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DailyEnergyInsider covered FERC's extension of the due date for comments in the NERA's legal challenge of full net metering transactions. Read excerpts and the entire DailyEnergyInsider piece here. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday extended the due date for comments in the New England Ratepayers Association’s (NERA) legal challenge of full net metering transactions. Comments are now due by June 15 in NERA’s petition requesting FERC to “declare that there is exclusive federal jurisdiction over wholesale energy sales from generation sources located on the customer side of the retail meter” and to order that the rates fall under federal purview, contrary to the current standard that places these programs under state authority.

DailyEnergyInsider covered the Indiana Senate's amendments to HB1414 (that AEE opposes) noting AEE's perspective on closures of uncompetitive coal power plants and quoting AEE's Caryl Auslander. Read excerpts below and the entire DailyEnergyInsider piece here. 

A controversial Indiana bill that investor-owned utilities denounced for potentially increasing ratepayers’ power costs and extending the life of coal-powered electricity, on Thursday passed a state Senate committee with significant changes they find more favorable. House Bill 1414, authored by Republican state Rep. Edmond Soliday, chairman of the state’s energy task force, on Feb. 27 garnered passage by the Indiana Senate Utilities Committee, 8-2, thanks to an amendment authored by GOP state Sen. Jim Merritt, chairman of the Utilities Committee...

The Daily Energy Insider reports: Congress and the Trump administration should focus on the electric power system as a key element of infrastructure modernization to accelerate economic growth, according to just-released Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) policy recommendations.In mid-February, the president released his infrastructure plan, “Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America,” which is designed to spur at least $1.5 trillion in new investment over a decade through $200 billion of federal funding and give Congress a roadmap for developing and passing “the most comprehensive infrastructure bill in our nation’s history,” according to the 53-page document.The plan targets improvements to traditional infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports, as well as “other needs like drinking and wastewater systems, waterways, water resources, energy, rural infrastructure, public lands, veterans’ hospitals, and Brownfield and Superfund sites.”But what about the inclusion of the nation’s electric grid?The vast majority of the nation’s electricity needs are met through for-profit investor-owned utilities, according to President Donald Trump’s plan. However, what infrastructure the federal government does own and operate “would be more appropriately owned by state, local, or private entities” because “federal ownership of these assets can result in sub-optimal investment decisions and create risk for taxpayers.”