Ensuring a stronger grid that is capable of withstanding a catastrophic event, or alternatively a grid for which outage durations can be minimized in such an event, involves several steps. First is prevention: identifying the grid’s weaknesses and how to mitigate them. Second is recovery: steps to ensure quick restoration of service after a major event. Third i...

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 stakeholders have recognized the conflicts implicit in tradition...

Many states have adopted utility decoupling, or revenue regulation, which breaks the link between electricity sales and revenues to the utility. Originally, it was conceived as a way to make utilities indifferent to annual sales volumes by addressing the net revenue volatility associated with weather, changes in local economic conditions, and energy efficiency pr...

Ever since the introduction of retail competition in the late 1990s, the traditional regulatory paradigm that guided the last century has been evolving to adapt to the emergence of new energy technologies and the consumers’ appetite to have more control over their energy usage. As happens with many new technologies, consumer adoption of rooftop photovoltaic (PV...

Utilities face unprecedented changes in the way power is generated and delivered. With the ramp-up in distributed generation, energy efficiency and demand response, electric vehicles, smart appliances, and more, the industry must rethink its rate structures to accommodate and encourage these innovations. Progressive rate design can make the difference in cost-eff...

Building on the first webinar of the series “Fundamentals of Rate Design,” Jim Lazar and Janine Migden-Ostrander introduced the finer points of cost allocation and dynamic pricing, as well as net metering and alternatives. Because cost allocation is an inexact science, regulators often conduct multiple studies, using either embedded or marginal cost methods t...

Rate design for electric utility customers is an arcane topic that matters a lot, and there is simply no one-size-fits-all approach. However, all effective rate designs reflect the costs incurred to provide reliable service throughout the year. As the first in a two-part webinar series, this session demonstrates the impacts of different rate designs on energy usa...