T&D World Minute with Rick Bush: States of the Union

Jan. 11, 2018
In just this one quarter, 12 states plus DC took 25 actions to reform rate designs, regulatory structures, or utility business models.

Our Technology Writer, Gene Wolf, forwarded me the “50 States of Grid Modernization," a quarterly update produced by the North Carolina Clean Energy Center. I am looking at the third quarter, 2017 issue. In just this one quarter, 12 states plus DC took 25 actions to reform rate designs, regulatory structures, or utility business models. Eight states took action on time-varying rates. And seven states and DC considered reforming utility business models. That is a lot of activity at the state level.

A scan through individual state actions revealed that: The California legislature enacted a bill requiring utilities to consider the role of DERs and energy storage to meet peak demand needs as part of their integrated resource planning processes. Specifically, the bill states that existing renewables, grid operational efficiencies, energy storage, and DERs (including efficiency) should be evaluated.

The Connecticut department of energy and environmental protection recommended that the state’s public utilities regulatory authorities look to address non-wires alternatives, time varying rates, dynamic pricing and energy storage. There is a lot in this document that will help utilities and their supplier partners find their way in an industry that is increasingly in flux. This has been a T&D Minute

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