Industry Update from IPGA Executive Director
Well, I think we are beginning to get some spring weather in Illinois. Cool nights still have some furnaces running a little so we are still burning propane.
I want to take a few minutes to tell you what we have going on at your association recently.
I am sitting in on the Future of Gas workshops with the ICC. The 1st series of meetings are informational session that started officially this week with the last being May 20th. The first meeting had presentations from the Regulatory Assistance Project on gas utility regulation pressure, ComEd and Ameren on their energy efficiency electrification initiatives, and GTI Energy pathways and technologies to Netzero. There will be 4 other meeting in this series which will cover topics such as consumer choice, cost considerations, and propane. So far it has been a sales pitch that gas bad electric good. I will give you updates along the way. We will submit our comments to the commission at the end of this series before the end of May.
The Capitol Development Board met on Tuesday and passed the 2024 Illinois Stretch Energy Code with a vote of 6-1. This will now go to JCAR for their consideration. They were going to pass this for no other reason than they are required to have it passed along to JCAR by the end of June. I was able to make comments that created discussion with the committee about the carbon intensity of electricity being higher than propane. If they continue to push home owners to go all electric that they are creating more GHG by producing more coal generated electricity. I will keep you updated as this moves through the process.
Just a reminder Propane Days in Washington D.C. is coming up fast June 3rd-5th and if you would like to attend this year the association is once again offering to give $1500 to up to 10 members to help cover cost. This is a great opportunity to speak to our representatives about issues that are important to our industry. Registration is open on the NPGA website and if you have any questions feel free to call our office for details.
As I have sent out recently it’s the time of year that the Propane Education and Research Council sends out the Annual Sales Report. I am trying not to beat a dead horse however it is very important the we get 100% participation in Illinois this year. As of this afternoon we have 29% of our members that have completed the report. In the last few days, I have had several members that the report notice is going to the wrong person at the company and have realized that the contact information that PERC has is not the most current. With that being said if you are a member that has not yet filled out the report, I will be calling next week to make sure we have the correct contacts and urge you to get it completed by May 15th.
Don’t forget we have 2 fundraising raffles going on to raise money for our scholarship fund you can find information and purchase tickets on the ilpga.org website under Scholarship Raffles.
That’s all for now remember be safe out there.
Brad
