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Incisive commentary from RAP experts
RAP experts keep their finger on the pulse of the energy sector and provide timely analysis of topics impacting stakeholders TODAY.
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September 10, 2020
California’s Outages Are a Teachable Moment
Two keen observers of the power sector, Jigar Shah and Cheryl LaFleur, have noted that the responses to the rotating power outages in California on August 14 and 15 became a Rorschach test of individual preexisting biases. Before… View Summary +
August 17, 2020
With the Shift Toward Electrification, Decoupling Remains Key for Driving Decarbonization
- Rachel Gold ,
- Jessica Shipley
States across the United States are increasingly prioritizing electrification of transportation and buildings to meet their decarbonization goals. Utilities are an important driver of this investment, so it’s critical that their business incentives be aligned with the public policy goals… View Summary +
July 13, 2020
Striking the Balance in Energy Efficiency Regulation Between Utility Incentives and Customer Costs
- Janine Migden-Ostrander ,
- Martin Kushler
As Americans continue to face rising affordability challenges and struggle to pay their utility bills, consumer advocates are understandably concerned about keeping bills as low as possible. Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost resource and provides customers with the opportunity to… View Summary +
July 7, 2020
In a Time of Transition, Regulators Can Drive Cutting-Edge Cost Allocation Reform
- Jim Lazar ,
- Mark LeBel
The need for change in how we measure the cost of providing electric service by customer class is obvious to any attentive observer of the dramatic changes now underway in the electric utility industry. Electric Cost Allocation for a… View Summary +
June 19, 2020
Connecting Cities to the PUC Process
As municipal policymakers take increasingly active roles in moving their cities through the energy transition, they need to know their way around their states’ utility regulatory landscape. RAP and our partners at the Building Electrification Initiative (BEI) tackled this… View Summary +
June 18, 2020
Extra Credit: Maximizing the Benefits of Solar in Schools
- Dara Torre ,
- Janine Migden-Ostrander
While across the country America’s schools have been shuttered this spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sun continues to shine. More than 1,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity from nearly 5,500 K-12 school buildings continues to generate… View Summary +
May 13, 2020
The EV Transition Is a Challenging Journey, but State PUCs Are Taking the First Steps
RAP’s recent publication, Taking First Steps: Insights for State Utility Commissions Preparing for Electric Transportation starts with the observation that “while no one state agency has clear responsibility for it, utility commissions are taking their first steps toward understanding… View Summary +
May 5, 2020
Synchronizing the Electric Regulatory Response to COVID-19
- Jim Lazar
The COVID-19 crisis is influencing every aspect of the global economy, and electric utilities are certainly seeing significant impacts. Before utility regulators take actions to adjust revenues or rates to reflect COVID-19 impacts, it is important to identify and quantify… View Summary +
April 29, 2020
Making a Clean-Energy Future an Equitable Future
- Alice Napoleon ,
- Donna Brutkoski ,
- Nancy Seidman
Our jobs, comforts, and ability to survive all depend on something most people take for granted until it goes missing: energy. It powers our lighting, our appliances, our cell phones – our entire daily lives. We need it to search… View Summary +
April 15, 2020
Modern Marginal Cost of Service Studies
- Jim Lazar ,
- Mark LeBel
The previous blog post in this series examined embedded cost of service studies — but some states choose to look ahead, considering marginal costs. This approach stems from the economic theory that today’s consumption drives tomorrow’s costs and customer classes… View Summary +