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The MEEA Policy Insider summarizes the latest state and federal policy activity and provides new resources to aid members in their outreach, education and advocacy initiatives.
In this issue:
- State Updates: IL / IN / IA / KS / KY / MI / MN / MO / NE / ND / OH / WI
- Federal Update
- New Resources & Publications
Legislative
Session adjourned sine die on May 31, after several late nights in the final days. Legislators passed 432 bills this session but failed to pass the energy omnibus, SB 2473/HB 3779 (Sen. Cunningham/Rep. Williams), also known as the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA). Throughout session, stakeholders and legislators engaged in a series of working group negotiations around an energy omnibus bill with CRGA serving as the starting point for many stakeholders. On May 28, the product of these negotiations was introduced as the 758-page long SB 40 House Amendment 2. Between May 28 and May 31, SB 40 was amended five more times. The Senate Executive Committee convened just before 6 PM on May 31, the final day of session, but did not take up the bill. It may be possible for legislators to take up the bill in veto session in the fall, but it’s not clear yet whether there would be an appetite to address energy during the short veto session.
The other energy bills MEEA tracked this session, including HB 1612 (Appliance Standards Act), HB 3525 (Clean & Healthy Buildings Act aimed at reducing gas emissions) and HB 3650 (a bill to create a statewide energy navigator program) all failed to pass as well. The building energy codes bills MEEA tracked this session, including HB 3312 (Utility Data Access Act) also failed to pass. Given that this was the first year of the two-year session, it is possible that some of these bills can return either this year in potential veto sessions or next year's session.
Regulatory
The Energy Efficiency Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) held two meetings to discuss proposed changes to the Technical Reference Manual (TRM) this month. Proposed changes include adding solar as an energy efficiency measure and revisiting electric vehicles as an efficiency measure among other changes. You can view notes and agendas from recent SAG meetings here.
Future of Gas proceedings remain ongoing. Since launching Phase 2B, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has been considering commissioning a pathways study after receiving feedback from stakeholders participating in the Decarbonization Pathways Working Group. Working group participants submitted comments in May on the ICC’s draft proposal for a pathways study. The working group met again on June 25 to discuss the Commission’s updated draft proposal based on the comments received. Meanwhile, the Pilots Working Group met again in June to continue its work on narrowing the list of over 100 initial pilot submissions. The working group is expected to finalize the initial pilot selections in late July. Meeting materials for past Phase 2A workshops can be found here but Phase 2B working group meeting materials are not yet posted.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Illinois or to get more involved, contact Kit White.
Executive
The Indiana Office of Energy Development has announced the statewide rollout of the Indiana Energy Saver Program. The program is comprised of the two federal home energy rebate programs: the Home Appliance Rebates (HEAR) and the Home Energy Rebates (HOMES). Indiana joins Wisconsin and Michigan as the Midwestern states that have launched their programs. More information can be found on the program website here.
Legislative
Session adjourned sine die on April 25. The Indiana Legislative Council has released assignments for Interim Study Committees. The Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee has been charged with reviewing annual reports from the IURC.
Regulatory
The IURC is conducting a study of performance-based ratemaking, as required by 2023 legislation. Comments on the first draft of the report are being accepted through July 16. The final report to the legislature is due on October 1.
The current integrated resource planning (IRP) processes in Indiana are:
- Indiana-Michigan Power (AEP) – The IRP process has concluded and public comments are now being accepted on the I&M 2024 IRP. Comments have been extended to July 30.
- AES Indiana - AES has begun its 2025 IRP process. Meeting materials and agendas will be uploaded at the above link. The remaining meetings are July 24, September 10 and October 22.
Updates from the Commission on integrated resource plans in Indiana will be posted to the IURC’s IRP page.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Indiana or to get more involved, contact Greg Ehrendreich.
Legislative
The Iowa General Assembly adjourned Sine Die on May 15.
Both HF 834/SF 585 stalled in their chambers. The wide-ranging omnibus bill covered the Governor’s energy priorities. Notably, the bill would have set a new process for utility resource planning by requiring rate-regulated utilities to submit a resource plan at least once every five years that considers “all reasonable resources” and includes “supply resources and conservation and management of demand.” Resource plans would have needed to include programs approved in the utilities’ most recent energy efficiency plans. The bill would have set forth an uncontested, but docketed, proceeding in which the Iowa Utilities Commission could offer recommendations for the utility’s next resource plan.
On April 18, Governor Reynolds signed HF 860 into law, including language which prohibits state and local regulations on fuel-powered equipment based on the equipment’s fuel source – echoing similar “ban on gas bans” language from across the region. This bill extends the reach of prohibitions outlined in HF 555 (2021) beyond counties and cities.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Iowa or to get more involved, contact Clara Stein.
Regulatory
On May 30, Evergy filed their first Annual Compliance Filing describing the results from their demand-side management programs in 2024. This report includes program expenditures, peak demand and energy savings impacts, avoided costs, estimated cost effectiveness, net economic benefits and a comparison to the commission authorized program budget to actual costs. Overall, in Evergy’s first year of KEEIA program operation, the utility spent $8,939,375, saved 11,604,612 kWh and saved 31,705 kW incremental total peak demand. View further details in the KCC Docket 25-EKCE-447-CPL.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Kansas or to get more involved, contact Clara Stein.
Regulatory
The Commission issued its final order in Duke Energy Kentucky’s integrated resource planning in Case 2024-00197. The order finds that all substantive actions have been completed and closes the case. Duke’s next IRP will be filed on or before June 21, 2027. Per the Staff Report in the case, Duke should provide an evaluation of potential new DSM programs for its next IRP, to determine whether all cost-effective programs are being implemented.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Kentucky or to get more involved, contact Greg Ehrendreich.
Legislative
Michigan legislators have been working on the budget, but recently Senate Republicans released a suite of energy bills that would modify the clean energy standard and energy waste reduction program.
SB 322 (Hoitenga) would substantially amend the Clean and Renewable Energy and Energy Waste Reduction Act by scrapping much of the language that legislators passed in 2023. Notably, on the energy efficiency side, this bill would delete much of the new language around energy efficiency. It would set tiered incentives for shared savings (also in SB 324 below), with utilities eligible for incentives starting at 1% energy savings for electric utilities and 0.75% for gas utilities, with the incentives maxing out when electric utilities reach 1.5% in savings and gas utilities reaching 1%. The bill sets the standard for gas utilities at 0.75% and deletes the line that ramps up that standard to 0.875% starting in 2026. The bill also deletes the entire section on electrification, effectively removing the definition of efficient electrification and the stated ability to claim savings on electrification measures. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations on May 21.
SB 324 (Hauck) would create shared savings mechanisms for electric utilities that have not otherwise capitalized those costs of the energy conservation measures. Utilities that reach 1-1.25% in energy savings would be eligible for a shared savings incentive of 25% of the net benefits validated as a result of the programs implemented. The mechanism increases to 27.5% for utilities that save between 1.25-1.5% and to 30% for those that save more than 1.5%. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations on May 21.
SB 325 (Bellino) would also modify the standard for electric utilities back to 1% with an additional mention that the Michigan Public Service Commission can utilize shared savings mechanisms to reward energy savings above that. The bill also modifies definitions and requirements for future statewide energy savings potential studies and rules for integrated resource plans. The bill would modify the IRP process by removing affordability, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental justice as factors that the PSC could consider in its approval process. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations on May 21.
Separate from that package, HB 4486 (Frisbie) was introduced in the House. The bill would prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing a policy that prohibits the use of natural gas or the installation of natural gas infrastructure. This ‘ban on bans’ legislation has been introduced in prior sessions. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy on May 8.
Regulatory
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) is in the process of determining a new definition of energy security. MPSC staff working on the Energy Affordability and Accessibility Collaborative have created a proposed definition that seeks to understand how energy affordability and access to energy efficiency can affect a household’s energy security. The Commission asked for comments in part due to the impact this definition could have on the assessment of percentage of income payment plan pilot results. Comments were due in dockets U-20929 and U-21021 by June 12, with reply comments due June 26.
The MPSC held its second technical conference on February 11 for the 2025 Michigan Potential Study on Energy Efficiency, Demand Response and Electrification. No additional meetings are scheduled as of yet. The process is scheduled to wrap up by September. More information on the potential study can be found here.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Michigan or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.
Legislative
Legislators were supposed to wrap up session with a completed budget by May 19, but failed to meet that deadline. Legislators continued to work on compromise omnibus bills until a deal was struck. Governor Walz called legislators back for a one-day special session on June 9 where lawmakers passed all of the remaining omnibus bills, including the one focused on energy.
The Energy Finance and Policy omnibus bill (SF 2) was renumbered and reintroduced given the special session. The bill is narrower than previous energy omnibus packages but does include more line items than the ‘lights-on’ bill previously introduced this session (HF 2442).
The proposal includes funds for the Department of Commerce’s Energy Resources Division, including:
- $602,000 to implement energy benchmarking
- $530,000 to review grid-enhancing technologies plans
- $378,000 for implementation of natural gas innovation plans
- $300,000 to remediate vermiculite insulation from households
Additionally, $2.4 million is transferred from the general fund to the pre-weatherization account. The bill makes a few changes on the policy side, mostly tweaking definitions and adding a section on securitization.
Legislators also passed a data center bill during special session. The legislation, HF 16/SF 19, notably institutes a fee structure for data centers to pay into a state account for low-income weatherization and energy conservation. Depending on the size of the data center, the fees would range from $2-5 million and would make the data center exempted from paying into utility energy efficiency programming. Additionally, the legislation would add the condition that a new data center receives a green building certification within three years of its construction to qualify for all eligible tax incentives.
Regulatory
Minnesota utilities filed their required compliance reports detailing 2024 energy conservation and optimization savings and spending. The filings detail if utilities have met statutory requirements and provide information on individual EE programs, like participation and budgets. The filings can be found in the utilities’ respective dockets: Xcel Electric, 25-47 and 25-50; Minnesota Power, 25-48; Otter Tail Power, 25-49; CenterPoint, 25-43; and MERC, 23-98.
Xcel has announced that the utility will host workshops to finalize its upcoming gas integrated resource plan, which is due to the Commission by July 1, 2026. The first workshop was held on May 7 and discussed Xcel’s approach to load forecasting and the next steps in developing the IRP. Presentations from that meeting can be found here. Additional meetings are tentatively scheduled for August, November and February.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Minnesota or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.
Legislative
As anticipated, Governor Kehoe called the Missouri Legislature back for a special session starting on June 2 and ending on June 11. Three bills were passed during this session, all of which were immediately signed by the Governor, covering emergency funding for disaster aid, sports stadium funding and an appropriations bill. Veto session is scheduled to begin September 10.
Regulatory
The passage of SB 4 during the recent legislative session is expected to induce several proceedings at the Public Service Commission this summer related to the new provisions in the law, which is set to take effect on August 28. Specifically, we expect there will be PSC workshops hosted around alternative residential customer rates based on household utility burden, and rulemaking process around changes to the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Missouri or to get more involved, contact Natalie Newman.
Legislative
The 2025 Nebraska Unicameral Legislative adjourned sine die mid-biennium on June 2. These are the notable bills from this legislative session:
- LB 317: Merge the Department of Natural Resources with the Department of Environment and Energy and change the name to the Department of Water, Energy and Environment and provide, change and eliminate power and duties. LB 317 was approved by Governor Pillen on May 6 after significant debate amongst senators throughout the session.
- LB 526: Provides powers and duties for public power districts related to cryptocurrency mining operations. LB 526 requires cryptocurrency mining facilities to notify power utilities in advance if operating in their service territory and allows for the requirement of direct payment or a letter of credit covering costs associated with potential infrastructure upgrades due to an increase in energy load. Additionally, the bill gives public power districts the authority to impose terms and conditions on these operations, such as requiring mining operations to shut down during peak load times and requiring mining operations to report their annual energy consumption. Governor Pillen signed LB 526 into law on May 20.
- LR 234: Conduct an interim study to examine the impact of net-zero plans and goals of public power utilities. LR 234 was introduced on May 15, and referred to the Natural Resources Committee on May 19. This resolution is pointed at the net zero carbon emission plans of Omaha Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power District and outlines a public engagement effort including “representatives from the public power utilities, the Soutwest Power Pool, economic development community, and local municipalities” - but not explicitly public stakeholders.
Regulatory
Lincoln Electric System (LES) is undergoing their strategic planning process and just concluded a series of community meetings designed for public input. The public power district is drafting a new mission, vision and values, as well as strategic objective areas. At the June LES Administrative Board Meeting, LES presented the draft LES Strategic Plan. The plan includes updates to sustainability goals highlighting the importance of demand management, energy burden relief and building a “future ready” grid. You can follow the planning process here.
LES is also undergoing significant resource planning in response to new Soutwest Power Pool resource adequacy rules finalized and approved by the SPP Board of Directors in August 2024. The updated rules required LES to reevaluate its near-term resource plan, previously determined in the LES IRP from 2022. At the March LES Board meeting, LES presented updated generation models and potential resource acquisition scenarios. In April LES provided insights into the impact of different resource pathways on LES’s 2040 carbon neutral goal. On May 16, the LES Administrative Board voted to approve a mid-year rate increase of 4% and begin acquisition of two 50MW Aero Combustion Turbines. The Lincoln City Council still needs to approve the motion before efforts move forward. MEEA submitted testimony to the Board regarding the potential for energy efficiency and demand response to help LES meet resource adequacy needs. On June 23, the Lincoln City Council voted to approve the rate increase, which will go into effect beginning in July.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Nebraska or to get more involved, contact Clara Stein.
Legislative
North Dakota legislators adjourned sine die on May 3 on day 74 of the session, leaving them six additional days before hitting the 80-day limit of legislative days per session. By saving some legislative days, legislators can call a special session later in the year if needed. There were no bills directly impacting energy efficiency introduced in either chamber.
HB 1579 (Novak) would require new data centers to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Public Service Commission prior to commencing construction. The bill was amended significantly to provide for a legislative management study on the impact of large energy users like data centers. It passed the House on February 24 and passed out of the Senate with zero no votes on April 18. Governor Armstrong signed the bill into law on April 29.
How to Get Involved
For more information about North Dakota or to get more involved, contact Kit White.
Legislative
HB 15 (Klopfenstein) was signed by the Governor on May 15, and will be effective August 14. The final bill did not include any energy efficiency or demand response, but a standalone bill dealing with energy efficiency could still be introduced during the 2025-26 session.
Regulatory
We are still expecting that First Energy will withdraw its sixth Energy Security Plan (“ESP VI”) in case 25-0092-EL-SSO. Among its provisions, HB 15 eliminated new ESPs, so it is no longer possible for the utility to have this case approved. Currently the case remains open, with no new activity since May.
With the end of ESPs, until the legislature acts, we are unlikely to see any new electric EE programs. ESPs were one of the few proceedings where any electric demand-side programs could be approved since HB 6 repealed the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) in 2019. With that route gone and no success with other approaches for regulatory approval of voluntary electric EE over the past five years, it is clear that legislation is the only path to bring EE back to Ohio.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Ohio or to get more involved, contact Greg Ehrendreich.
Legislative
Legislators have spent most of their time lately on the state’s budget. There have been only a few bills introduced that touch on energy policy, with none directly impacting energy efficiency. The Senate Committee on Utilities and Tourism has only heard and voted out a handful of bills, with the majority focusing on growing nuclear power. The appointments for Public Service Commissioners Nieto (for a term expiring in 2031) and Hawkins (for a term ending in 2027) currently are sitting in that Senate Committee.
Regulatory
Focus on Energy and Public Service Commission staff released a memo that outlines Focus’ progress on meeting its quadrennial goals. This document serves as a checkpoint, as the program has only a year and a half remaining for this quadrennial period. The memo presents options for the Commissioners to increase Focus’ therm savings goal, accept or modify a plan to use additional contributions to the Focus program above the planned budget and accept or revise the proposal to increase Focus’ overall savings goals.
How to Get Involved
For more information about Wisconsin or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.
Executive
President Trump’s cabinet secretaries continue signaling a significant shift in federal policy towards energy efficiency through a variety of agency actions. Over the past couple of months there have been rumors that the administration plans to cut the ENERGY STAR™ program, and the White House’s budget request included a request to completely cut the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). You can read more about threats to LIHEAP and ENERGY STAR™ as well as the ongoing attempts to rollback appliance standards in MEEA’s latest blog here.
The Trump administration has been working to narrow or roll back federal appliance standards. On May 9, President Trump signed several Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolutions that repeal newer efficiency standards passed by the previous administration. Then on May 12, Secretary Wright announced that DOE will rescind even more energy and water efficiency standards, including standards for clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, battery chargers, microwaves and more. We can expect to see legal challenges to these rollbacks for possible violations of federal law.
Legislative
On June 16, the Senate Finance Committee released their Budget Reconciliation text and a breakdown of their version here. With respect to energy efficiency related programs under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Senate version is largely similar to the House version of the bill passed on May 22. The Senate version rescinds a number of IRA tax credits including the energy efficiency home improvement tax credit, the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction and the new energy efficient home credit just as the House bill did. The Senate version also phases out several renewable energy tax credits, as the House bill did, but the Senate’s version phases out these tax credits even faster.
Neither the House nor the Senate version of the bill specifically rescinds the Home Energy Rebates programs often referred to as HOMES and HEAR (Home Efficiency Rebates and Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates). The House version of the bill, however, rescinds State-based Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training Grants designed to support implementation of the Home Energy Rebates programs. The House bill also rescinds $401 million from the budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Senate must still debate and pass their version of the bill and send it back to the House for concurrence before the budget bill becomes law.
Regulatory
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Mark Christie’s term expires June 30. Despite rumors that Christie would be reappointed, the Trump administration has already named energy attorney, Laura Swett, as a replacement. Swett has prior experience working at FERC as an advisor to former Commissioner McNamee, who authored the section on FERC in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Plan for a second Trump Administration. Swett will require Senate confirmation prior to taking the seat, so it’s likely Chairman Christie will continue on beyond June 30. The seat formerly held by Commissioner Willie Phillips remains unfilled since Phillips resigned his seat in April at the request of the White House.
How to Get Involved
Information about a number of federal funding opportunities can be found on the Funding Roundup page of MEEA’s website.
For more information about federal matters or to get more involved, contact Maddie Wazowicz.
Recent Publications:
Recent Testimony and Comments:
- MEEA Memo: Value of Demand Response in Ohio
- MEEA Comments to LES Administrative Board on Demand Side Management for Resource Adequacy
- MEEA Comments to Iowa Senate Subcommittee on Integrated Resource Planning Best Practices