§ 8004 — Sales of electric energy; Renewable Energy Standard (RES)

(a) Establishment; requirements. The RES is established. Under this program, a retail electricity provider shall not sell or otherwise provide or offer to sell or provide electricity in the State of Vermont without ownership of sufficient energy produced by renewable energy plants or sufficient tradeable renewable energy credits from plants whose energy is capable of delivery in New England that reflect the required amounts of renewable energy set forth in section 8005 of this title or without support of energy transformation projects in accordance with that section. A retail electricity provider may meet the required amounts of renewable energy through eligible tradeable renewable energy credits that it owns and retires, eligible renewable energy resources with environmental attributes still attached, or a combination of those credits and resources.
(b) Rules. The Commission shall adopt the rules that are necessary to allow the Commission and the Department to implement and supervise further the implementation and maintenance of the RES.
(c) RECS; banking. The Commission shall allow a provider that has met the required amount of renewable energy in a given year, commencing with 2017, to retain tradeable renewable energy credits created or purchased in excess of that amount for application to the provider’s required amount of renewable energy in one of the following three years.
(d) Alternative compliance payment. In lieu of purchasing renewable energy or tradeable renewable energy credits or supporting energy transformation projects to satisfy the requirements of this section and section 8005 of this title, a retail electricity provider in this State may pay to the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund established under section 8015 of this title an alternative compliance payment at the applicable rate set forth in section 8005. The administrator of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund shall use the payment from a retail electricity provider electing to make an alternative compliance payment to satisfy its obligations under subdivisions 8005(a)(1), 8005(a)(2), 8005(a)(4), and 8005(a)(5) of this title for the development of renewable energy plants that are intended to serve and benefit customers with low income of the retail electricity provider that has made the payment. Such plants shall be located within the provider’s service territory, if feasible. In the event that such a payment is insufficient to enable the development of a renewable energy plant, the administrator may use the payment for other initiatives allowed under section 8015 of this title that will benefit customers with low income of the retail electricity provider that has made the payment. As used in this subsection (d), “customer with low income” means a person purchasing energy from a retail electricity provider and with an income that is less than or equal to 80 percent of area median income, adjusted for family size, as published annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(e) VPPSA members. In the case of members of the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, the requirements of this chapter may be met in the aggregate.
(f) Joint efforts. Retail electricity providers may engage in joint efforts to meet one or more categories within the RES. (Added 2003, No. 69, § 1, eff. June 17, 2003; amended 2005, No. 61, § 3; 2005, No. 208 (Adj. Sess.), § 14; 2007, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 21; 2009, No. 45, § 3, eff. May 27, 2009; 2011, No. 47, §§ 18, 20m(a); 2015, No. 56, § 2; 2023, No. 179 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. July 1, 2024.)