We are in the last week of the 2025 Utah Legislative Session. I’ll confess—this one has been especially tough. While we are proud to have passed an important bill to support grid-enhancing technologies, HB 212-Advanced Transmission Technologies, there have been far too many proposals that sought to tilt the playing field against renewable energy. Thanks to your efforts, along with the hard work of the clean energy industry and our team, many of the most problematic bills were significantly improved. But the message is clear: our legislature doesn’t yet value the tremendous solar resources we have. There is work to do to demonstrate that our state won’t achieve either its energy goals or its environmental stewardship goals if it’s leaving our clean, cheap, and homegrown resources as a junior partner in the energy transition.
There are a lot of electricity and energy bills still awaiting action now with just 4 more working days to go. Here is a short list of what Utah Clean Energy is watching most closely in the last week.
- HB 378 (S01)-Department of Natural Resources Funding Amendments (S01) by Representative Casey Snider. That bill would place a new $2,100 per megawatt (MW) tax on wind and solar projects operating in Utah (both existing and new). This is too high and would be disruptive for existing projects. We fully expect that a new substitute will emerge that would lower the fees and potentially put a sunset on the tax. We expect it to be in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee this week.
- SB 132 (S02)-Electricity Supply Amendments by Senator Scott Sandall and Representative Colin Jack. This is a substantial bill that seeks to allow large new electricity loads of above 100 megawatts (MW) to procure new electricity supplies outside of the traditional Rocky Mountain Power process. The 2nd substitute is an improvement over the first version of the bill, as it is now truly resource neutral (rather than tilted against renewables). The aim is to allow new customers, like potential data centers, to procure their energy needs. The bill passed out of the Senate and now moves to the House. We anticipate this passing in some way shape or form, but it may change a bit more before Friday.
- HB 241 (S02)-Solar Power Plant Amendments by Representative Colin Jack and Senator David Hinkins. The original version of this bill would have hampered future solar development in Utah. The bill changed significantly in its first substitute and is moving through the House. We still do not believe that this bill is helpful or necessary, but it has improved substantially. It is awaiting a final vote in the Senate.
- HB 70-Decommissioned Asset Disposition Amendments by Representative Neil Walter and Senator Derrin Owens. This bill relates to the future of the Intermountain Power Plant coal-fired power plant units. The state legislature is trying to find ways to continue to operate one or more of the coal units as IPA transitions away from coal to gas and hydrogen to serve the needs of its customers (primarily LADWP). The 2nd substitute is a major change, as it now puts a new 5-member “Utah Energy Council” in charge of determining the future of the IPP coal units, including selecting and overseeing a potential new operator of the units. This will be in the Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee today at 4pm.
- HB 412 (S01)-Boards and Commissions Amendments by Representative Jefferson Burton and Senator Calvin Musselman. This bill would remove the political balancing requirement for a range of boards and commissions. We are supportive of the 2nd substitute, not yet adopted, which would preserve political balance for the Public Service Commission.
All of the bills we are actively tracking can be seen here.
We would like to clarify that Utah Clean Energy is not a solar company. We are a nonprofit organization that advocates for solar and other clean energy technologies, but we do not install or sell solar in any way.