NASEO & SEPA
Julie Michals, Senior Fellow, leads NASEO’s National Energy Screening Project (NESP), focusing on developing economic guidance to assess the cost-effectiveness of energy resource investments using the National Standard Practice Manual (NSPM).
Kate Strickland, SEPA Director, Research & Industry Strategy, works across SEPA’s research portfolio and with members and industry to identify key strategies and opportunities to advance a clean, affordable, and resilient energy system for all. In 2024, Kate was on detail to the Biden-Harris White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer (OCSO), serving as Deputy Director, Clean Energy, and working to advance federal clean energy policy and procurement.
Carina Wallack, SEPA Senior Manager, Content Strategy, shapes SEPA’s publication strategy through writing, research, editing, and cross-team collaboration. Previously, Carina worked on clean energy policy advocacy and communications at E4TheFuture.
Amidst today’s energy transformation, distributed energy resources (DERs) can play a strategic role in helping states meet a range of priority policy goals. A consistent valuation framework is critical to measuring the benefits and costs of utility DER investments.
The 2026 edition of the National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of DERs (NSPM) – published by the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) through its National Energy Screening Project (NESP) – addresses a broad range of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) topics, incorporating lessons to date from NSPM applications and industry expertise.
A Resource for Better DER Investment Decisions
The NSPM provides a BCA framework for public utility commissions, state energy offices, consumer advocates, investor-owned utilities, and other stakeholders to assess the benefits and costs of DER investments and strategies.
It defines DERs as resources sited close to or at customers’ facilities that can provide power needs and/or be used by the utility system to reduce demand or provide supply to meet a range of grid needs. The technologies and strategies covered in the NSPM include demand response, distributed generation, distributed storage, energy efficiency, and electrification.