Knowledge Center
We believe that sharing our expertise and collaborations in clean energy policy is how real, effective change happens.
From reports and policy briefs, to webinars and podcasts—RAP advisors have built an extensive collection of resources providing in-depth analysis and practical solutions to today’s energy challenges.
Filter >>
Content Filter:
Electrification of vehicles, appliances, and machines that are currently powered by fossil fuels offers environmental gains, new new business opportunities for power providers, may ease management of the electricity grid, and can save utilities and consumers money. No wonder the term… View Summary +
Under traditional regulation, utilities make more money when they sell more energy. Yet this reality is at odds with explicit public policy objectives that utility and environmental regulators are charged with achieving, including economic efficiency and environmental protection. Many utility-sector… View Summary +
In this webinar, Keith Dennis of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), along with Ken Colburn and Jim Lazar of RAP, explore environmentally beneficial electrification—the electrification of energy end uses, such as space heating, water heating, and transportation. With… View Summary +
In a webinar for the Utah Public Service Commission, Jim Lazar, John Shenot, and Richard Sedano explore the intricacies of time-of-use rates. View Summary +
In a RAP webinar held on September 22, 2016, Jim Lazar of RAP and Dr. Thomas Vitolo of Synapse Energy Economics delve into questions surrounding the value of solar, including an examination of the relative merits of various… View Summary +
It is time for jurisdictions serious about moving to a new utility model to transition from a rate-of-return structure to direct performance regulation. It will help utilities move to cleaner energy, energy efficiency, and their corollaries: customer-friendly and… View Summary +
Mounting research suggests that aggressive electrification of energy end uses—such as space heating, water heating, and transportation—is needed if the United States and the world are to achieve ambitious emissions reduction goals for carbon dioxide. This concept, the electrification of… View Summary +
The National Academy of Engineering designated electrification as the 20th century’s greatest engineering achievement, beating the automobile, computers, and spacecraft. This conclusion is hardly surprising when one considers the intricate web of wires that connects every… View Summary +
Technological changes in the electric utility industry bring tremendous opportunities and can also create significant challenges. Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and smart appliances and control systems that communicate with the grid can improve system reliability, enable a cleaner and… View Summary +
In the 2014 paper “Teaching the Duck to Fly,” Jim Lazar set out ten strategies for aligning loads and resources to make the load curve easier to serve. Starting with the so-called “duck curve” published by the California Independent System… View Summary +
Jim Lazar confirms that electric grid managers and utilities can integrate high quantities of variable renewable energy, like solar and wind power, and dramatically reduce carbon emissions by using several existing, and dependable market-proven strategies and technologies in this update… View Summary +
Studies show that creative rate design can achieve up to a 35 percent reduction in customer usage during critical peak hours, and up to a 15 percent difference in total consumption over the course of a year. Demand charges have… View Summary +
Jim Lazar makes the case against straight fixed/variable rate design, in which all costs claimed to be fixed are recovered in a monthly charge, and only those considered variable are recovered on a per kilowatt-hour basis. This approach stabilizes utility… View Summary +
This brief paper reviews rate design approaches used by vertically integrated utilities. Jim Lazar discusses elements common to vertically integrated utilities across the U.S., including the establishment of customer classes, seasonal and time-of-use rates, inclining block rates, critical peak pricing… View Summary +
This brief paper outlines standard approaches to utility cost allocation and explores how decisions made by regulators affect eventual rate designs (i.e., how a utility’s revenue requirement is apportioned among customer classes). Jim Lazar provides an overview of different approaches… View Summary +