effectiveness of the administrative effort involved in the implementation. We respectfully suggest that these complementary bills could benefit from reworking into a single legislation to streamline information and administrative requirements for housing providers, the water utility and other DC agencies.