Let Your Senator(s) Know That You Support the Affordable Heat Act (S.5)

After weeks of testimony, the Affordable Heat Act (S.5) advanced out of the Vermont Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee on a 5-0 vote. The bill next heads to the Appropriations Committee before coming to the full Senate for a vote. This legislation is the culmination of years of work and analysis, and represents a key pillar of the state’s adopted Climate Action Plan. It is also a top priority for VNRC and VCV, as it will provide Vermont a path for a just and affordable transition off of polluting fossil fuels.

Please click here to sign our petition. We’ll hand deliver it to your Senator(s) to let them know that you support bold climate action, and that you want the Senate to advance the Affordable Heat Act. 

If enacted, this policy will begin to disentangle Vermonters from their dependence on expensive, price-volatile, and polluting fossil fuels. Instead, it would require the fossil fuel heating industry to offer Vermonters cleaner options – so when people go to replace their oil furnace, for example, they are offered more affordable heat pumps, weatherization services, or advanced wood heat options.

Opponents of the bill are spreading misinformation and fear, but we need to step up to act on the climate crisis. Sticking with the status quo is hurting the environment, draining our bank accounts, and harming our health. We need your help to cut through the confusion and misinformation and urge your legislators to support the Affordable Heat Act, which will:

• Create a blueprint for a sector-wide clean energy transition for fossil fuel heating providers, requiring them to provide their customers more choices and help them stay warm with increasingly affordable, cleaner heat;
• Prioritize clean heat services for lower- and middle-income and energy-burdened Vermonters, and build on over $160 million available to Vermonters for weatherization and electrification;
• Help build an equitable and affordable transition to a local, clean energy economy by keeping dollars spent on energy here in Vermont – and move away from the inequitable and harmful status quo of relying on dirty, 100% imported fossil fuels.
• Finally, make meaningful, long-overdue climate progress in line with IPCC-established greenhouse gas reduction targets that relies on a full lifecycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and requires declining carbon intensity of heating sources offered to Vermonters.

Please click here to sign our petition in support of the Affordable Heat Act. It’s critical that we push for a strong vote in the Senate to show that we are able and willing to take the ambitious actions outlined in our Climate Action Plan.