Utility Innovation: 2023 Highlights and 2024 Look-Ahead

2023 was a noteworthy year for transformative utility policies in the Northeast. Acadia Center was actively involved across the region, participating in regulatory proceedings, submitting testimony on legislation, and building support among policymakers and other partners on key reforms.

Here are a few highlights from the year:

• The Future of the Gas Utility Becomes Clearer. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued a groundbreaking order in its Future of Gas (DPU 20-80-B) proceeding. The Order sets a clear path forward for building electrification, more coordinated planning across gas and electric utilities, and more comprehensive consideration of solutions that avoid the need for fossil gas pipeline infrastructure. The Order also set the stage for a recently opened proceeding on energy burden and affordability (DPU 24-15). We expect this decision to serve as a model for other states as they consider the future of the gas utility.
• Performance-Based Regulation Moves Ahead in Connecticut. Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) made significant strides in designing a Performance-Based Regulation framework for the state’s electric utilities. While a final decision won’t occur until later in 2024, PURA has led a robust stakeholder process as it considers a wide range of potential regulatory tools to better align utility performance with climate, clean energy, and equity priorities.
• Maine and Connecticut Advance Restrictions on the Use of Ratepayer Funding for Utility Lobbying. Maine (LD 325) and Connecticut (SB 7) joined Colorado in placing restrictions on the use of ratepayer funds to support utility lobbying efforts and trade association dues, both of which can mask activities that work in direct opposition to ratepayer and consumer interests.
• Integrated Distribution System Planning (IDSP) Picks Up Steam. Connecticut, Maine, and New York all made progress in moving forward with Integrated Distribution System Planning processes. The proliferation of distributed energy resources, the increasingly dynamic nature of the grid and energy production, and the implementation of essential laws and policies related to emissions, equity, and resiliency all mean that utilities can no longer plan for future grid investments in a siloed and uncoordinated manner. States have made some progress on integrated planning efforts that cut across silos and require utilities to consider grid needs and solutions in a much more holistic way.
• States Push Non-Wires Alternatives Forward. Non-wires alternatives (NWA) refer to technologies and services— such as energy efficiency, demand response, energy storage, solar PV, and microgrids—that can delay or defer traditional transmission and distribution infrastructure investment. NWA can consist of individual technologies or a portfolio of resources that meet a grid need in a more cost-effective way than traditional “wires and poles” solutions. Non-wires alternatives have the potential to provide significant benefits to ratepayers and grid operators because they help to avoid the need to pay for significant infrastructure investments that may become unnecessary in the future. Connecticut’s Non-Wires Solutions program is a notable example of a state working to make NWA business-as-usual investments for utilities.
• States Begin Testing Alternative Gas Utility Business Models. Massachusetts and New York are among several states in the country that are moving forward with pilots for thermal energy network projects, testing potential new future revenue streams for gas utilities as states accelerate progress on electrification.
• Maine Hits Heat Pump Target Two Years Early. In 2019, Governor Janet Mills set a 100,000 by 2025 heat pump target, and the state met that goal two years early in July 2023. Governor Mills has since established a new target of another 175,000 heat pumps in Maine by 2027. Maine also recently joined Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, and several other states in committing to meet 65% of future residential HVAC needs using heat pumps by 2030.

As we look ahead to 2024, Acadia Center is gearing up for several key opportunities and challenges across the Northeast:

• Smart rate design to support electrification and affordability will become increasingly important as the cost of necessary grid investments accelerates. Setting utility rates and allocating costs and revenues across utility customers are central, but complicated, components of utility regulation. As states electrify and DERs multiply, smart rate design is essential to ensure that customers face the right price signals and that costs and benefits are equitably distributed. Regulators and utilities will need to prioritize solutions to address energy burden and affordability as they consider how utility rates can best be utilized to support the clean energy transition.
• As more states explore Integrated Distribution System Planning, advocates are working to ensure effective IDSP plans and transparent stakeholder processes. Maine and Connecticut are just two states undertaking integrated grid planning efforts. Advocates will work throughout 2024 to ensure that utility planning efforts are comprehensive and accurately capture DER benefits while allowing for robust stakeholder review and input. We will also push for legislation in other states such as Rhode Island to implement an IDSP process.
• Translating the success of the Massachusetts DPU 20-80-B Order elsewhere. Acadia Center and other advocates will work to ensure a similarly successful outcome as DPU 20-80-B in other Future of Gas Proceedings (such as Rhode Island’s). We will push for other states to open their own proceedings to assess the future of the gas utility and for existing proceedings to support coordinated electric-gas planning efforts.
• Advocates are working to ensure the successful implementation of Performance-Based Regulation in Connecticut and pushing for legislation requiring PBR in Maine. 2024 will see the conclusion of Connecticut’s comprehensive PBR proceeding, and we and others are working to ensure a successful outcome. We are also working on legislation to implement PBR in other jurisdictions, such as Maine.
• States will continue to explore thermal energy utility models and expand pilot projects. As states consider the role of the gas utility in the clean energy transition, increasing attention will be paid to new business models that create opportunities to move from utilities that primarily sell gas to businesses that provide a range of thermal energy services. By reorienting the scope of traditional gas utilities, states can help to accelerate building electrification while continuing to utilize the expertise and skills that gas utilities bring to the effort.

The Northeast Grid Planning Forum: Uniting North Americans for Our Net Zero Future

The power grid is the backbone of the energy system. It is how electricity gets to our homes, communities and businesses. Grid operators run systems that collect billions of dollars from consumers to support the transmission, substations, and other infrastructure needed to transmit power from electric generators through the grid to the consumer. Decisions made around the power grid impact whether a transmission line is needed, how infrastructure is paid for, and whether clean energy, efficiency and other important energy resources are fairly considered.

Currently, grids in the greater northeast largely operate and plan independently of each other. However, as the need to displace fossil fuel usage with electricity grows, and resources like extensive offshore wind are added to the system, there is an increased need for grids to coordinate more directly. Coordination can produce clear benefits such as improving reliability, balancing wind and other resources, expanding ways energy efficiency can reduce demand on the system, reducing costs, and creating a more inclusive and responsive approach for community engagement in infrastructure siting.

Acadia Center is taking on the barriers to better grid coordination with our colleague clean energy group Nergica in Quebec, and the engagement of other professionals in both the U.S. and Canada. This effort, called the Northeast Grid Planning Forum (NGPF) is meant to encourage discussion around the potential benefits of increased grid coordination. Focusing on coordination between eastern U.S. and Canadian grid, the Northeast Grid Planning Forum envisions a future where collaborative energy system planning empowers stakeholders in the northeast United States and eastern Canada. This blog will delve into the key aspects of the Forum’s approach, its goals, and the imperative need for cross-border collaboration.

An Opportunity for Collaboration and Mutual Benefit:

Currently, the lack of coordination between states and provinces hinders the potential for mutual benefits. The result is higher costs and fewer tools to meet our collective goals. The current approach to grid planning, development, and operations occurs in silos, limiting the potential to capture these substantial mutual consumer, economic and system benefits. The Northeast Grid Planning Forum seeks to overcome this barrier through a deliberative stakeholder process that formalizes collaboration among states and provinces. Roundtable processes—environmental justice and community mobilization, interregional planning, First Nation and tribal, and clean energy procurement—aim to create a shared policy, legal, regulatory, and market/tariff toolset. With the growing role power grids play in climate and consumer issues, the Northeast Grid Planning Forum aspires to set a new paradigm in how stakeholders engage and influence power grid decisions.

Why Act Now?:

Communities have expressed frustration with rising power rates, reliability concerns, and a lack of meaningful participation in planning processes. The legacy approach to energy system development creates conflicts, making a coordinated and inclusive strategy essential. With the need to address reliability, affordability, climate, and responsive siting, the Forum aims to capture economic and consumer benefits while achieving decarbonization goals.

Challenge and Opportunity:

Modernizing energy systems to meet climate goals is a critical task. Independent studies indicate that the region must increase power grid output significantly. The current dysfunction, characterized by a lack of coordination and a focus on short- and medium-term reliability, hinders the systematic effort to coordinate resources. Collaboration emerges as a better way to power the region, offering enormous mutual benefits through a cooperative approach to energy system planning.

Launching a Dialogue for Interregional Action:

To build political legitimacy for clean energy, barriers slowing progress must be addressed. This includes reforming how system balancing authorities and system operators prioritize reliable clean energy, ensuring clean energy investments benefit communities with poor health and housing, and addressing concerns with clean energy projects and infrastructure siting.

Snapshot of Interregional Issues and Opportunities:

The Northeast Power Coordinating Council reliability zone serves as the target region for the Forum’s efforts. Various projects and developments, such as offshore wind targets, tidal power, and hydroelectric exploration, present both challenges and opportunities for interregional collaboration.

Shared Benefits Abound:

Multilateral grid and energy system coordination offer numerous benefits, including dynamic two-way power flows between provinces and states. The Forum seeks to catalyze discussions among energy planners, government leaders, and community stakeholders to address policy and social concerns in energy system planning. Priorities include energy planning processes, infrastructure development, and market mechanisms that support clean energy.

The Northeast Grid Planning Forum presents a groundbreaking effort to unite North Americans for a net-zero future. By fostering collaboration, addressing key challenges, and prioritizing shared benefits, the Forum aims to create a resilient and competitive energy future for the region. Interested stakeholders are encouraged to join this transformative interregional initiative. Acadia Center is proud to be pioneering these efforts with Nergica for the clean energy future the region deserves.

A Call to Action: Connecticut Climate Justice March and Acadia Center’s Support for 2024 Clean Energy Priorities

For Release: February 2, 2024

Download the Press Release: Acadia Center Press Release – 2024 Connecticut Climate Justice March

Hartford, CT – In the lead-up to the start of Connecticut’s 2024 legislative session, Jayson Velazquez – Acadia Center’s Climate and Energy Justice Policy Associate – today joined climate, energy, and environmental advocates, organizers, and activists in Connecticut’s Climate Justice March. In this call to action, participants and speakers called on legislators, officials, and organization leaders to take adequate action to address climate change.

In addition to the Climate Justice March, advocates, organizers, and activists issued a Climate Justice Letter with a detailed list of equitable solutions to align Connecticut with its emissions reduction targets outlined in the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA).

In addition to contributing to the list of solutions in this letter, Velazquez gave a speech during a stop on the Climate March in Hartford to highlight the pressing need to address energy inequities across the state.

Acadia Center expresses specific enthusiastic support for energy priorities outlined in the Climate Justice Letter:

• Operationalize Procedural, Distributive, Corrective, and Contextual Equity: Incorporate equity principles identified by the Governors’ Council on Climate Change (GC3) and the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council (CEEJAC) into Connecticut climate and energy plans.
• Increase Funding for, Identify, and Address Barriers to accessing Energy Efficiency Programs including the Home Energy Solutions Income Eligible (HES-IE) Program: Increase funding for efficiency programs to ensure maximum deployment of energy efficiency upgrades throughout the state, and ensure that adequate funding is devoted to workforce recruitment and training to ensure a robust energy efficiency workforce in Connecticut. The existing Community Partnerships Initiative could be leveraged to ensure barriers are identified, and solutions are collaboratively designed to provide increased access to energy efficiency programs.
• Expand Renewable Energy Deployment: Expand solar programs and establish targets for commercial, residential, and community solar projects, while addressing battery storage needs.
• Require Renewable Energy Sources on New Commercial and Industrial Construction: Support legislation to enable and incentivize municipalities to require renewable energy sources such as, geothermal, solar, heat pumps, etc., on new commercial and industrial construction.
• Heat Pump Deployment and Building Electrification: Invest in the electrification of newly constructed and existing homes. Support development of heat pump targets and financing programs, such as no-or-low interest loans for zero-emission heating equipment and necessary electrical upgrades to help support the transition to electric heat pumps and water heaters.
• Carbon Free and Healthy Schools: Support establishment of a $25 million CT Green Bank program to help schools implement energy saving and renewable energy construction projects.
• Grid Modernization and Grid Enhancing Technologies (GET): Support regional collaboration among northeastern states to strengthen interconnectivity in electric grid development and ensure GETs are
supported to better understand and develop electric capacity on our grid.
• Equitable and Responsible Energy Infrastructure Siting: Ensure the Connecticut Siting Council is empowered to address environmental injustices through analyses, collaborative and co-designed community-benefit agreements in the siting of energy generation and transmission infrastructure projects.
• Data Accessibility, Usability, and Transparency: Ensure data analysis capabilities are expanded at state agencies and considered as critical components of Connecticut climate and energy plans. Data should be publicly available, in usable tables, exportable formats, and opportunities should exist to request additional data to support advocacy efforts.

Acadia Center will continue collaborating with partners across Connecticut to push these goals forward in 2024. We look forward to an energizing and productive legislative session in the coming months, in a year that will be pivotal for the state and region’s progress in combating climate change and inequity.

Although Acadia Center contributed to and participated in the development of the Letter issued today, we did not directly sign on due to some policy priorities extending beyond our scope of work.

Media Contact
Jayson Velazquez, Climate and Energy Justice Policy Associate
jvelazquez@acadiacenter.org, 860-246-7121 x203

Environmentalists demand Northeast governors oppose gas pipeline expansion project

A multistate coalition of over 90 environmental organizations is demanding that the governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York publicly oppose a proposal to expand a major natural gas pipeline in the Northeast.

The company behind the project, Enbridge, says piping more natural gas into the region will help stabilize energy prices, make the electric grid more reliable and help states meet their climate goals by burning less oil on cold days. But the coalition opposing the project — which includes groups like the Sierra Club, the Acadia Center, the Conservation Law Foundation and 350 Mass — disagrees.

“More pipelines will only exacerbate our existing fracked-gas dependence, raise our energy bills, and harm our communities,” the coalition members wrote in letters they recently delivered to the four governors. “In order to mitigate the climate crisis, and to protect our communities, the amount of fossil fuels burned must be decreased immediately and [states must implement] policies that ensure the just and rapid transition to a cleaner, renewable energy-powered regenerative economy.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

Advocates urge Governor Healey to oppose major gas expansion proposal

A coalition of climate advocates is calling on Governor Maura Healey to oppose the proposed expansion of a gas pipeline, called “Project Maple,” which they say would hurt frontline communities and worsen the climate crisis.

In a letter sent to Healey on Wednesday, the advocates asked Healey to clarify her stance on the proposed project from the Canadian-based pipeline and energy company Enbridge. Healey has previously said she won’t allow any new gas pipelines, but Project Maple isn’t technically new. The company has proposed building next to existing pipelines and making upgrades to increase capacity.

Given that, Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the clean energy advocacy group Acadia Center, said it’s likely that if Project Maple got built, it will “end up being a stranded asset that costs ratepayers a lot more in the longterm.”

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.

Residents Dealt Legal Setback That Will Have A Lasting Impact on Public Health: ‘These Numbers are All People’

Pennsylvania residents awaiting news on a crucial environmental legal battle might want to continue holding their breath — in more ways than one.

RGGI-participating states, which have successfully reduced carbon pollution by 47%, according to a report by the nonprofit Acadia Center, demonstrate the effectiveness of the initiative, and the delay only prolongs the state’s struggle against the health impacts of air pollution.

Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI had been projected to result in fewer health cases involving asthma, bronchitis, and hospital admissions, and public health benefits totaling up to $6.3 billion by 2030, reports the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

To read the full article from the Cool Down, click here.

Opinion: Through EV policy, Connecticut can right its past air pollution wrongs

As the old saying goes, you can’t design your future without understanding your past. When it comes to charting the course for the future of Connecticut’s transportation system, we must look to our state’s history and learn lessons about the infrastructure that surrounds us and the vehicles that drive through our communities.

Environmental justice issues related to air pollution, including the pediatric asthma crisis in Connecticut’s Black and Latino communities, can be better understood through our state’s troubled history of redlining, urban renewal programs, highway construction, and residential segregation.

In the 1930s, the Federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) constructed “residential security” maps that color-coded neighborhoods based on the desirability and safety of capital investments. The HOLC made decisions about neighborhood classifications based on race, economic class, and ethnic composition. Neighborhoods that were deemed “riskier” were “redlined” as they were comprised of Black, immigrant, and low-income communities. Redlining set the standards for racial segregation and concentrations of urban disparities, industrial zoning, and future highway construction. Industrial zoning placed heavily polluting facilities, such as industrial plants, major trucking roadways, and shipping ports, in and around redlined neighborhoods.

The Housing Act of 1949 and the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act subsidized the construction of highway projects such as the Oak Street Connector in New Haven, where federal money was used to build a mini-highway through downtown and The Hill, destroying the Oak Street neighborhood. The destruction of the Oak Street neighborhood for the development of a mini-highway displaced around 3,000 people, or about 880 families.

The burden of displacement was placed disproportionately along the lines of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Before redevelopment, Oak Street was home to vibrant Black Americans and Jewish, Italian, and Puerto Rican immigrant enclaves. Through the destruction caused by the decisions to develop the Oak Street Connector, many of those displaced moved to The Hill neighborhood, where they continued to fight redevelopment projects.

Displacement for highway construction and industrial development across Connecticut divided communities and laid the groundwork for the entrenchment of some of the nation’s most significant wealth gaps and income inequality. In Hartford, redlining and urban renewal contributed to the deliberate placement of highway I-84 in the North End neighborhood, home to large concentrations of Black and low-income residents.

As neighborhoods were leveled for the development of highways, low-income enclaves and communities of color became subject to decades of airborne pollution from gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles that transport commuters and goods within and beyond Connecticut. Neighborhoods alongside and downwind of transportation corridors that support industrial facilities are forced to breathe exhaust from the dirtiest vehicles, driving up health disparities.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, big trucks and buses make up just 6% of all on-road vehicles in Connecticut but are responsible for more than half of all smog-forming NOx tailpipe pollution.

As attempts to remedy the injustices caused by redlining, urban renewal, and highway construction are underway, such as the City of New Haven’s Downtown Crossing Project and the Hartford 400 plan, addressing the harms to public health caused by tailpipe pollution must remain a key priority. To ensure less pollution in neighborhoods near highways and industrial transportation corridors, our legislators must adopt strong clean cars and trucks standards — Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II), Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), and Heavy-Duty Omnibus (HDO) — that have already been adopted by nearly every other state in the region. These clean transportation policies would ensure that sales of new vehicles increase gradually toward 100% zero-emission by 2035.

Clean cars and trucks are not a silver bullet for correcting the injustices of the past and present. Congruent efforts such as promoting reliable and fair transit access, free K-12 transit fares, rail, buses, pedestrian infrastructure, and other forms of mode-shift and mobility to reduce total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) from single occupancy and passenger vehicles, have benefits that would only be amplified by the increased availability of zero-emission and electrified light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles that ACCII and ACT would introduce.

The ACC II and ACT regulations only affect the sale of new cars — roughly 75% of people buy used.

While the cost of new and used EVs continues to drop year-over-year, affordability concerns are being tackled through the CHEAPR program, which provides incentives on new and used zero-emission vehicles, with additional rebates available for income-eligible individuals. Combined with the $7,500 federal tax credit, Connecticut residents can save up to $11,750 on the purchase of a typical EV.

As a state with a long history of forcing tailpipe and industrial pollution into vulnerable communities, Connecticut has a generational chance to start righting these wrongs by joining with states that are leading the global transition to zero-emission vehicles.

To read the original article from the CT Mirror, click here.

How does Rhode Island’s new community choice aggregation program work?

Today, we’re taking a look at Rhode Island’s new energy program, community choice aggregation, and unpacking what it means for consumers.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.

Last summer, I got a letter in the mail, welcoming me to the Providence Community Electricity Program.

If you live in Rhode Island, there’s a decent chance you got some version of this letter, too. That’s because last year, seven towns in Rhode Island launched brand new energy programs, called community choice aggregation.

Cameron Leo: To learn more, we talked to Emily Koo, who was Providence’s Director of Sustainability when the city started developing this program.  She says community aggregation has two main goals: lower prices, and more renewable energy.

Emily Koo: In contrast, an investor-owned utility, on the other hand, also has its own bottom line and fiduciary obligations to consider.

To listen to the full podcast from the Public’s Radio, click here.

Mass. Lawmakers Aiming for an Omnibus Climate Bill in 2024

Top legislators in Massachusetts this year hope to pass a major climate and energy bill, which could bring significant permitting and siting reform, and boost transportation and heating electrification.

“It’s going to be a really interesting time,” said Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation at the Acadia Center, a climate-focused nonprofit. Murray praised the steps taken in the previous two bills but added that “we’ve got so many areas we still need to cover.”

Murray of the Acadia Center stressed the importance of securing funding for public transport in the state. According to a recent assessment by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the state would need to invest an additional $2 billion annually through 2036 just to make all the necessary repairs for the existing system. This excludes any potential expansion, resilience or modernization efforts to help the state meet its climate goals.

“We need a more stable funding source for the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority]. I really do think we need to address that at some point in the very near future,” said Murray, while acknowledging the added difficulty of the state’s current financial troubles. Gov. Healey recently proposed a $375 million budget cut to stave off an impending shortfall.

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Connecticut program aims to alleviate cost barriers to utility oversight process, but challenges remain

Connecticut’s utilities commission is the latest to begin offering payments to help environmental justice and ratepayer groups participate in regulatory proceedings.

The Stakeholder Group Compensation Program was required to take effect this month as part of an energy consumer protection bill passed by the state legislature last year. It seeks to encourage more diverse engagement in proceedings on utility regulation, which can set direction for grid resiliency, rate relief, clean energy development, corporate accountability, storm response and more.

“The process of engaging with proceedings at public utility commissions across the nation is historically exclusive,” wrote Jayson Velazquez, the climate and energy justice policy associate with the nonprofit Acadia Center, in comments on the PURA docket creating the new program. “Compensation can play a significant role in ensuring diverse stakeholders are included in proceedings, specifically at PURA.”

In the Acadia Center’s comments on the new program’s docket, Velazquez said PURA should also begin a broader look at equity and inclusion across all of its work, similar to a docket now underway in Hawaii.

To read the full article from Energy News Network, click here.