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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 1, 2021
It’s Time to Consider the (Non-Pipeline) Alternatives
For many years, the topic of regulation of gas distribution utilities has been far from the limelight and has not received the kind of attention that electric utility regulation attracts. But there are an increasing number of reasons to take… View Summary +

December 21, 2021
The Complex Landscape of Net Metering Reform in California: Why an Installed Capacity Charge?
Rooftop solar in California has grown from an infant industry two decades ago to a 10-gigawatt resource that contributes significantly to customer and electric system needs today. The state is blessed with ample sunshine in many regions, and its urgency… View Summary +

January 31, 2022
The Complex Landscape of Net Metering Reform in California: Ensuring A Smart TOU Rate Foundation
California, long a leader in rooftop solar, is now wrestling with the complications — as illustrated by the current debate over the California Public Utility Commission’s proposed decision on “net energy metering 3.0,” released last month. Before the end of… View Summary +

May 24, 2022
A Song in the Key of E: Emissions, Efficiency, Equity, and Electrification
- Frederick Weston
A lot of folks out there (including we at RAP) have, for the last four decades, been devising ways to make utilities more economically efficient, their customers more energy-efficient, and the power system cleaner, sustainable, more equitable, and non-emitting. But… View Summary +

November 3, 2016
Retooling Regulation: a Closer Look at Integrating Energy and Environmental Policy
- Christopher James ,
- Ken Colburn
Part one of this series described why it is increasingly necessary to integrate energy and environmental planning and introduced one way to do so, the E-Merge approach. Improvements in public health science, detection technologies, and modeling over the last… View Summary +

September 13, 2017
For Climate Progress, Solutions Sprout from Cities, States
- Christopher James
At this past summer’s meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), I served on a panel of experts discussing what might happen to America’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the wake of the Trump administration’s… View Summary +

July 11, 2017
There’s Far More Opportunity Than Crisis in California Renewables Curtailment
- Jim Lazar
California curtailed renewables this spring. This sets off alarm bells in some quarters because it suggests that solar and wind are overbuilt and present a big challenge to the grid. The concerns, however, are misplaced, and solutions are… View Summary +

February 24, 2021
RGGI’s Program Review Offers a Chance to Revisit Local Air Quality Needs
While there is substantial evidence that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has been very successful at reducing carbon and other emissions across the multi-state region, there is still important work to be done to document and ensure air… View Summary +

April 18, 2015
Do Pay-for-Performance Capacity Markets Deliver the Grid Resiliency Outcomes We Need?
- Michael Hogan ,
- Michael O’Boyle ,
- Sonia Aggarwal
Competitive wholesale power markets are designed to sustain needed investment through market participants hedging risks in response to transparent pricing in the energy and ancillary services markets. But in practice, it’s been a challenge to realize market prices fully reflective… View Summary +