New CCIF report offers principles to ensure a customer-centered transition to clean energy
Electric companies, state commissions and consumer advocates must coordinate and plan to effectively ensure a customer-centered transition to clean energy amid many challenges and uncertainties, according to a new report released today by the Critical Consumer Issues Forum (CCIF).
“State commissions, consumer advocates and electric companies have key roles in navigating these uncertainties and challenges in a manner that meets clean energy objectives, effectuates the regulatory compact, and maintains reliability, affordability and other customer-centered priorities,” says the new CCIF report, The Customer-Centered Clean Energy Transition: Balancing Technology, People & the Planet, released during a July 19 event held at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Summer Policy Summit in San Diego.
Uncertainties and challenges to be navigated cooperatively, for instance, might include changing energy policies in some jurisdictions to include or prioritize objectives such as clean energy and resilience; states and electric companies proposing new energy investment or upgrades to existing infrastructure; the emergence of new technologies; and customers demanding new or improved services, the report says.
CCIF notes in the report that collaboration among state commissions, consumer advocates and electric companies on these issues “offers exceptional value.”
“Continued collaboration and engagement among all stakeholders, including electric companies, regulators and consumer advocates is essential to ensuring the transition remains customer-centered as we work to achieve our clean energy and emissions reduction goals,” agreed Phil Moeller, executive vice president of the Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), which represents the nation’s investor-owned utilities.
CCIF — a collaborative that includes members of EEI, NARUC, and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) — decided in late 2021 to explore the report’s main topic and then facilitated a series of discussions that culminated in the report, which CCIF says explores issues related to a customer-centered transition to cleaner energy while maintaining reliable and resilient electric service at just and reasonable rates.
“State commissions, consumer advocates, and electric companies are grappling with various degrees of uncertainty about how to most reliably and affordably transition to a cleaner energy future,” said Chris Ayers, president of NASUCA and public staff executive director at the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
“While not designed to solve specific regulatory matters, the CCIF collaborative dialogue provides opportunities to learn from others to more effectively identify and manage uncertainties and, thus, better protect the consumers we serve,” Ayers said.
There are 11 consensus principles in the report developed through open dialogue among state utility regulators, consumer advocates, electric companies, and their respective associations.
The principles either acknowledge something significant to the three core groups, according to CCIF, or call for some type of action regarding the report’s five subtopics: Evolving Roles in the Customer-Centered Clean Energy Transition; Meeting Clean Energy Objectives by Seizing Opportunities & Managing Risks; Facilitating Engagement with Customers & Stakeholders; Ensuring Customer Equity & Access; and Federal/State Coordination.
For instance, in Meeting Clean Energy Objectives by Seizing Opportunities & Managing Risks, the report points out that participants acknowledge that achieving a clean energy future may warrant adoption of emerging and promising — but sometimes not quite economic — technologies.
CCIF said in the report that electric companies, state commissions and consumer advocates should consider the potential of such technologies; explore ways to demonstrate these technologies; assess their risks, costs and benefits; determine approaches to develop equitable cost recovery; and work constructively to advance their development where doing so is in the public interest.
“CCIF participants, including several NARUC member commissioners and staff, have developed 11 thoughtful principles that provide insight into the opportunities and challenges in making the clean energy transition customer-focused, as well,” said NARUC President and Virginia State Corporation Commissioner Judith Williams Jagdmann. “State commissions appreciate the ability to engage with all stakeholders in a way that better prepares us for the complex but important work to achieve our respective clean energy goals.”
In conclusion, CCIF acknowledged that while the report doesn’t address all issues related to the topic, the group “trusts that this report will serve as a useful foundation for additional dialogue and collaboration among the three core communities as well as policymakers and other stakeholders.”
