“Make It as Darn Complicated As Possible”
by Annette Smith
Legislators dictating Vermont’s energy future – or is that energy swamp? – would have done well to remember the engineering mantra “Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)”.[1] Instead, they ignored it, choosing their own approach, which can be aptly described as “Make As Darn Complicated As Possible”,[2] or MADCAP.
That is exactly what the last two legislative sessions have been: MADCAP.
The Democratic supermajority began with the tortuously complicated “Clean Heat Standard,” later rechristened the “Affordable Heat Act,” when the PR optics deteriorated as more people learned about the bill. Eventually, even the “True Believers” backing the legislation got addled by terms such as “carbon intensity value,” “default delivery agent,” “fuel pathway,” “obligated party,” and “thermal sector,” and they punted to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) hoping they would figure out what to do.
Cue MADCAP 2.0.
To wade through this swamp, the PUC created two cases and something called “Topic Tags,’ of which there are eleven. For each, the PUC may solicit comments, hold workshops, and ask for reply comments before issuing a decision.
The PUC has begun the process of mapping out its tasks and timing for this year, at the end of which it is supposed to report back to the complexity-punting Vermont Legislature.
I wanted to see what is due, when and by whom, so, I created a calendar. Having seen dozens of PUC schedules, I’ve been asked, “Is this normal?” My response: “Not in this part of the galaxy.” Typical schedules have a week or two between deadlines, giving parties the opportunity to put together comments, reply comments, review other parties’ comments, and all that is required of complex regulatory proceedings before the PUC.
I don’t fault the PUC. It is doing what the legislature told it to do in statute, delineating specific tasks, setting deadlines, and showing what is required to comply with the euphemistically-named Affordable Heat Act.
Each dot on my home-spun calendar represents a proposed deadline for a comment, a workshop, a reply comment, or a PUC decision. Three dates have three deadlines on the same day for participants. Two dates have four deadlines on the same day for participants. Two dates have three deadlines on the same day for the PUC. Forget summer vacation if you want to participate.
I’ve asked people familiar with PUC proceedings to look at this schedule, and the responses run from “crazy” and “insane” to “yougottabekidding!” Those are not words one typically uses for PUC proceedings. Certainly the proposed schedule is a deterrent to public participation. It also creates enormous demands on the entities that are directly affected by the outcome, especially the fuel dealers.
I have attended two workshops and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting. The TAG wants a facilitator, but there is no money for it. One workshop was about credit ownership, and it is no surprise that various participants had their hands out wanting to be the owner. Not to be outmuscled by their customers, Vermont Gas Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Quebec energy giant, wants to own them. Let’s just say the sharks sense blood in the water.
There was a workshop on funding the Affordable Heat Act. Not a lot of great ideas on that front. Nobody knows what it will cost, so how can a funding source be identified? Oh, wait, the amount of the funding is another topic that might require another workshop and rounds of comments.
Confused? Frustrated? Exhausted? Wait: No rest for the weary. There’s MADCAP 3.0.
Our legislators also took up the Renewable Energy Standard (RES), establishing a special committee – consisting of environmental and industry lobbyists, utility companies, housing officials, and four legislators – to update the existing RES. The Department of Public Service itself created a stakeholder group to look at various models for updating the RES. (I served on the DPS group and observed the meetings of the other group).
The DPS group learned that any changes to the RES will raise rates. The legislative group somehow massaged the numbers to produce the message it wanted: Costs to consumers would increase, in its words, “slightly.” How much? That was not a topic of discussion, but rest assured, an already-complicated RES is proposed to be further complicated. MADCAP rules!! Please don’t ask me to explain it. Just get ready to pay more.
One final observation: many of the very same legislators and lobbyists who say Act 250 has to be changed because it is just too complicated are those responsible for the mayhem and madness reflected in MADCAP in its many iterations. They are now proposing to create a complicated Tier system for Act 250 which will likely be punted to the Natural Resources Board to figure out. MADCAP 4.0?
Author is Executive Director for Vermonters for a Clean Environment.
[1] https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/keep-it-simple-stupid
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/madcap
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Categories: Commentary, Legislation, State Government
Or…Koyanasqatsi…world out of balance…
Can’t fix stoopid anymore than you can close the borders of the State or turn back the clock 100 years to when we decided party lines and wood heat were not enough to distract us from the state of the State we live in…run by the fascists now… and those who think they can take it with them when they go.
Prayer is about the only way through now… if could just figure out the connection to our existing realities and quantum science…and prayer…too simple?
As I just explained to someone commenting on the Despathy article listed below.
Consider this: Green Mountain Power pays so-called green energy producers – the solar folks, the biogas and windmill folks – about 21 cents per kwh for the power they return to the grid. At the same time, Hydro-Quebec is charging us about 7 cents per kwh for its hydro power. For every kwh of electricity we buy from HQ, we save at least 10 cents per kwh.
The reason GMP goes along with this is because, as a regulated utility, its profit is capped as a percentage of the operating costs it passes on to the customer. So, the more GMP pays in operating expenses, the higher its allowable profits. The GMP/Hydro Quebec folks make out either way.
And again, guess who one of the three PUC commissioners is who regulates GMP in Vermont. Yep, Margaret Cheney, wife of Sen. Peter Welch.
BTW: Ms. Cheney was a magazine feature writer at a progressive liberal magazine in DC and then a part-time teacher here in Vermont before she was appointed as a PUC commissioner.
And then there is the story of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) and its two top board members who lobbied for all of this ‘green energy’ stuff. Even while they were members of VPIRG, they created a start-up solar company, took it private as SunCommon, and then they sold the company for about $40 million.
It’s all about the money.
Annette and VCE- your dedication is astounding and appreciated. So many do not know the time and energy invested in your long time continual work for Vermont. I am so thankful.
So many legislators are severely out of control and bringing burden and damage to VT. Thank you for sharing the details and madness that many do not witness. Hopefully more eyes will open so we can reclaim common sense here. Praying for that for sure.
Annette is a treasure! The only place I will disagree with her here is when she says, “I don’t fault the PUC.” I do because when they came in to testify during the S.5 deliberations on multiple occasions they said they could do this. They knew they couldn’t, but didn’t want to upset the “green” mob’s agenda with any hint of truth telling, so they essentially lied on their resume. Now they’re stuck performing brain surgery with a butter knife. And yes, in this analogy, we are the patient.
You’re right, Rob, though I was thinking more specifically about the proposed schedule and not more broadly about the legislative testimony where, yes, the Chair came in and said “sure, we can do this, this is what we do.” That was in the first, failed attempt to get the Clean Heat Standard through. I don’t recall that affirmation when the Affordable Heat Act came along. What I most remember is my shock in learning that one of the staff people testifying for the PUC about the AHA had been involved from the very beginning in the private working group meetings that developed the CHS, yet never disclosed it during any legislative testimony. And then when the House E&E committee heard from leg. council about the timelines, the committee members’ reactions were almost comical as they heard all that the PUC was supposed to do in such a short time frame. There were plenty of opportunities for rational people to have said, “hey, wait a minute, is this even possible?” I raised the issue of overburdening the PUC in my testimony both years but nothing I said made any difference.
The corporation is bankrupt. Let the Kabuki Theater commence as we watch the final act play out, the giant hook entering stage left as the curtain falls. The real numbers don’t lie. Brace for impact.
Very helpful information, even now as we have tried to follow this madness right along. At this point, it is clear that it is all about the money and virtue signaling for these so called representatives. They all mingle in the same progressive circles and reinforce their talking points and role playing. Their climate change proselytizing is so imbedded in the state, for instance, each town in Chittenden County now has their own committee and fully funded staff to constantly propose and get adopted new rules and zoning ordinances directing residents’ energy usage and building codes according to their diktat…all while claiming to save the planet and therefore us. So anyone who is against that is against humanity. See how this works?