AUGUSTA
-- An additional assessment on electric bills would help an already
successful program do even better, supporters of an energy efficiency
measure said Thursday.
Opponents said it would hurt businesses and customers.
An
assessment that generates money for the state's Efficiency Maine
program would increase to three-tenths of a cent per kilowatt hour by
2009, under a bill being considered by the Utilities and Energy
Committee.
The current assessment for the program is 0.145 cent per kilowatt hour.
A dairy farmer, a developer, college students and others told lawmakers that the state's Efficiency Maine program works.
Efficiency Maine, which is run by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, seeks to promote the efficient use of electricity.
"If it hadn't been for this program, I'd probably still be trying to do
it the old way," Knox dairy farmer Harold Larrabee said. "We should
always think energy-smart, conservation first."
Larrabee
said he replaced equipment on his farm with an energy-efficient vacuum
pump and fans, which made him eligible for a rebate through the
Efficiency Maine program.
Augusta
developer William Dowling spoke on behalf of Harper's Development,
which he said has benefitted from using energy-efficient cooling units.
"It's
like comparing a Rolls-Royce to a Volkswagen," said Dowling, who also
is mayor of Augusta. "It saved us $32,000 a year in electrical costs."
But paper mill executives, Central Maine Power Co. officials and others spoke against the increased assessment.
"We intend to stay in Maine," said Bruce Bornstein of Isaacson Lumber
in Livermore Falls. "When you start these kinds of things, we're not
going to be able to do it."
As a user of 4.4 million kilowatts per year, even a small increase would cost his company thousands of dollars, he said.
David Allen of CMP said it's the wrong time to increase the assessment, because electric bills are going to continue to go up.
"This new tax on our customers would be imposed beginning in a year
when we are likely to see other large price increases," he said.
Allen
said Mainers already do a good job conserving energy, and they already
buy energy-efficient appliances. He said only those who apply for the
Efficiency Maine benefit from the fund.
"This
tax takes in equal amounts from rich and poor, and the financial
benefits go only to those who are able to take advantage of the
program," he said.
The
increased assessment is only one part of a six-part bill sponsored by
Sen. Philip Bartlett, D-Gorham. Other provisions seek to make schools
more energy-efficient, encourage cities and towns to adopt the model
building energy code, and allow the state to develop energy standards
for furnaces and boilers.
It also requires the state to monitor what other states have done to increase availability of fuel-saving tires.
The
Natural Resources Council of Maine, Environment Maine, and several
businesses submitted written testimony in support of the bill.
Matthew
Davis of Environment Maine said new cars come with energy-efficient
tires, but replacement tires are about 20 percent less efficient.
"Cutting
gasoline use in our cars is an important step toward energy
independence, which also saves drivers' money and reduces the pollution
that causes global warming," he said in written testimony.
