As Utility Dive reports, a few weeks the New York utilities market set in motion major structural adjustments in its recent regulation reforms. Audrey Zibelman, chair of the New York Department of Public Service (DPS), describes these changes as being born out of the needs of energy consumers. PSEG CEO Ralph Izzo, recently sat on a panel with Zibelman and expressed his concerns about the utility industry moving away from centralized grids to customer-sited technologies. He said regulatory systems may have to rethink if they “are violating one of the fundamental premises that electric utilities have been under for a century – universal access.”
The article mentions AEE’s Senior Vice President of Strategy Lisa Frantzis’ efforts in putting together a working group of utilities and advanced energy companies through AEE’s 21st Century Electricity System forums:
“Despite Izzo's concerns, Lisa Frantzis, who has put together a working group of utilities and advanced energy companies as the senior vice president of strategy for Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), told Utility Dive that New York’s REV proposal is “the beginning of many other states soon coming on board to do something similar."
The need for resiliency, adaptability, environmental sustainability and greater customer control is driving utility regulators to consider orders such as the REV, Frantzis said, on top of challenges such as aging infrastructure, flat or declining load growth, and renewables integration. “All that is coming together throughout the U.S.,” Frantzis said. “A lot of states are looking for solutions.”
Frantzis told Utility Dive she believes the Northeast and California are “poised” to look at these issues next. “I don’t think [New York’s REV order] is at all in isolation,” she said.”
Read more about New York’s efforts from Utility Dive here. Learn more about AEE’s 21st Century Electricity System Initiative here.