Catching Fire
Climate policy heats up after the Great Recession.
GHG rules are coming soon. What happens next will depend on how states react.
The States
Bundled against Change
Mississippi draws a line in the sand.
"We view the [Entergy-ITC] transaction [as] an attempt to extract excess value."-Mississippi PSC
Partnership, Not Preemption
How state-sponsored planning can fit with FERC’s capacity markets.
FERC-approved capacity markets and state-sponsored resource planning serve different needs. The one shouldn’t pre-empt the other.
Innovation Mandate
Meeting the just-and-reasonable standard in a time of change.
Who can say for sure if markets are working? The landscape keeps shifting.
Game Changers
State regulators address transformative forces.
In Fortnightly’s Regulators’ Roundtable, commissioners from Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota consider transformative forces and the regulatory response.
Are Competitive Solicitations Actually Competitive?
Bidding, transparency, and foregone conclusions in Big Sky Country.
PURPA wars are heating up again, and self-dealing conflicts are re-emerging. A Montana commissioner identifies weaknesses in supply procurement processes.
How to Build a Fence (and When)
A formal methodology for developing ring-fencing arrangements and setting conditions.
How can decision makers determine the appropriate degree of ring-fencing for a utility holding company? The authors propose a systematic and objective method – recognizing business and financial risks specific to the regulated utility and its affiliates.
FERC vs. Idaho
PURPA and the future of avoided cost rates.
A tussle between Idaho and the feds exemplifies the flood of petitions that QFs have filed during the past several years, asking FERC to enforce or confirm their PURPA-guaranteed rights.
Threat From Behind the Meter
The case for utilities to compete directly with distributed resources.
Behind-the-meter energy threatens the utility business model. Does history offer a lesson for crafting a response?
Reverse Robin Hood
Declaring war on non-utility PV.
Recently I’ve been hearing some utility executives use a new catchphrase: “reverse Robin Hood.” The phrase is shorthand for policies on net metering and green incentives that support rooftop photovoltaics (PV) at the expense of low-income customers. We’re “robbing the poor” to pay for rich people’s fancy solar systems.