Time-Varying Rates: Opportunities for Reform

Although some New England utilities offer modernized rates for special applications, like electric vehicles and battery storage, there is substantial room for improvement in time-varying residential pricing. In a new policy brief, David Littell and Joni Sliger look more closely at time-varying rates offered by New England utilities and highlight promising examples from both inside and outside the region.

Revisiting the Concept of the "Public Good"

Ensuring the “public good” has been a central regulatory goal since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Munn v. Illinois in 1876. Today, almost a century and a half later, we are at a crossroads of power sector transformation and the public health crisis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a two-part blog, David Farnsworth takes a fresh look at the public good and considers how regulators can use their expertise to make a difference.

The Future of Offshore Wind in Europe

The European Commission envisions that offshore wind will meet 25% of electricity demand by 2050. To harvest this resource in line with Europe’s ambitious decarbonization goals, policymakers need a fully integrated, transnational approach — as Michael Hogan, Andreas Jahn and Zsuzsanna Pató explain in a new report.

Decoupling Mechanisms by the Numbers

Dr. Carl Linvill and Max Dupuy collaborated with colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to study rate impacts relating to decoupling mechanisms across a sampling of U.S. utilities from 2005 to 2017, finding that most rate adjustments are small. A new paper in the December 2020 issue of The Electricity Journal details their findings.

FURTHER NOTES

EV Roadmap: Options for Lawmakers

Grid Modernization and New Business Models