Symington campaign releases more details on 'Efficiency Pays' plan

House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington (D-Jericho) unveiled yesterday a new proposal for Vermonters to pay for energy efficiency projects.

The House Speaker's "Efficiency Pays" system, which mirrors a similar initiative implemented in New Hampshire, would exempt consumers from up front costs and would pay a monthly charge based on their estimated savings due to the weatherization upgrades.

Symington added that banks and pension funds would provide front initial costs and said that in the other states and localities where similar programs had been enacted, participating businesses received a boost in sales and consumers did not suffer financially.

Symington said in a statement that Gov. Jim Douglas' current plan relies too heavily on loans and "would saddle Vermonters with more debt," which she said would be detrimental to Vermonters faced with rising fuel costs, employment cuts, and plateauing incomes.

"Today the administration reiterated its desire to saddle Vermonters with more debt. Given flat incomes, rising fuel costs and a lack of good jobs, this is the last thing Vermonters need," said Symington, who claimed that Douglas' had fought previous weatherization and efficiency programs. "Clearly, we need new ideas, and that is exactly what I'm offering."

The House Speaker's camp further elaborated on its proposed "Efficiency Pays" system, saying that a pension fund or bank would provide Vermonters the money to purchase a home heating appliance or other weatherization necessities, then the consumers would pay for the goods through an additional charge on their utility usage, which would be sent from the utility company to the funder. The additional charge would be less than Vermonters would save by purchasing the original appliance, and the charge would be set by an independent observer. Should the weatherization device fail to save Vermonters any money or the purchaser moved, they would not have to return the payments.