Roadmaps
Danielle Sass Byrnett is Senior Director of the Center for Partnerships & Innovation (CPI) at NARUC. She leads this technical assistance team focused on identifying emerging challenges and connecting the 54 state public utility commissions with expertise and strategies to navigate their complex decision making.
Taylor Fitzgerald is the Communications Specialist for the NARUC Center for Partnerships & Innovation, where she develops and executes outreach strategies to enhance the visibility of essential resources, training, and other activities that assist state commissions contending with complex current and emerging issues.
National and regional load growth models show that electricity consumption across the United States is projected to grow significantly above current usage over the next decade. Sizable capital expenditures by utilities are necessary to enhance energy infrastructure to meet growing demand.
In recent years, many public- and private-sector entities have advanced comprehensive planning to consider all options for meeting electricity needs, with the ultimate goal of supporting load growth and affordability together. Investments must be right-sized and consider the full range of cost-effective approaches such as demand-side solutions, innovative technologies, and resilient supply-side resources to ensure reliability and customer affordability.
To meet both economic growth and policy goals, states can establish planning frameworks to guide how a full range of options are considered. Specifically, decision makers increasingly require a more comprehensive view of electricity system planning that considers customer, distribution system, resource, and transmission needs and capabilities before approving investments.