New England’s electric grid operator opened its doors to public participation — and got a dressing down

New England’s electric grid operator has been famously closed to the public, with most decisions happening behind closed doors, with little or no public input.

On Tuesday, yielding to years of pressure, the board of ISO New England opened its doors for the first of what it says will be an annual open meeting. What followed was an hour-long dressing down, as speaker after speaker took the grid operator to task for failing to adequately respond to the climate crisis.

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In addition to the lack of transparency, Hank Webster, the Rhode Island director of the clean energy advocacy group Acadia Center, said ISO-NE needs to better align itself with the climate policies of the states it represents. Many of the states call for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but without coordination with the regional grid, it will be hard to reach those goals.

“State policy and consumer concerns remain without a regular home in the ISO New England process and decisions,” Webster said.

Read the full article in The Boston Globe here.