As cold weather hits, advocates applaud PSC updates to state energy efficiency program
Upgrade Maryland Statement, January 7, 2025
Program will help lower bills and improve air quality, but PSC missed opportunity to fully end subsidies for polluting and inefficient home heating and cooling systems
BALTIMORE — The Maryland Public Service Commission finalized an order to implement the EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency program with changes required by a 2024 law.
While the Commission approved new and expanded incentives for efficient electric equipment such as heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, regulators kept subsidies in place for fossil fuel equipment proposed by Washington Gas.
In response to this decision, Emily Scarr released the following statement on behalf of the Upgrade Maryland coalition:
Through an effective collaboration between the Moore administration, our state legislature and the Public Service Commission (PSC), the EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency program has been updated for the better. The PSC’s December order to implement the new law approves new incentives for heat pump space and water heating to help Maryland families make their homes more efficient and less polluting. The new law will also saving ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars by closing a loophole in the financing of EmPOWER that allowed excessive utility profits.
We are disappointed that the PSC didn’t take a further step to end incentives for less efficient and more polluting home heating and cooling. In failing to do so, the Commission will only further incentivize the use of outdated equipment that will drive up energy bills and exacerbate health-harming air pollution across the state. Moving forward, we hope the Commission will consider phasing out incentives for traditional AC and all gas appliances. If we want to build an energy future that protects our health, our wallets, and our planet, we need to help all Maryland families adopt the most efficient, pollution-free heating and cooling.
BACKGROUND:
Under the new law, which Gov. Wes Moore signed in May, Maryland utilities must hit annual goals for pollution reduction through in-home energy efficiency improvements. The law enabled new incentives for efficient electric equipment, lowering ratepayer costs and tying any future profits to performance. Maryland residents on average can save $1,000 per year in energy costs by upgrading to heat pumps for space and hot water heating.
The PSC accepted public testimony on how to implement the program this fall. A coalition of consumer, interfaith, health and climate advocates called on the PSC to protect consumers and lower energy bills by implementing the law with measures to equitably upgrade homes with efficient electric equipment while ending wasteful subsidies that incentivize fossil fuel heating equipment, which is responsible for more than three times as much smog-forming pollution as Maryland’s power sector.
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