Written by Jim Wylie, PA Chapter Chair

Every 5 years the electric utilities in PA must submit a plan to the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission (PUC) defining their Default Service Program (DSP) – basically defining how they will procure energy for customers that do not choose 3^rd party suppliers. This spring, the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) filed its petition and several groups subsequently filed to be interveners, which means, enter into a legal process of giving formal testimony, discovery and cross examination. The PA Chapter of the Sierra Club is a party to the intervening process.

PECO’s DSP V (it’s 5^th iteration), in short, calls for these changes to its previous DSP:

1. Half of the solar credits that PECO is required to purchase (0.5% of total energy mix) will come from generation withing the PECO territory (greater Philadelphia area).
2. Residential and small commercial will have the option of choosing a Time Of Use (TOU) rate structure where electricity is more expensive at peak use times and cheaper at night. TOU is already available for larger customers.
3. Low income customers enrolled in the Customer Assistance Program (CAP) will be allowed to shop for 3^rd party supply.

 All seem like good proposals, although the CAP customer shopping thing could be a little scary if not monitored. There are sharks in these waters.

 The primary issue that Sierra Club, and our environmental partners (Clean Air Council and Philadelphia Solar Energy Association) have is with the basic premise in the plan that PECO will only procure 0.5% of its energy mix from solar energy because that is what the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) requires. No more. No less. We feel that the 0.5% should be treated as a minimum, not an absolute. And that if contracts are considered on a longer term basis, in-state solar energy will be competitive with bids from fossil fuel sourced energy as seen by the deals signed by Phila Gov, SEPTA and UPenn in the last year. [view the expert testimony submitted by the environmental organizations] With long term commitments from the utility, PA solar energy can become a major contributor to PECO’s energy mix.

Photo Courtesy: Richard Whiteford

On June 9^th, a public input hearing (call-in) was held for 6.5 hours to hear testimony from local customers and public officials. All were in favor of PECO increasing the amount of PA solar energy in its default mix. [read a detailed review of the hearing by SPG ExCom member Meenal Raval]. Officials of RF100 communities testified (Mayor Herrin of West Chester, Mayor Dague of Downingtown, Commissisoner Miller from West Norriton), Commissioner Maxwell from Chester County and PA Representatives Comitta, McCarter and Rabb.

Why? Because the energy consumers in the greater Philadelphia area want to buy renewable energy! Plain and simple. 30 municipalities have passed Ready For 100% renewable energy resolutions to move to 100% renewable electricity by 2035 or sooner. Including the City of Philadelphia. If we add up the populations of those communities it comes to more than 50% of PECO territory residents that have formally expressed a desire to transition to 100% renewable electricity.

PECO should listen to its customer base and reflect their goals by committing to more PA solar and wind energy. Make long term commitments to accelerate the transition. Not without due analysis of the costs (potential increases or decreases), but with a broader view of what “least cost over time” means and with more consideration for distributed (locally produced) energy generation and storage to improve grid resiliency.

Read more about the PECO DSP process at the Climate Action Philly Blog.