Commentary

Rep. Sibilia: Doing Nothing is Not Going to Protect Your Pocketbook

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By Rep. Laura Sibilia

Affordability is a real problem for many Vermonters right now. Everything from food to healthcare to heating fuel has gotten more expensive, and it’s hitting people hard. Big Oil companies and their backers want you to believe that enacting the Clean Heat Standard in 2025 will make things worse by raising your heating costs. But that’s not true—and doing nothing will hurt your wallet far more.

Since 2020, grocery prices have gone up nearly 25%, and Vermont’s unsubsidized health insurance premiums are among the highest in the nation. Schools are also struggling with rising costs following the pandemic. Add to that, the cost of heating oil skyrocketed more than doubled in just one year, and right now, prices are still 20% higher than they were before the pandemic. Families all across the state are feeling the pressure. It’s getting harder to afford the basics.

But what’s really behind these rising heating costs? Global oil prices, which are completely out of our control. Big oil companies set prices that Vermonters have to pay. And while small, local heating oil companies are doing their best to help, six have closed this past year alone. These closures mean fewer choices for Vermonters and more dependence on big companies that raise prices whenever they want. 

Small heating businesses in Vermont are struggling with the same challenges many local companies face—an aging workforce and the pressure to transition to cleaner energy solutions. As baby boomers retire, gaps are left in the workforce, and adapting to offer new, cleaner products may require specialized skills and training that are harder to find and take time to learn. For some, selling to larger distributors has become the most practical option, leaving Vermonters with fewer local options and less choice on price and service.

Now, critics of the Clean Heat Standard—like fossil fuel-backed Americans for Prosperity—want you to think this policy will increase your heating bills. They conveniently avoid the real issue: the current fossil fuel market is unregulated, volatile, and leaves you vulnerable to constant price spikes. Doing nothing about this is exactly what will keep your heating bills high.

The Clean Heat Standard is a strategy to help us break free from the grip of global oil markets. It would require fuel sellers to reduce emissions by investing in cleaner options, like home weatherization and heat pumps, that can lower your heating costs. This approach isn’t about raising prices—it’s about making Vermont less dependent on oil and helping Vermonters afford better heating solutions.

Governor Scott talks a lot about affordability, and he’s right—we need to work together to keep costs down. But he’s missing the point. Inaction won’t protect Vermonters. In fact, with a global energy transition underway and larger states and countries acting to reduce their fossil fuel usage, inaction is the biggest threat to fixed income and working Vermonter’s pocketbooks. The clean heat standard aims to provide stability in a chaotic market, and with proper oversight, it will ensure you don’t have to rely on unpredictable oil prices.

There are three paths forward when it comes to the Clean Heat Standard: do nothing, pass the plan as-is, or work to make it even stronger. But doing nothing would leave Vermont more exposed to price hikes in the oil market, while passing the policy without improvements may miss the mark. The best option is to work together to act now, refine the plan if needed, and ensure it truly delivers for Vermonters by providing energy savings and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

It’s easy for big oil-backed groups to make this debate sound simple. But it’s not. The current market is stacked against you, and without government intervention, you will keep paying the price. The Clean Heat Standard or a comparable approach is part of the solution. It offers Vermonters a way to break free from the current system, reduce energy costs in the long run, and protect against the instability of fossil fuel prices.

The stakes are high, and it’s time to act. We need thoughtful, collaborative solutions that address both the affordability crisis and the long-term needs of Vermonters. The Clean Heat Standard is a key piece of that puzzle. If we want to keep energy affordable and sustainable, we can’t afford to sit back and do nothing.

By taking action, we can ensure Vermonters have access to the essential heating solutions they need at a price they can afford—now and in the future.

Laura Sibilia of Dover, is the representative for Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton and Wardsboro and the Vice Chair of the Environment and Energy Committee Co Chair of the Rural Caucus 

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Categories: Commentary, Uncategorized

22 replies »

  2. She is nuts. All the more reason to get to the polls and vote the current majority out of office. Where is the Vermont we knew and loved???

  3. When facts don’t matter… I read headlines today and yesterday about problems with the low price of oil and gas. In Pennsylvania, businesses and farmers are complaining because of the low price of fracked gas. Not sure what Rep. Sibilia is talking about but there is an alternative reality that is well documented and not conspiracy theory available to readers of mainstream media if our legislators care to see what is going on in the real world.

    Why are Vermont small fuel dealers closing? It’s because of the threat of the Clean Heat Standard, not global oil markets. Gimmeabreak.

    There is no question that passage of the Clean Heat Standard will increase my heating bill, as I use propane and there are no alternatives for my off-grid home.

    As to the idea that we are “doing nothing”, that is insulting to all the good work being done throughout Vermont where many people are adopting heat pumps, switching fuels, and weatherizing homes. It is a myth that without the Clean Heat Standard, Vermonters are doing nothing. Hundreds of millions of dollars is dedicated to all the programs that are already in place. There are problems, such as the Climate Council’s Cross Sector Mitigation Subcommittee was just told about how the state has weatherized only 39,000 homes out of a goal for a deadline (I forget, was it 2025) of 120,000 so there’s a deficit of 80,000 which the Clean Heat Standard will not be fixing.

    Please stop with the grand standing and mythologizing and get real. The Clean Heat Standard is a ridiculously stupid idea, overly complex, impossibly expensive to administer, prone to gaming by unethical installers and should never have been considered, let alone waste the time of Vermont’s PUC.

    • Excellent response Annette. Sibilia ignores the plentiful and cheap supply of natural gas coming from one of the largest reserves in the world – the Marcellus Shale Formation. She ignores the possibility of a next generation nuclear plant on the site of the former Vermont Yankee, where transmission infrastructure still exists.

      She claims that the Clean Heat Standard will lead to stable energy prices but the opposite is true. Electricity prices will see hyper-inflation as “electrification of everything” and “100% Renewable by 2030” mandates lead to subsidizing a massive increase in solar panels and battery storage. Net metered solar panel owners currently receive 18 cents per kw while the wholesale price of electricity averages 6 cents. Tesla Powerwall battery backup systems cost $15,000! They will run your heat pump for about 4 hours. Who will pay for this? Ratepayers and taxpayers.

      Sibilia ignores the need to match the growth of renewables with more reliable and dispatchable natural gas generation to power the grid when the sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing and the batteries are drained. These sources will be paid to be profitable, as necessary components of reliability (capacity payments), regardless of how much energy they produce. Solar has a 15% capacity factor and wind has a 25% capacity factor due to the vagaries of weather and sunlight. Nuclear and natural gas plants have over 90% reliability factors – they can operate continuously unless shut down for planned maintenance.

      Sibilia is recycling a false narrative that I exposed in a previous commentary – https://vermontdailychronicle.com/thurston-rep-sibilia-admits-s-5-wont-dent-climate-change-talks-from-alinsky-playbook/

      The most depressing aspect of this is that Sibilia is running unopposed.

  4. Did Rep. Sibilia’s lobbyist friends write this for her to sign her name to? What a jackass (apologies for the name calling, but it is the symbol of her party, which she so well represents). She does acknowledge that cost are rising and does actually place some blame on education costs, which the legislature has everything to do with. She is however playing right along with Kamala in placing the blame on “corporate greed” and “price fixing”, which is a total dodge and shows that she is just as out of touch with economic reality as the presidential candidate of her corrupt party.

  6. What a mouthpiece she is, eh? The queen of word salads, gaslighting, and plain ole’ misdirection… who’s yur Daddy Ms. Sibilia??? WE know. Plain as day written in every word you sign off on… are you aware that you have compromised your soul to play grab ass with your keepers and keep a smile on yur face while you disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of ordinary Vermonters who live simply simply to live? Did you miss the memo that says we are not interested in your snakeoiled sales pitches back when you were just a lobbyist for energy companies? No?
    Its written in our hearts and souls, Laura. Can you read heart? Or soul?
    You be you… it seems to make’ya happy to stomp all over OUR happiness… yayas over truth, right?

  7. “It’s easy for big oil-backed groups to make this debate sound simple. But it’s not. The current market is stacked against you, and without government intervention, you will keep paying the price.”

    I seem to remember someone saying, “We are the government, and we are here to help you.”

    NOT!

    It seems word salad syndrome (WSS) is spreading also.

  8. Fact check: The costs of crude oil and natural gas is steady per the market reports with slight fluctuations. The value of our petro fiat dollar is rapidly declining as global markets are punting it to the curb – it’s still good on the black market, but that remains off the books and out of sight, for now – wink, wink. Nice piece of propaganda though – your handlers approve. You may now collect your stipends, expense reimbursments, utilize your benefit package, and keep that snout firmly planted in the trough filled to the brim with taxpayer labor. Try not to twist your ankle racing around doing victory laps too soon.

  9. Admitting oil prices are “out of our control,” yet taking governmental action for the cause of CO2 emissions, which are also out of our (VT’s) control. Completely asinine.

  10. Ms Sibilia does a terrific job at creating a fake situation where one does not exist, and of course her solution to the fear she’s pedaling as always a government program as a solution and spending more of your tax dollars. The fact is there is NOT any scientific evidence that burning of hydrocarbons is what affects our weather. So until she and her supporters actually can prove this hypothesis then why the government involvement. The answer as usual is the Benjams!
    Given the failure of the legislature at fixing anything with money and not by correcting the problem by effectively solving the problem is another reason to Not move forward with another con job from this crowd.

    • Sibilia’s “… very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” – C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock

  11. Save the state, and vote these clowns out, they are clueless as all their plans have no real data, and the sources they use are on the same agenda page…………………

    Save the state, vote them out !!

  13. Communism and communists will say and do anything to achieve their ends. Lying is something that they are very comfortable with, as evidenced by Scibilia.

  14. “Affordability is a real problem for many Vermonters right now.” – What is the cause of the increase in prices, and decrease in the purchasing power of savings? Who is to blame? Go LEARN about that for starters.

    “Big oil companies set prices that Vermonters have to pay” – If that was true, why don’t they set them to a billion dollars a barrel? You are out of your league lady, and you don’t understand anything. You clearly are in no position to make decisions about heat investments for others. “Big oil” is heavily invested in the “green energy” scam that you are encouraging the use of government violence to prop up. You are the mafia for big oil.

    “the pressure to transition to cleaner energy solutions.” – You have no proof that your ideas are “cleaner”. You must factor in every exteranility from your use of violent force to redistribute wealth. There is little evidence that this is a cleaner solution when you look at the big picture. Government is the number 1 cause of pollution. Maybe you should start with removing government’s use of energy, and stop making laws that waste energy, such as forcing folks to use up a million gallons of fuel in 10 years for a gun purchasing waiting period. Also hundreds of other pointless “dirty” laws that force us to pollute.

    “Inaction won’t protect Vermonters.” – You forget that individuals act on their own behalf. If heat pumps are a better investment, and if they are more “clean”, people will act and purchase those products as they see fit. Maybe it would be cleaner to save their money and invest in some newer and better technology that comes in the future. There is no way to know what future offerings might come out. Government violence to forced these investments are more likely to stifle alternative future advancements.

    “it will ensure you don’t have to rely on unpredictable oil prices.” – This will increase demand and price for electricity, as well as put more stress on the power grid, which we need to survive, and for some people is completely unstable. It will also create a boom bust cycle for these alternative markets, making it more likely that there will be a lack of propitiatory replacement parts for these systems in the future, and will cause a need for more waste and replacements, thus being LESS clean. Unpredictable is the definition of what you are creating.

    “with a global energy transition underway” – That’s wonderful! More poor people will be able to afford heat fuel when the price goes down due to these global market conditions. More poor people will be able to afford delivered goods! I guess this could help the poor and the rich. The rich people will now have more to invest in clean technologies which will advance them to the point that poor people will also be able to afford them if they work well and scale up.

    “But it’s not. The current market is stacked against you, and without government intervention, you will keep paying the price” – You don’t even have the most basic understanding of markets or prices. You like to use violence as the solution to something you don’t understand. You want to force investment into “big heat pump”, systems created in areas that pollute the most, I get it. Your claim that government violence (intervention) will prevent us from paying the price is unfounded. Government is incapable of increasing wealth when they use violent force to disrupt the social order. All disruptions to the social order come at a cost, and are a de-facto destruction of wealth. We can not afford the continued government violence and government destruction in every facet of our lives, especially when we need heat for survival. This is a dangerous road.

    “We need thoughtful, collaborative solutions that address both the affordability crisis and the long-term needs of Vermonters.” – You aren’t very thoughtful. You are using violence to promote an unproven system at the expense of everyone. You are redistributing wealth from the people and enriching corporations, further building an army of state workers (infinite destructionary feedback loop). There are infinite different needs for different people, and when you decide what their needs are for them, you create a long-term crisis over and over. Government is the number 1 cause of poverty and the number 1 cause of every “affordability crisis” that has ever existed.

    Don’t quit your day job. You can’t even do the most basic things like make sure old dams aren’t about to burst and kill a bunch of people or displace homes. Why don’t you start off with the highest priority investments like fixing things that could kill us first, and then try to save the world once you are done with all of that. Get back to work.

  15. If you believe the country will be better off under communist rule then by all means vote for democrats. The proposed legislation is clearly a move towards communism.

  16. This is kind of like the democrats -like Crybaby Kinzinger – now blaming Donald Trump for his own assassination attempt, isn’t it?

    You dimocrats pulled the plug on the Keystone Pipeline day one & then set out to bully & try to shake down Vermont citizens for using their oil burners & propane stoves to survive as they had survived for centuries.

    Your only care in the world should be VT residents. Period. Not climate extremists, not Africans, not illegal immigrants, not the U.N., not non-profit organizations, not lobbyists. ME. And my FAMILY.

    Now Vermonters are up in arms. And you’re still pathetically trying to make excuses for your abhorrent activities in Montpelier & your radical ideologies, bills, and spending jags.

    This is a FREE nation and I alone decide how to heat my home and cook my food and what type of car I f***ing choose to drive. NOT YOU. Got that yet????

    Now go do your job in serving me and others who live here and stay out of our churches, our kitchens, our homes, our cars and our BUSINESS!

  17. “If we submit to the idea that CO2 is pollution, then every single aspect of your life comes under the regulatory control of the people who claim to be saving us from pollution. When they do these Environmental Studies they say your CO2 footprint will be smaller if you eat bugs or you do this or that, or you drive an electric car. That doesn’t show anything about whether that’s going to benefit the environment or not.
    In fact CO2 has actually been very beneficial for the environment. In interviewing Trump’s climate adviser Dr William Happer, physics professor at Princeton University, he said the Earth is starving for more CO2. And since we’ve had a little bit of an increase in atmospheric CO2 over the last 100 years or so plants have gotten much Greener, agricultural yields have improved.
    II think we need to also talk about the fundamental presupposition here: Is CO2 really pollution? if it’s not then all these alleged environmental benefits are completely fictional.”