Show Your Support  for Electricity Independence!

NC Legislators will hold the first meeting of the House Third Party Sale of Electricity Committee at 2 p.m. on Jan. 25 in Room 421 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh. Click here to learn more about this committee and its membership. If you support clean energy, you are encouraged to attend.

Over the last year, NCSEA has advocated for legislation that would allow consumers and businesses across our state to purchase renewable energy power - like solar, wind or hog waste to energy - directly from a clean energy company. The project would be privately financed by a renewable energy company, which would sell the power directly to the customer at a competitive, stable electricity rate, locked in for up to 20 years into the future. (Current proposal under consideration - The clean energy project size could be limited to 2 megawatts or up to 120 percent of the customer's annual peak load. The project would be located on the customer’s property.)

The House Third Party Sale of Electricity Committee will examine these and other issues in the coming months and can make recommendations for legislative action by the full General Assembly during the short session, which begins in May.

This year has been an extremely busy, challenging and successful one for NCSEA's policy staff at the NC General Assembly - join us as we take a look back. The NC General Assembly concluded the bulk of its 2011 legislative session last Saturday afternoon, adjourning until July 13 when legislators will come back to Raleigh for a special session focused primarily on redistricting (approving new voting districts).

On June 29th, NCSEA’s legislative team (Ivan Urlaub, Julie Robinson, Tom Bean) held our "2011 Legislative Wrap-Up" webinar.  Click here to download the webinar presentation. The hour-long webinar included great discussions and Q&A regarding the 2011 session, including the outcome of legislative proposals to strengthen our state’s energy efficient building code and commitment to growing our solar industry, positioning our state to benefit from offshore wind power, growing our smart grid industry, and securing funding for our innovative clean energy economic development institutions like the NC Solar Center, among other critical matters.

The Joint House and Senate Redistricting committees will be holding public hearings regarding redistricting on Thursday, June 23 at various locations around the state, including Raleigh, Jamestown, Charlotte, Ahoskie, Greenville, Fayetteville, and Wilmington. The hearings will be open from 3-9pm. For a complete list of locations and other information, click here.

Those interested in speaking at the hearings are asked to request a 5 minute speaking slot. Citizens may also submit written comments to the committee.  To submit written comments, or to request to speak,  visit the committee’s website.

Last week, the NC Utilities Commission conducted hearings on Duke Energy's progress toward complying with our state's Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) law - and specifically the solar set aside. Attendees, including NCSEA's staff, were stunned by their testimony. And, in a second blow to NC's clean energy industry and consumers this week, our utilities finally convinced legislative leadership to not take up the Solar Jobs Bill (HB495/SB473) and the Energy Independence & Job Creation Bill (SB694). These much-needed bills would have retained jobs, created up to 8,300 new jobs across North Carolina by 2015, and allowed a reasonable amount of market competition.