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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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January 25, 2021
Why Rate Design in New England Needs a Refresh
- David Littell ,
- Donna Brutkoski
Looking ahead to 2030 and then beyond to 2050, the majority of New England states have set ambitious clean energy goals. The growing adoption of new technology empowers energy customers to play a direct role in making these goals happen… View Summary +
November 12, 2020
Choose Your Own Road Trip: A Toolkit for Transportation Electrification
Electrification of the transportation sector provides an opportunity for states to save citizens money on fuel, improve the local economy, address national security concerns, improve public health and combat climate change. Some of these attributes have more urgency than ever,… View Summary +
October 26, 2020
Revisiting the Public Good, Part 2: What Do We Mean by “Good”?
Simple terms can provide a useful framework and help us understand complex things. Raising children, for example, is a highly involved, lengthy and expensive undertaking, but can be reduced to a couple of words: You want your kids to grow… View Summary +
October 23, 2020
Revisiting the Public Good, Part 1: A Better Understanding of “Public”
Ensuring the “public good” has been a central regulatory goal since the US Supreme Court decided Munn v. Illinois in 1876, a case in which the court determined that grain elevators — because of their key role in the… View Summary +
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 +