Energy Bills Fail to Move Forward in a Victory for Consumers
The Iowa legislature adjourned last week without passing either HF 834 or its companion bill SF 585, the omnibus energy bills that incorporated Governor Reynold’s recommendations.
Consumer groups worked together to first try to get important changes to the legislation, then when that did not occur, successfully worked to stop the legislation from passing. This coalition included AARP (representing seniors), NFIB (representing small business), the Iowa Retail Federation (representing Iowa’s small and large retailers), and the Iowa Economic Alliance and Iowa Business Energy Council (representing Iowa’s largest users).
If passed, these bills would have:
allowed utilities to determine future investment plans without the Utilities Commission evaluating whether investment decisions serve consumers' best interests,
increased the interest rate consumers have to pay utilities on new gas plants,
permitted the utilities to retain 100% of the profits generated from innovative rate structures, revenue that would otherwise be allocated to mitigate future rate increases, and
allowed incumbent utilities to build $3 billion in new transmission lines without having to compete for the project.
The consumer coalition that came together to defeat this legislation this year will continue to work in the interim to help educate more Iowans about the importance of utility reform, encouraging further debate on this important issue. Hopefully, there will be important changes to this legislation next year.
New Iowa Utilities Commission Chair – Sarah Martz
Governor Kim Reynolds appointed Iowa Utilities Commissioner Sarah Martz on Monday after the former chair, Erik Helland, failed to be confirmed by the Senate for a new two-year term.
Commissioner Martz earned a strong reputation in a short period of time, including leading the Commission’s Review of Ratemaking Procedures in 2023 as a brand-new commissioner.
From the Governor’s announcement:
“Sarah’s background, engagement in regional and national associations, and experience to date on the commission will be an asset to the IUC as it prepares to help our state navigate an expected increase in demand with additional heavy power consumers coming online,” Gov. Reynolds said.
Before she joined the IUC, Sarah worked in roles at Alliant Energy-Interstate Power and Light (IPL) Company for 11 years optimizing power plants, researching solar performance, and piloting new technologies such as energy storage in Iowa communities. She also managed the electrical distribution engineering team for IPL.
Sarah assumes her role as chair effective immediately.