POWER Interfaith proposes the ‘People’s Energy Plan,’ pushing Peco to use more renewable energy

Few disagree that Peco supplying electricity using 100% renewable energy is a divine goal. But the devil is in the clean energy transition details.

POWER Interfaith, the Philadelphia-area/ faith-based community organizing network, will unveil a People’s Energy Plan at a rally on the north steps of City Hall on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. It is part of the nonprofit’s push to get Peco to move away from its dependence on fossil fuels.

“You can’t leap to meeting a final goal. It’s a transition process,” said Rabbi Julie Greenberg, POWER’s director of climate justice and jobs, but she said Peco has not taken a leadership role in increasing the use of renewables.

Because POWER wants Peco to purchase more clean energy, such as wind or solar, for resale to its 1.6 million electricity customers, it is also targeting the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the state regulatory agency, which every four years has to approve Peco’s energy purchasing plans

Peco’s 2024 procurement plan is due for state approval next year.

In order to purchase renewable energy, the company has to move from utilizing short-term contracts, which favor oil, gas and oil companies, to entering into long-term contacts, which renewable energy companies prefer. Peco has said it is required by the PUC to buy the least costly energy, a move that favors fossil fuel.

POWER now wants the PUC to more aggressively encourage Peco’s use of long-term contracts and it is pressing for stakeholders to have a seat at Peco’s procurement decision-making table.

Energy experts report that clean-energy transition efforts are costly, which brings financing challenges, and that there are significant technological concerns about increasing reliability.

“We are concerned that Peco and state government are tied to fossil fuel,” said Wendy Greenspan, POWER volunteer and member leader of its climate justice and jobs group. “Only 0.5 percent of our electricity comes from solar. And everyday you can see the impact” of climate change.

Peco has reported that it is already on a “Path to Clean” with plans to reduce its operations-driven emissions by half by 2030. Using electric vehicles, replacing aging, less-efficient equipment, and partnering on clean-energy initiatives with local communities are methods the company is using to reach its goal.

“Peco will say that it already does so much good for the community,” Greenspan said. She said, however, that efforts such as handing out box fans to seniors is not the level of commitment on climate change that POWER is seeking from one of the country’s oldest and largest utility companies.

“A lot of states have gone beyond what our PUC regulates,” Greenspan said. According to the Clean Energy States Alliance, Pennsylvania is not included among the 22 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which currently have 100% clean-energy goals.

POWER also wants the clean energy to remain affordable. Low-income households currently spend 3.5 times more of their income on their energy costs than higher income households.

Clean energy is also a health equity issue. In its 2022 People’s Energy Summit toolkit, POWER wrote, the most vulnerable residents of Pennsylvania live with toxic residue of fossil fuel extraction oil refineries, plastic plants, ash heals.

“The cumulative impact of toxic health hazards, added to poverty, racism, and unemployment, further disadvantages people already targeted by multiple burdens.”

Exactly how to provide clean energy that’s affordable and reduces the health burden on low income communities are just two of the many details that will have to be worked out.

“The People’s Energy Plan is a process to engage the PUC and Peco and also a pathway toward specific things we can do right now,” said Greenberg adding, “Peco has failed in the past but it has another chance with the next energy procurement [process]. It’s the next opportunity to get it right. All people need affordable, clean energy.”