On March 11, 2026, during an House Energy Subcommittee Work Session, members of the committee made amendments to House Bill 1532 - Continuing the Next Generation Energy Act. HB 1532 included provisions to weaken Maryland's energy efficiency program, EmPOWER Maryland.
The additional amendments proposed during yesterday's subcommittee session would make more cuts to the program, which could cause Maryland ratepayer's over a billion dollars in lost benefits.
In response, the Maryland Sierra Club issued a letter to the committee members expressing our concerns about the efforts to weaken the crucial energy program.
Our full letter can be found below:
Dear Committee members,
While Sierra Club supports many elements of HB1532 as introduced, we are deeply concerned about a new amendment related to EmPOWER proposed in subcommittee. As currently written, the legislation, despite many strengths, poses serious, long term harm to ratepayers and to Maryland’s clean energy goals.
We regrettably asks that the committee not advance HB1532 until these issues can be addressed and the bill can be discussed transparently. We appreciate the intent of the legislation and would like to be a partner, but cannot play that role if the public does not have access to what is being voted on. From what we do know, these are our concerns.
EMPOWER
- The proposed changes to EmPOWER will result in an increase of 900MW of summer energy demand (against utilities current baseline planning) at a time when the grid is already constrained.
- The proposed amendment would cut EmPOWER Energy efficiency program by 67%, from 2.5% annual reduction in GHG to an effective programmatic goal of around 0.8%. This is a legislative target of 1.75% plus additional reduction by counting greenhouse gas emissions from existing rooftop and community solar. This will double count the benefits of this program, and pit solar against efficiency, where the solar may reduce energy efficiency programs.
- These cuts to the EmPOWER program would translate to a loss of around $1.5-$1.75 billion in benefits to EmPOWER users and other ratepayers over the course of 2027-2030. This far outweighs the roughly $1.25 billion in customer savings that the legislature aims to achieve through cuts to customer bills over the same time period.
- These amendments will result in net losses of hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been saved by EmPOWER customers on utility bills through energy efficiency measures. Said another way, these changes cause more people to have to use more power, not less. Thus, the changes benefit utilities and not ratepayers and the environment.
DRIVE ACT
- House Bill 1532 also introduces a newly proposed rebate restructure within the DRIVE Act and diverts use of SEIF funds for fossil fuels, which is contrary to the fund’s intent.
- The above changes undermine valuable existing programs (EmPOWER, DRIVE Act, SEIF) and remove their benefits. This is a strategic mistake in the short and long term.
As it currently stands, unless these provisions are amended, the Sierra Club cannot support this bill. We strongly urge the committee to reconsider these amendments. We are available to discuss ways forward that benefit ratepayers without undermining important existing programs.
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