The Energy Stakeholders Group met last week to discuss legislative proposals to ease the financial burden on rate payers amid complaints of rising energy bills.
The group also discussed Chesapeake Utilities' first rate increase request in 10 years, which follows Delmarva Power's April 2024 rate increase request approval.
General counsel for Energize Delaware Frank Murphy told stakeholders Chesapeake Gas is requesting a revenue increase of over $12 million and a requested rate of return of around 10%.
“That level of increase is opposed substantially by the commission staff and the Division of the Public Advocate, and I can tell you that any ultimate rate increase is going to be much smaller than what they request," Murphy told the group.
While those negotiations are ongoing, State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown) has introduced legislation to raise the standard of approval necessary when utility companies ask for rate increases, cap Delmarva Power’s recoverable annual capital expenses and require the disclosure of votes cast at meetings of the PJM Interconnection.
Those proposals are in addition to State Rep. Debra Heffernan's (D-Bellefonte) bill to create the Delaware Energy Fund, which if passed would provide financial assistance to low and moderate income families facing rising energy costs.
The group spoke in length around the need to better diversify Delaware's energy portfolio, which included discussions around State Sen. Bryant Richardson's (R-Seaford) resolution to create the Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force.
Sen. Hansen said she has offered to be a co-sponsor of the resolution, noting Delaware's energy reliability is becoming more dire by the day.
“We have to get past some of the folklore and boogeymen associated with the different energy types and look closely at all of them and find out what is going to work for us here in this mix. So this just says we're going to look at nuclear energy and we're gonna come to some recommendations," Hansen explained.
As of 2023, PJM reports 65% of Delaware’s total existing energy capacity is provided by natural gas, while 21% comes from oil, 13% comes from coal and 1% comes from solar.
Although Delaware has a legislative goal of 40% of its energy being sourced renewably by 2035, major solar projects and a large-scale offshore wind project are currently facing permitting challenges.
As the First State continues to import more energy than it exports with the lowest number of queued energy projects in the region, Hansen says no energy options can be left off the table.
Several of the proposed bills expect to have their first hearing in the next two weeks.
