IS MIDAMERICAN  MAKING THE GRADE?

By Iowa Beyond Coal

Last month we told you how MidAmerican is burning your money by burning coal, and made the case that if the company retired its Sioux City coal plants by 2023, it could save customers $92 million. Even so, MidAmerican is often lifted up in the press as a model utility for its clean energy investments. But as more utilities commit to emissions goals and a transition from coal plants to clean energy, we questioned if MidAmerican is actually making the grade.

We compared MidAmerican Energy to other utilities across the country and gave them grades in seven categories:

• Building Clean Energy - building new clean energy sources like wind, solar and storage

• Cutting Emissions - committing to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

• Retiring Dirty Coal - release a plan to retire all remaining coal plants by 2030 as an urgent first step to actual 100% clean energy

• Equitable Access - ensuring all can participate in the benefits of clean energy, including bill savings, behind the meter technologies, and family-supporting career opportunities, regardless of income level

• Energy Efficiency - recognizing and promoting energy efficiency as a significant resource to meeting emissions goals and making a clean energy transition.

• Transportation Electrification - development and support of charging infrastructure and plans for electrification of cars, buses, trucks and public transit

• Transparency & Public Engagement - active engagement with the public concerning the future of its generation fleet

Building Clean Energy     B+

MidAmerican has built a lot of wind generation. In fact they are one of the national leaders in wind capacity. This is the MidAmerican they want you to see, but this impressive investment loses its luster when we look past it for a real commitment to moving beyond fossil fuels. Even though they have a head start, MidAmerican has no plans to transition to 100% clean energy. They have made the false claim that they will soon meet 100% of their customers’ energy needs with clean energy, when in fact they continue to meet a significant part of customer demand with dirty coal power. MidAmerican needs to make plans to phase out their coal plants and replace any needed energy with clean, renewable energy, which must include not only additional wind but also solar, storage, and strong demand-side management programs.

Cutting Emissions     F

MidAmerican is one of the largest utilities in the country that has refused to commit to reducing carbon emissions and is the single largest carbon polluter in Iowa. A recent report from the state found that MidAmerican’s coal plants are the primary source of Iowa’s carbon emissions increase between 2017 and 2018. MidAmerican remains one of the 20 largest utility companies in the nation with no climate commitment or emissions reductions target.

Retiring Dirty Coal     F

MidAmerican is Iowa’s biggest coal company, and has no plans to retire any of the 5 huge coal plants they operate. And they don’t even need all that coal power to meet customer needs! They sell their excess power to other utilities, while Iowa bears the pollution consequences of dirty coal. MidAmerican has refused to even look into whether they could save Iowan customers money by making plans to retire its coal plants.

Equitable Access     D

Due to the drastic cuts MidAmerican has made to their energy efficiency programs, MidAmerican’s commitment to supporting low to moderate income customers has been lagging. Recent progress has been made to support distributed solar, but there are other pieces needed for a just clean energy transition. MidAmerican has a long way to go when it comes to supporting behind-the-meter technologies, energy efficiency, workforce training, and other community-led outreach programs that lower bills and boost access to the clean energy economy for low-income community members, people of color, and women.

Energy Efficiency     D

MidAmerican championed SF 2311 which drastically cut utility commitments on energy efficiency for the foreseeable future. Job losses from Iowa’s energy efficiency industry were immediate, with salary losses of more than $2.5 million statewide. Today MidAmerican spends half as much on energy efficiency programs for customers as they did twenty years ago thanks to the passage of this bill. They also spend 80% less on gas-related efficiency programs.

Transportation Electrification     C

MidAmerican has made recent strides in Iowa by investing in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure like charging stations including $3.75 million in 2019 for 15 fast-charging stations around the state, along with rebates for residents and businesses using EVs. Still, Iowa lags behind other states in shifting to electric vehicles and last year MidAmerican stood against a ruling that removed legal obstacles for businesses wanting to install charging stations.

Transparency and Public Engagement     F

Unlike many other utilities nationally, MidAmerican has refused to commit to a public engagement process to discuss the future of their generation fleet. Even their sister Berkshire Hathaway utility in Wyoming, PacifiCorp, undertook a public planning process that examined the cost of coal plants and found that several of them make sense to retire. MidAmerican has continually taken the position that the public does not have a right to know whether their coal plants are economic and that they have no obligation to engage with the public around plans for the future.

Overall Utility Grade     D

MidAmerican has built a lot of wind generation, but this impressive investment loses its luster when we look past it for a real commitment to moving beyond fossil fuels. MidAmerican is one of the largest utilities in the country that has refused to commit to reducing carbon emissions and is the single largest carbon polluter in Iowa. They have no plans to retire any of the 5 huge coal plants they operate despite the fact that they don’t even need all that coal power to meet customer needs. Support for low to moderate income customers has lagged, and they’ve moved aggressively to gut their programs for the cleanest and cheapest form of energy:  energy efficiency. Though the utility has installed charging stations across Iowa they’ve stood against rulings that make electrification easier for other businesses. In all of this MidAmerican has continuously refused to engage in public transparency and input. We’ve given them a “D” overall because building wind turbines without a public plan to move beyond fossil fuels is not enough for the health of Iowans and our climate.

Sources:

The Coal Truth Report: MidAm is Burning Your Money on Burning Coal, blog

The Coal Truth, Report

New Report Shows Customers Would Save $92 Million If MidAmerican Retires Sioux City Coal Plants

Implementation of SF 2311 Causes Job Loss Throughout Iowa - IEC (EE)

Selling electricity doesn’t make EV charging stations a utility, Iowa rules  - Energy News Network (EV)

PacifiCorp to add 7 GW renewables + storage, close 20 of 24 coal plants - Utility Dive (Transparency)

Photo: George Neal North coal-fired power plant.  Courtesy of Emma Colman