On May 31, 2013, Lewis County PUD submitted its progress report to the Washington State Department of Commerce for its compliance for conservation and renewable resources pursuant to the Energy Independence Act (EIA), adopted by Washington state voters in 2006.
The EIA enacted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), commonly referred to as “Initiative 937,” and requires Washington state electric utilities serving 25,000 or more customers to:
- Undertake all cost-effective energy conservation; and
- Obtain a specified portion of their electricity from new renewable resources and allows for three different compliance method described below.
For renewable resources, Initiative 937 provides three different methods by which an utility can demonstrate it is compliant with the RPS standard and the amount of renewable resources an utility must include in its power supply portfolio to serve its customers:
3 Compliance Methods Available to Lewis PUD
- Renewables Target: A qualifying utility must serve its load with a certain percentage or target of eligible renewable generation by a certain date. The targets are 3% of load by 2012, 9% by 2015 and 15% by 2020;
- No Load Growth/1% Investment: A qualifying utility can demonstrate compliance if it can show it has experienced minimal or no load growth over a three-year period; has only acquired renewable energy or has offset non-renewable energy with renewable energy credits (RECs); and has invested at least 1% of its total retail revenue requirement in renewable energy or RECs;
- Incremental Resource Cost /4% Investment: A qualifying utility can demonstrate compliance if the utility can demonstrate it has invested at least four percent of its total annual retail revenue requirement on the incremental cost of renewable resources that meet the RPS. Under this compliance method a utility calculates the incremental cost of its renewables resources that satisfy the RPS compared to an alternate or non-renewable resource or resources.
