Foulkes has a plan; Block doesn't
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
If there’s one issue dominating this year’s
gubernatorial election, it’s energy costs.
No-False-Choices.pdf
Utility bills this winter are reaching historic highs.
According to an estimate published by the state Public Utilities Commission, a
household using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will pay $180.15 on
their electric bill this winter. It’s the highest electricity prices in over a
decade, and the fifth straight winter of higher-than-average electric prices.
Gubernatorial candidates on the campaign trail — Democrat
Helena Foulkes, Republican Aaron Guckian, and Independent Ken Block — have
acknowledged voters’ concerns over high energy prices and pledged to do
something about it if elected.
“It’s a problem, you can’t really participate in almost anything to do with modern living without electricity,” Block said in an interview with ecoRI news earlier this month.
Block’s plan would move the line items for state taxes and
program fees charged on utility bills back to the state general fund. Block
characterized the line-item charges as “regressive” and estimated residents
could save 40% off their electric bill if they were eliminated.
Those fees include a charge for the renewable energy funding
and energy efficiency programs, as well as a smaller charge for low-income
heating and energy assistance (specifically, the LIHEAP program).
While moving the charges is likely to give residents some
savings, on the PUC household estimate, those two programs only account for
$27.87 of the original $180.15 bill.
Block also wants to push back the deadline for the Renewable Energy Standard. Under current state law, by 2033
all retail electricity sold in Rhode Island must be sourced from renewable
sources, which are proved via Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), most of
which, said Block, send money outside of Rhode Island.
“I think moving and joining the rest of the country at a
bare minimum to 2040 would help Rhode Islanders save, not quite but close
enough, to half a billion dollars,” Block said. “If we chose to push it to
2045, it would be a bit under a billion dollars saved. In this movement with
affordability being the overriding challenge for so many people, it makes sense
to me.”
Foulkes, the Democrat nominee for governor, released her own
energy plan, entitled “No False Choices,” in April, when she was running against
Gov. Dan McKee in the primary.
Foulkes plan focuses on increasing renewable energy
generation in Rhode Island, using public buildings as potential sites for new
solar installations (with a goal of 250 installations on schools and municipal
buildings alone), and pairing it with on-site battery energy storage
generation. Also included in the plan is a $40 million program for residents
and businesses to install solar and batteries and pay for those systems through
their energy savings.
“Rhode Island must commit to energy policies that ensure
long-term economic competitiveness and lessen ratepayers’ reliance on
expensive, imported natural gas, instead of increasing that reliance,”
according to the six-page plan.
In the plan, the Foulkes campaign accused McKee of an
“election year flip-flop on energy and climate issues” as a gimmick to win
votes. Her plan also involved addressing the years-long interconnection backlog
for renewables at ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, and requiring
heavy electricity users — such as data centers — to pay their own way.
The Foulkes campaign didn’t respond to multiple requests for
an interview with ecoRI News to elaborate more on her environmental positions.
Foulkes does agree with Block on at least one energy policy;
she hasn’t ruled out pushing back the deadline date on the Renewable Energy
Standard. The Providence Journal reported in April that Foulkes was
contemplating changing the deadline date for the Renewable Energy Standard,
laying the blame on McKee, but she was still undecided on changes to the
benchmarks set out in the Act on Climate law.
In his interview with ecoRI News, Block said he was
similarly skeptical about the state’s chances of reaching the net-zero by 2050
goal in the Act on Climate.
“I guess we’ll see right? The technology as it exists now is
probably not up to the task of 2050,” Block said. “But there’s also two full
decades before we get there, plus a few years. So a lot can happen and I hope
it does.”
ecoRI News was also unable to interview Republican candidate
Aaron Guckian. WPRI reported earlier this month Guckian’s strategy was to
invest in advanced energy technologies to attract talent and investment to
Rhode Island, and work with the Trump administration to obtain more federal
dollars.
But what about the state’s existing forms of energy? Block
told ecoRI News he didn’t know if he would rule out expanding a future natural
gas pipeline if nearby states removed their opposition to it.
“I think it would be silly for us not to extend it and make
use of it,” Block said. “Simply because at this moment we don’t really have the
answer we need yet from renewables. I come back to what I hear all the time is
people can’t afford our energy. They can’t afford it. They can’t afford it. So
I’m not ideological on anything. If we can solve a short-term crunch in terms
of extending the pipeline, that doesn’t mean we can’t turn it off when the time
comes to turn it off.”
