Perspective

“By severing the traditional safeguards for reasonable system growth, these policies create inappropriate cross subsidies and erode one of the core mechanisms through which utility rates have historically been kept affordable.”

“Increasingly, utilities and grid operators are deploying new AI- and ML-powered tools to improve their decision making and capture efficiencies that can reduce overall system costs.”

“For utilities, affordability is the outcome regulators and customers care about, but cost structures and operating efficiency are the levers leaders can directly influence. Utilities need to change their long-term cost trajectory – so costs grow more slowly, stabilize, or decline — even as demand and investment requirements rise.”

A roundtable with NASUCA President Michael Moody, Vice President Tom Content, Treasurer Anthony Ornelas, Secretary Karen Stachowski, and Executive Director David Springe.

“Performance-based regulation focuses on defining clear goals and measuring whether utilities are delivering results, rather than evaluating investments only after the fact through the traditional ratemaking process.”

“The conversation about affordability typically focuses on how to help customers on the back end, such as programs to help customers pay their bills and manage arrearages to avoid disconnection. Rarely do we talk about controlling costs on the front end of the ratemaking equation.”

“For years, we have warned that certain regulatory trends were going to create affordability challenges. In particular, we have pushed back against efforts to eliminate regulatory lag through mechanisms that allow utilities to place new costs on bills quickly through riders and trackers.”

PUF navigates affordability in conversations with Consumer Advocates from NASUCA, also featuring a Roundtable Discussion on this important topic.

“The Building Energy Usage Portal (BE-UP) developed by Orange and Rockland Utilities represents a shift in how utilities support customers by turning raw meter data into accessible, decision-ready information.”

“EPRI’s Wind Network for Enhanced Reliability starts with a simple premise: the wind industry has data, but there’s no standardization across companies. WinNER provides access to anonymized wind turbine reliability data with fleet, turbine model, system- and component-level specificity, so reliability can be benchmarked and addressed.”