NOLA City Council meeting on Monday. Here’s what’s on the agenda.

First up on the agenda will be a presentation from Delta States Utilities on the upcoming transition to gas utility service provider. AAE was opposed to this sale and from the outset has drawn attention to the numerous potential risks to ratepayers as well as the negative effects on public health, climate mitigation, and clean energy development. Learn more about our concerns in our blog here. 

AAE will continue to advocate for measures that limit the financial burden this sale imposes on residents. We remain committed to holding Delta States Utilities and the Council accountable for minimizing bill increases and ensuring protections for vulnerable ratepayers.

The committee will consider a resolution to revise the community solar rules to fix some of the challenges with the existing rules that have slowed the growth of community solar projects in New Orleans (docket UD-18-03). 

We support Together New Orleans’ proposed revisions to the Community Solar Rules. In particular, we support changes to the application system that will enable more projects to participate and the proposed revisions to provisions concerning the signing of interconnection agreements remove barriers to development.

Most especially, we support the implementation of consolidated billing, which will simplify how customers receive and pay their energy bills when participating in community solar programs. Consolidated billing is not currently required, meaning that customers who subscribe to a community solar program would receive two bills. Implementing consolidated billing will make subscribing and realizing the benefits of solar energy more accessible to those most in need. 

This is the latest development in a multi-year effort. Read more about past developments in our previous blogs here and here. 

The committee will consider an ordinance to correct language that prohibits the installation of level 2 electric vehicle charging stations in the public right-of-way. Level 2 stations will allow faster charging along street curbs, rather than limiting charging to parking lots, driveways, and other off-street parking.   

The committee will consider an ordinance to require large building owners (20,000sf or more) to measure and submit their property’s energy use metrics to the city annually. By tracking and comparing energy performance of buildings, property owners can identify opportunities to cut energy waste and achieve average savings of 2.4% annually. 

The ordinance will also help the City evaluate energy efficiency incentives and spur investment in building improvements that lower costs, create local jobs, improve public health, and strengthen grid reliability.

20% of GHG emissions in the city are from large buildings. The City needs this benchmarking data to help track progress toward its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.  The Alliance has been supportive of benchmarking as a way to identify participants in the Energy Smart Energy Efficiency Program. The City recently released a dashboard to show benchmarking data for municipal buildings.

View the Meeting Agenda