The Affordable Heat Act (S.5) is a policy designed to help ensure that every Vermonter can access cleaner, more affordable heat — not just those who already have the resources to do so.

In 2023, the Vermont Legislature passed S.5, commencing a comprehensive two-year process to explore, shape and consider implementing a “clean heat” thermal performance standard. Work currently underway at the Public Utility Commission (PUC) will culminate in a “rule” (i.e. a detailed program design) delivered in January 2025 for lawmakers to consider, refine and decide whether, how, and if to establish such a program. To inform that important analysis, the Legislature will also be receiving an assessment of the costs, savings, and economic impact of the program in January 2025.

Why is this under consideration?

For too long, Vermonters have borne the brunt of dramatic fossil fuel price spikes. In recent years, many Vermonters saw a $2/gallon cost increase on #2 fuel oil in just over one year. The status quo is costly. Out of our control. And unsustainable. There is a better way. And it’s happening. Around the world, global energy markets are shifting rapidly to renewable energy and other modern technologies. The Affordable Heat Act accepts that reality and builds a pathway to help Vermont — and Vermonters — make the same transition in a gradual, predictable way. In short, it is intended to make sure no Vermonter will be left behind in the energy system of the past.

A clean heat standard would obligate companies that import fossil fuels into Vermont – and no one else. Vermonters who can already afford to do so are making clean energy investments. They are building energy efficient homes, weatherizing older homes, and installing state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems. This program will obligate fossil fuel companies to offer their customers similar choices – options, not mandates, that go beyond fossil fuels – with a requirement to prioritize helping low- and moderate-income Vermonters in particular to reduce their energy costs. 

This is not new territory. For decades, federal appliance and vehicle efficiency standards have obligated corporations to deliver more efficient, more affordable, cleaner technologies. For the past decade, Vermont law has required electric utilities to help their customers reduce their fossil fuel use. If you’ve ever seen a utility incentive for an electric vehicle or a heat pump, that program is why. Such requirements have dramatically reduced energy use and saved consumers money. That is the goal of S.5  – to gradually move Vermonters off the high-cost, price-volatile roller coaster of fossil fuels toward cleaner, less costly ways to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Some outspoken opponents have claimed the implementation of the Affordable Heat Act will result in astronomical costs. All the credible evidence available to date suggests just the opposite: A program like this will result in significant net savings and the cost increase for fossil fuels will be modest and gradual. The bottom line is that everyone will have a much clearer sense of the costs and benefits of the program in January 2025, when the PUC releases the program design and its economic analysis of it.

What we know: 

1. People can’t afford rising, out-of-control fossil fuel prices.
2. Vermonters – and local fuel dealers – cannot control or predict fossil fuel prices. 
3. There are more predictable, sustainable and cleaner ways to heat our homes.
4. Vermonters who access heavily incentivized weatherization services and cleaner heating options – with fuel dealer support – will almost certainly see their overall energy bills go down. 
5. This effort aligns with the rollout of the Inflation Reduction Act, offering significant financial incentives for cleaner heat technologies for homeowners and renters. Calculate your home or businesses potential cost savings here.

The Potential Study delivered in September 2024 will help inform the program’s design but is not – and was never intended to be – an analysis of program costs. It is intended to further inform. State regulators at the Public Utility Commission are required to deliver a final draft program design, alongside an analysis of it, to legislators in January 2025. From there, the Legislature will be able to consider, modify, and analyze the program to ensure it works for Vermonters. Full, fair and factual information is key to designing solutions that will serve all Vermonters better today, and into a changing future – and there’s every indication that this is the type of rigorous analysis the Legislature intends to pursue before further action is taken. 

This will change the longstanding, profit-driven, fossil-fueled status quo – which is why Big Oil is aiming to disrupt Vermont’s effort.  Americans for Prosperity – a “dark money” group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers and bankrolled by national fossil fuel interests – has entered into Vermont with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailers and ads clearly intended to sow misinformation and fear. Global fossil fuel interests are fighting at every level to keep people tethered to high-cost, dirty, dinosaur energy. The Clean Heat Standard is about offering Vermonters an affordable, strategic pathway off of fossil fuels. Read what House Speaker Jill Krowinski had to say about this national misinformation campaign aiming to disrupt Vermont’s effort to access cleaner, more efficient and affordable energy options.

For far more information, check out:

• Energy Action Network’s Clean Heat Working Group’s comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions page.
• Rewiring America’s Inflation Reduction Act calculator, which will enable households, businesses and communities to get a sense of the financial incentives available via the IRA, as well as other potential incentives they can stack to cut investment costs from Efficiency Vermont, their distribution utility etc.
• A summary of key differences between the 2022 bill and the Affordable Heat Act (S.5) as passed.
• Energy Action Network’s Annual Progress Report on Emissions, Energy, Equity and the Economy.
• Representative Kathleen James’ page about the Affordable Heat Act.