We’re officially two weeks into the 2020 Colorado legislative session and sparks are flying! Policy sparks, that is! Here’s a handy rundown of some electrifying new bills on cleaner, cheaper, climate-friendly energy. 

But don’t forget — if you want an insider tour of the Colorado Legislature and a chance to chat these and other 2020 bills face-to-face with our representatives, sign up for our February 24-26 People’s Lobby Trip TODAY! Travel and accommodations are on us! 

 HB20-1064: Public Utilities Commission Study Of Community Choice Energy

This is the big one in 2020! Currently, the majority of municipal governments (cities and towns) in Colorado purchase power under monopoly contracts from Investor Owned Utilities like Xcel and Black Hills Energy. Community Choice Energy proposes to give municipalities the ability to sign new contracts with wholesale power providers, such as the independent operator of a wind or solar farm. This makes the energy market more flexible, creates a market for new developers of clean energy projects, and puts a new tool in the climate toolkit for local governments. AND it means you could be talking with your city council soon about saving your community money with new clean energy sources! Like other recent bills on complex issues, HB-1064 doesn’t try to solve everything in legislation but tasks the Public Utilities Commission to conduct a study and propose recommendations. 

SB20-013: Promote Innovative And Clean Energy Technologies & HB20-1059: Valuation Of Energy Storage Equipment

If climate-friendly wind and solar are to power a bigger share of the world, we need a way to store their output in between sunny days and windy nights. Massive grid-scale lithium-ion batteries are our current best solution (though researchers are racing to develop other exotic new technologies) and Colorado utilities have seen some of the cheapest battery cost bids anywhere in the world. These batteries are also great for storing cheaper power for dispatch later during peak demand times when energy prices go up sharply. These two bills help prepare us for the battery transition, with SB-013 creating a new program at the Public Utilities Commission for testing new low-emission technologies including batteries, and HB-1059 extending current favorable state property tax treatments for wind and solar to batteries as well. 

Coming Soon on Energy: Bills can be introduced late into session, and we expect to see bills on Tri-State governance transparency, voting rights and basic standards for Rural Electric Association elections (which are often poorly run), and consumer protections for struggling families behind on electricity bills. 

Want to Join our Alliance’s Clean Energy Team? Get in touch with me now at Joel@WesternColoradoAlliance.org.