Iowa’s 2025 legislative session has the opportunity to address several key policies that impact energy customers across Iowa. CEDI provides downloadable one-page BRIEFS on each topic (below). Please share widely.
Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) – DOWNLOAD BRIEF (PDF)
Integrated Resource Planning (covering power generation and transmission) and Integrated Distribution Planning (covering the distribution system) should be legislatively required of lowa’s investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs), Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy. IRP was the central recommendation of a 2023 study commissioned by the Iowa Legislatures and performed by London Economics International. The final report of this study named IRP as one of the most important reforms to Iowa ratemaking to assist regulators in ensuring ratepayers are getting affordable energy and a reliable grid.
Renewable Energy Siting Reform – DOWNLOAD BRIEF (PDF)
County level ordinances effectively blocking utility scale renewable projects are putting Iowa on the road to becoming a failed solar state, in stark contrast to our wind legacy. Property rights matter: wind and solar leases are voluntary, they are lucrative, and landowners have rights to use their land to site renewable energy projects. Community prosperity and resilience will be increased through the placement of energy resources on the distribution grid, especially when these resources are locally owned and managed, such as by rural electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities. READ MORE about how Linn County, Iowa, successfully addressed siting policy.
Rate-Payer Funded Energy Efficiency Program Reform – DOWNLOAD BRIEF (PDF)
The Iowa Legislature’s own commissioned study (2023) called for energy efficiency program reform as a priority. Reforms should create a stakeholder- (not utility-) driven process for program development, providing ratepayers, communities, the Office of Consumer Advocate, and the Iowa Utilities Commission stronger roles for innovation, and defining program management and implementation options.
Additional Energy Issues within the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session – DOWNLOAD BRIEF (PDF)
-
Transmission Reform: Right of First Refusal (ROFR)
-
Virtual Net Metering/Community Solar
-
Building Energy Codes Implementation
-
Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)