MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermonters will be able to lock in pre-buy deals on heating oil in the coming months now that state regulators have assured fuels dealers that a new clean heat fee won’t go into effect until 2026.
The Vermont Public Utility Commission is designing the Clean Heat Standard approved by lawmakers last year that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by making it more expensive to heat with fossil fuels. The PUC says the new fees will take an additional year to kick in and won’t affect prices this winter.
“While many Vermonters will be able to continue business as usual and lock in a pre-buy or a guaranteed price contact this summer for the following winter, we don’t know what the next winter after that will bring,” said Matt Cota with the Vermont Fuel Dealers Assoc.
He says the PUC has not yet determined what the clean heat fee will be or whether state lawmakers will vote to implement the clean heat standard in the next session.
The Clean Heat Standard is seen as the main way to meet the state’s carbon reduction targets under the Global Warming Solutions Act.