Keep the Lights On, Costs Down

With a Maximum Generation Emergency warning issued this week amid extreme heat and a warning of mounting strain on the regional electric grid, House Republicans unveiled a comprehensive 10-bill legislative package designed to keep the lights on, lower electricity costs, expand reliable baseload generation and cement Pennsylvania’s role as America's energy leader.

The unveiling of this package of bills comes on the heels of the House of Representatives passing House Bill 2224, which is included in the package and would eliminate the Gross Receipts Tax on electric utility service.

Additional bills in the package would:

• Establish a one-year timeline for environmental permit appeals.

• Create a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Permit Ombudsman to assist applicants and improve permitting efficiency.

• Modernize Environmental Hearing Board appeals to focus on the administrative record developed during permitting.

• Eliminate the DEP regulatory petition process that allows outside organizations to initiate new regulations.

• Align state environmental permitting standards with applicable federal standards.

• Protect Pennsylvania ratepayers from subsidizing electric transmission costs driven by other states through a Pennsylvania-first grid reliability approach.

• Replace the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards with a Reliable Energy Portfolio Standard that prioritizes dependable, dispatchable generation.

• Protect consumer energy choice through a uniform statewide policy that preserves access to a variety of energy sources.

• Ensure projects with valid DEP permits are not unnecessarily stalled while permit appeals are pending.