Efficiency proved to be Mitch Daniels’ prevailing characteristic as Indiana governor. His fiscal track record — which vaulted Daniels’ name to the top of Republican wish lists for the party’s 2012 presidential nominee — featured budget cuts, creative financing and careful use of public dollars.
With that reputation, Daniels’ administration launched the Energizing Indiana program in 2012. The plan offered incentives to Hoosier homeowners and employers to improve the energy efficiency of their houses, businesses and schools. The program helped low-income residents weatherize their homes, guided utility companies to perform home-energy usage audits for Hoosiers, and allowed rebates for the installation of efficient appliances.
In March, the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill to end the program. Gov. Mike Pence let the Energizing Indiana-killing legislation become law, though he chose not to sign the bill. Pence expressed “disappointment” that the Legislature stopped a “worthwhile energy efficiency program” without offering a viable alternative. The governor could have vetoed the bill, but his own party’s super majority would have easily overridden him.
Pence held his own objections to the program. If his veto held up, Energizing Indiana — Pence said in his statement last March — would have increased Hoosiers’ energy bills and made “Indiana less competitive by denying relief to large energy consumers, including our manufacturing base.”
A summer legislative study committee received a report on the results of Daniels’ short-lived energy-saving effort. The Energy Center of Wisconsin performed the analysis for the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and concluded that Energizing Indiana was a success. Each dollar invested yielded more than $3 in benefits overall. The pluses for commercial applications were even greater, with more than a $5 benefit for every $1 invested.
If Daniels’ program was working, the obvious question is why would legislators kill it, especially so soon?
Jim Merritt, the Republican state senator from Indianapolis who authored the program-ending law, told Indiana Public Media that the costs of implementing Energizing Indiana would continue to increase, while benefits would be harder to come by. Not everyone concurs with that outlook, though. Regulatory Commissioner David Ziegner pointed to the analysis of Energizing Indiana, which projected that in 2019, the state would spend $500 million on the program but create more than $900 million in benefits, according to the Indiana Public Media report. For customers, their bills would decrease as usage decreased, Ziegner added.
Merritt favors the creation of a new program, crafted by utilities, the Pence administration and the public — “something for everyone and [which] also is achievable.” Despite the Wisconsin agency’s stamp of approval on Daniels’ program, lawmakers insist they were right in killing it and, thus, opening the door for a better energy efficiency plan.
That is a tall order.