Support of a Reasonable Transition to Cleaner Sources of Energy for South Bend

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8. Provide public, specific, measurable, and time -bound goals for demand -side management and renewable energy programs and report to customers on the progress of these programs. 9. Continue to evaluate strategies to transition away from coal generation, and provide additional, deeper analyses of rate impacts of investing ratepayer funds in additional pollution control equipment vs investing in demand -side management, distributed generation, and accompanying smart-grid upgrades. 10. Evaluate introduction of tariffs that incentivize a wider variety of energy choices, such as customer -owned distributed generation, geothermal systems, electric vehicle charging, energy - efficient street lighting, and peak load shifting. 11. Continue to engage South Bend stakeholders and customers in planning processes and make processes and results transparent to and accessible by customers and local policy- makers. Section II. The Council encourages the State, including the Indiana General Assembly, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, and the Indiana Office of Energy Development -- to consider the following policies and opportunities: 1. Provide financial, technical, and logistical support for Hoosiers, especially those with low or fixed incomes, to weatherize homes and businesses and install energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies 2. Evaluate and implement legislation and regulation that cost - effectively empowers utilities and their customers to finance and install clean energy technologies, such as property- assessed clean energy, virtual net metering, renewable portfolio standards, aggressive building codes, tax credits, and programs that drive efficiency such as high - performance building standards and incentives and state- wide support of federal initiatives such as ENERGY STAR or SunShot, 3. Apply rigorous evaluation and, when appropriate, quantitative targets to utility - provided integrated resource and efficiency plans and rate cases to ensure they protect the economic and environmental well -being of communities served in both the near -term and the long -term. 4. Drive job creation in the clean energy industry with programs that support existing businesses, support new businesses, and train potential employees, based on successful programs across the country. 5. Develop or support economic development and job training opportunities in conjunction with local governments and electric utilities to assist Indiana workers and communities who are affected by coal plant retirements. This Council will continue to follow energy issues at the state, local, and utility levels, seeking the best opportunities for our constituents in South Bend. Fi