The bill seeks to modernize Washington's Energy Independence Act by reducing regulatory duplication and aligning it with the Clean Energy Transformation Act. It aims to eliminate overlapping generation requirements while preserving the conservation elements of the existing law. Key amendments include the removal of specific generation obligations for utilities, such as the requirement to obtain a certain percentage of electricity from renewable resources by set deadlines. Instead, the focus will shift to requiring utilities to pursue cost-effective energy conservation. The bill also introduces provisions for the Department of Energy to provide advisory opinions on conservation resources, ensuring that utilities can effectively meet their conservation targets.

Additionally, the bill establishes new compliance criteria for emissions reductions from energy transformation projects, emphasizing that reductions must be real, specific, and verifiable. It outlines penalties for noncompliance with energy conservation targets, requiring utilities that fail to meet these targets to incur a $50 penalty for each megawatt-hour of shortfall, with annual inflation adjustments. The bill also allows multistate electric utilities with fewer than 250,000 customers in Washington to apply credits for eliminated coal-fired resources as equivalent to nonemitting electric generation, contingent upon demonstrating real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The act is set to take effect on January 1, 2030.

Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 19.285.010, 19.285.020, 19.285.040, 19.285.045, 19.285.060, 19.285.070, 19.285.080, 19.29A.060, 19.405.040