Governor Steve Bullock met with utility companies and advocates for energy efficiency and low-income Montanans in Missoula Wednesday. It was the second in a series of roundtable discussions on energy Bullock is hosting across the state.
Bullock said efficiency is, "generally recognized as the cheapest of any new energy sources that we might have, and also a significant job creator."
Jim Morton with the Human Development Resource Council in Missoula said programs to help low-income Montanans make their homes more energy efficient and lower their energy bills are underfunded and fragmented.
Patrick Corcoran with NorthWestern Energy said his company rewards its customers for making energy efficient changes or upgrades at their homes and businesses.
"You’d expect the utility to have an incentive to perform these duties, right now we don’t have that incentive, actually, we’re being penalized."
The penalty comes, Corcoran says, because when their customers save energy, that means lower energy bills and less revenue for NorthWestern. He says that until about a year ago, Montana’s Public Service Commission used to allow utilities to adjust their rates to recover some of the revenue they’re losing by encouraging customers to be more efficient.
Some of the 16 other people Bullock met with offered ideas for making it easier for governments, businesses, and homeowners to finance energy efficiency upgrades.
Thursday Morning Governor Bullock will address the Northwest Energy Coalition’s conference in Missoula. On Monday he’ll be in Colstrip for the next round of his energy roundtable tour. The governor has come under fire from many in the coal-dependent town for what they say are insufficient efforts to keep the power plant there open. Bullock defends his record, saying that last week he met with Colstrip energy executives to talk about the plant’s future.
