DEMEC Visits Federal Delegation at APPA Legislative Rally
APPA held their annual Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C. earlier this week (Feb. 25-27th). The annual Rally is an opportunity for public power utility representatives to get together and learn more about legislative issues affecting the industry and share firsthand insights with federal lawmakers and their staff.
Pat McCullar, Kimberly Schlichting, and Heather Contant attended the Rally on behalf of DEMEC and its member communities to raise awareness about issues affecting local communities in Delaware with Delaware’s federal representation. During our time in D.C. we were able to meet with Senator Tom Carper and his staff, as well as with a staff member for Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester.
In these meetings we discussed DEMEC’s concerns about increasing transmission costs and the potential state RPS changes that are expected to be introduced. As members of their respective chambers’ energy committees, we left them with a few asks: to reach out to FERC and PJM on increasing transparency for transmission costs, making sure that any congressional hearings on the Federal Power Act includes transmission costs and consumer impacts, and helping us with our RPS change concerns prior to any legislation being formally introduced. We made sure they knew our commitment to providing reliable and responsible energy at the lowest possible cost, and that these two topics of concern impact all Delaware customers, their constituents.
We received favorable responses from our meetings and look forward to working with our federal representation as we move forward on these issues.