About this Report:
Decades of experience indicate that prescient planning on the part of regulators, utilities and stakeholders helps to deliver reliable energy service at a fair price. Early, routine planning that engages stakeholders in a transparent manner can enable consideration of the greatest variety of options to allow for a reliable, efficient and equitable system achieved at lower cost. By contrast, planning that happens ad hoc or out of the public view usually allows for fewer options and may respond only to short-term needs with familiar options, rather than improving the system overall with openness to innovation. As a result, such planning often results in higher short- and long-term costs.
Integrated resource planning is a long-term strategy that electric utilities use to meet their customers’ needs for reliable and fairly priced energy services. The plan identifies how a utility will meet its customers’ demand for electricity at the lowest cost, typically using a mix of supply-side resources (generation, transmission and distribution), demand-side resources (demand response and energy efficiency) and storage.
To do this, the plan makes many assumptions about the future.
Integrated resource plans (IRPs) are important because they help utilities and their regulators make better investment decisions that are aligned with their state’s policy goals. They also help utilities and their regulators analyze future uncertainties and make robust plans for electric system infrastructure.
This toolkit provides an overview of IRP statutes and regulations drawn from Midwestern and other selected states that have IRP requirements. It is based on research and discussions with current and former regulatory commission staff.
The provisions presented here offer options for legislative language, drawing on example text from selected states, as well as analysis on conditions where these options may or may not be appropriate. Importantly, IRP provisions may be included either in statute or in regulation, as discussed in the toolkit.
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