Pennsylvania PUC Proposes Policy Statement on Combined Heat and Power

March 7, 2016

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has proposed a policy statement related to related to increasing development and use combined heat and power (CHP) technology.

CHP is a form of distributed energy, located at or near a building or facility, which provides at least a portion of the electrical load and uses thermal energy for space heating or cooling, process heating or cooling, refrigeration or dehumidification.

The policy statement is intended to:

• Promote CHP investments;
• Encourage electric distribution companies (EDCs) and natural gas distribution companies (NGDCs) to make CHP an integral part of their energy efficiency and resiliency plans, as well as their marketing and outreach efforts;
• Encourage these companies to design tariffs relating to interconnection and standby rates for owners and operators of CHP facilities; and
• Promote the consideration of special natural gas rates for owners and operators of CHP facilities.

The adoption of this policy follows: (a) two en banc hearings on CHP in 2014 that identified benefits of, and barriers to, increased use of CHP; and (b) the signing by the PUC (in early 2016) of a partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Better Buildings Initiative related the CHP Accelerator program. That program was launched by DOE to support and expand the consideration of CHP solutions by states, communities and utilities for their infrastructure needs.

The full text of the policy statement can be found at this link: https://www.puc.pa.gov//pcdocs/1418181.pdf.

The PUC will be issuing a Tentative Order, which will also contain the full text of the policy statement. The Tentative Order will prompt a 45 day comment period from the date of its publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, followed by a 25 day reply comment period.

If you have any questions, please contact Carl Shultz at (717) 255-3742 – cshultz@eckertseamans.com – or Dan Clearfield at (717) 237-7173 – dclearfield@eckertseamans.com.

This Eckert Seamans Energy and Utilities Blog is intended to keep readers current on matters affecting businesses and is not intended to be legal advice.

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