RALEIGH – State Rep. Larry Strickland (R-Johnston County) and three House colleagues filed legislation Tuesday to study potential reforms of North Carolina’s energy market that would lower electricity costs for consumers while improving the reliability of service during storms.
During Christmas weekend 2022, more than half a million Duke Energy customers across North Carolina were struck with rolling power blackouts. This perilous and unprecedented emergency, the causes of which remain the subject of legislative and regulatory discussion, underscored the urgent need to address electricity resiliency and grid reliability in North Carolina.
House Bill 503, the Storm Resiliency Study Act, would allocate funding for a study led by the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill, assisted by an independent consulting firm with expertise in wholesale electricity markets. The study would make recommendations to the General Assembly by the start of its 2025 session.
“The Christmas Eve blackouts were an alarming wake-up call for the General Assembly,” Rep. Strickland said. “Obviously, our current system is not reliable enough. It’s simply unacceptable in modern North Carolina that cold weather should leave our people, many of them sick or elderly, alone in the frigid dark. That’s not just embarrassing, it seriously threatened people’s lives.”
“North Carolina’s residential, industrial and commercial consumers deserve the most reliable power supply possible at the lowest cost,” said Rep. Kyle Hall (R-Stokes) “If there are ways we can lower costs while improving reliability for the people of North Carolina, we should take a close look at them. By enacting this bill, we’ll ask the experts and see what they recommend.”
The bill’s co-sponsors are Reps. Ed Goodwin (R-Chowan), Kyle Hall (R-Stokes) and John Torbett (R-Gaston). Strickland, Goodwin and Hall filed similar legislation, HB 611, during the 2021 session. Since then, the need to study energy market reform in North Carolina has become clearer.
The bill references the devastating impacts of Duke Energy’s December blackouts, which left more than 500,000 North Carolinians without electricity during a cold snap when several of Duke’s power plants went offline and the company had insufficient backup supply.
Legislators in South Carolina came to an agreement in 2019 to commission a similar study. Preliminary findings from that study released last week show that ratepayers stand to save $362 million annually if certain reforms are made.
South Carolina State Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) was the lead sponsor and architect of the reform study bill in South Carolina. Of House Bill 503, Davis offered, “I am pleased to see North Carolina take a serious look at what cost savings alternatives may be available to ratepayers there. North Carolina does not want a reputation for rate hikes and rolling blackouts. I look forward to working with lawmakers in North Carolina to see how both of our states may be able to mutually benefit from reform.”
“North Carolina was first in freedom,” Goodwin said. “Now, we’re second to South Carolina in studying reforms that can save significant money for ratepayers. We owe it to our constituents to find these savings.”
The bill notes the importance of diversifying North Carolina’s energy sources without favoring any of them.
The Brattle Group conducted an analysis in 2019 estimating that energy market reform in North Carolina would save consumers here as much as $600 million a year – a figure on par with some of North Carolina’s landmark tax cuts. From the perspective of NC’s citizens, savings are savings. The 2019 report recommended a more comprehensive examination of potential reforms. This bill would fund just such a study.
“North Carolina shouldn’t lag South Carolina,” said Torbett. “The South Carolina study showed the considerable savings common-sense market reforms can achieve. We should find out how much we can save for North Carolinians while enhancing reliability. It’s a win-win for the people across our state who elected us to represent them.”
Because more government regulation always makes things better, eh? Where are the SMALL government conservatives? #NotYourParentsGOP #RINOs #VoteOutIncumbents
Hmmm…..Republicans and Democrats pass the NC New Green deal which was NC HB 951 in the middle of Covid knowing it will jack up our electric bills massively and now they want to study how to lower our electric bills after they pass 951. This was all planned out and deliberate. 951 includes solar kilowatt purchase mandates and carbon reduction targets in 2030 and 2050 which were going drive up rates and limit power energy options. This bi-partisan legislation was passed and hidden and buried during Covid lockdowns and not reported by the media due to how unpopular it was and is. We need real conservatives in the NCGA instead of liberals who are expanding medicaid, trying to legalize more gambling (sports betting), legalizing marijuana, and did nothing to stop Cooper and Covid lockdowns and tyrannical executive orders.
You are correct Matt. And ditto. I was wondering who got paid for closing/dismantling the coal fired plants (there was funding in the Inflation Reduction Act for that). Also was told wind was off the table for now. I’m waiting to see what happens there.