Legislation Quick Search
03/28/2024 03:41 PM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=26003
Share:
Home / House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Subscribe to PaLegis Notifications
NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search


House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: June 8, 2018 03:08 PM
From: Representative Frank A. Farry and Rep. John T. Galloway
To: All House members
Subject: Waste-To-Energy Facility Surplus Electricity Sales
 
We will shortly be introducing bipartisan legislation to amend the Municipal Authority Section of Title 53 PA Consolidated Statutes to enable waste-to-energy facilities in public/private partnerships with local communities and authorities to sell the surplus electricity they generate to their local electric utility at the default service commodity rate (price to compare).

This change would provide much-needed financial support to these public/private partnerships that were significantly affected by changes in public policy since they were originally built.

There are six waste-to-energy facilities in the state serving 2.9 million Pennsylvanians that safely dispose of about 36 percent of the municipal waste in the state, and they generate 1,623 MWHs of renewable electricity at the same time. They are located in Bucks, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery, and York counties.

These facilities are all public/private partnerships serving municipal authorities and local communities to provide a vital service to the public. To be economically viable, they depend primarily on revenue from waste tipping fees, the sale of electricity, and to a lesser extent from the sale of recyclable metals.

The original development of these facilities was stimulated by a federal policy requiring local utilities to enter into long-term power purchase agreements for the electricity they generated at these small power plants. Unfortunately, this policy no longer requires these agreements and leaves these facilities struggling financially. And, the 1,623 MWHs of electricity they generate is only a tiny portion of the 215 million MWHs of electricity generated in Pennsylvania.

Our legislation would offer a solution to this problem by having the local electric utility purchase their surplus electricity at the default service commodity rate thereby providing added financial stability for these partnerships.

Please join us in cosponsoring this legislation. Thank you for your consideration.



Introduced as HB2637