Letter supporting H.R. 4017, the “Smart Energy Act”

The Honorable Charles Bass
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Bass:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region, supports H.R. 4017, the “Smart Energy Act,” which would leverage the power of the private sector to create jobs and make the federal government more energy efficient.

The highlight of H.R. 4017 is a provision that would require federal agencies to use Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to accomplish energy efficient retrofits of federal buildings. ESPCs are long-term contracts under which a private Energy Services Company (ESCO) designs, acquires, installs, and finances energy and/or water conservation measures for an existing federally-owned building, and is repaid by the agency from the resulting energy, water, and related cost savings. ESPCs are an existing, statutorily-established program of public-private partnerships between federal agencies and ESCOs that put the best that the private sector has to offer to work in improving federal energy performance. The energy savings are guaranteed by the ESCO and no upfront capital costs are required from the agency.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates that simply carrying out the existing $80 billion ESPC program could result in $21 billion in net savings to the U.S. government, create more than 40,000 new jobs annually for a decade and accomplish the energy savings equivalent of 1.2 billion barrels of oil. Yet, despite the ESPC program’s obvious benefits, federal agencies have been slow to use ESPCs to make their buildings more efficient. H.R. 4017 would solve this problem, creating jobs and saving energy without using a penny of taxpayer money.

H.R. 4017 would also direct the federal government to participate in energy-saving Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs) and demand response programs; expand an existing federal loan program to allow qualifying businesses to make low-risk energy-efficiency upgrades in commercial, multifamily residential, industrial, municipal, government, school, and hospital buildings; and require research, coordination and reporting on energy use by federal agencies to make government a smarter consumer of energy.

The Chamber applauds your leadership on this issue and looks forward to working with you to enact this legislation.

Sincerely,

R. Bruce Josten

cc: The Honorable John Barrow
The Honorable Robert Dold
The Honorable Michael Fitzpatrick
The Honorable Jim Matheson
The Honorable Peter Welch