Potential Win-Win Regulatory Frameworks: Related Policies in Other States

The policy information that follows is exerpted from a somewhat more comprehensive listing of clean energy policies for selected states, including Massachusetts, at:

• www.masstech.org/policy/states.htm

Connecticut

• AN ACT CONCERNING ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, HB 7501
• Text of Bill, June 2005 Special Session, General Assembly
• OLR Bill Analysis
• Presentations:
• October 2005 -- Presentation by Commissioner George to Restructuring Roundtable (see slides on decoupling and other rate issues for DG)
• CT Websites:
  • Department of Public Utility Control (Docket 05-07-14)
  • Connecticut Energy Advisory Board (CEAB)
  • CT Clean Energy Fund
  • Institite for Sustainable Energy at ECS
  • Connecticut's Official Climate Change Web Site

• Docket 05-09-09 Decoupling Energy Distribution Company Earnings From Sales
  • January 18, 2006 DPUC Order
• 05-07-14 Phase 1 (Short Term Measures): DPUC Investigation of Measures to Reduce Federally Mandated Congestion Charges (FMCC)
  • December 28, 2005 DPUC Order (word)
  • 05-07-14PH01 files on DPUC website

• 05-07-14 Phase 2 (Long Term Measures): DPUC Investigation of Measures to Reduce Federally Mandated Congestion Charges

• 05-07-14PH02 files on DPUC website

• 05-07-16 DPUC Review of the Development of a Program to Provide Various Incentives for Customer-Side Distributed Resources
  • March 27, 2006 Order, including inclentives to utilities, rebates on gas delivery charges, provision changing standby charges (word)
  • 05-07-16 Files on DPUC Website

• 05-07-17 DPUC Review of the Development of a Program to Provide Monetary Grants for Capital Costs of Customer Side Distributed Resources
  • March 27, 2006 Order, including award levels of $200/kW for emergency generators or $450/kW for baseload generators, plus $50/kW in the congested SWCT area (word)
  • 05-07-17 Files on DPUC Website
  • CT Distributed Resource Portfolio Standard -- DPUC web page for Docket 05-07-17

Rhode Island

• February 2, 2007 -- Report of the RI Office Of Energy Resources to the RI General Assembly on the DG Stakeholders Working Group, pursuant to the Comprehensive Energy Conservation, Efficiency and Affordability Act of 2006 (3.5 MB pdf)
• Rhode Island Energy Act of 2006 S 2903 Substitute B:
  • promotes Distributed Generation, with attention to renewable generation and systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by starting with an assessment of the barriers to DG – a stakeholder study and report by new energy office on needed legislative and PUC ratemaking changes.
  • new “Least Cost Procurement” (LCP) mandate – requires a least cost plan for utilities to procure all cost-effective energy efficiency, distributed generation, renewables, combined heat and power and demand response that will require utilities to purchase set amounts of efficiency, renewables and demand side options, not just traditional power contracts from generating stations.
• Docket No. 3790 - National Grid - Gas Energy Efficiency Programs for 2007 (including incentives for CHP)

New York

• August 2006 -- A Comprehensive Process Evaluation of Early Experience Under New York’s Pilot Program for Integration of DG in Utility System Planning, Final Report 06-11, NYSERDA, by Fred Zalcman et. al., Pace Law School Energy Project and Synapse Energy Economics, Inc.
• May 2006 -- Order Extending Deadline and Continuing Standby Rate Exemption, NYPSC, Case 99-E-1470
• Con Ed Demand Management Action Plan:
• March 16, 2006 -- CASE 04-E-0572 -- Order on Demand Management Action Plan, NY Public Service Commission
• March 2003 -- NY PSC Opinion No. 01-4, Case 99-E-1470, Approving Guidelines for the Design of Standby Service Rates

California

• October 2005 -- CA Statewide Pricing Pilot, Presentation by Levy Associates to Restructuring Roundtable
• May 2005 -- California's Statewide Pricing Pilot, Stephen George and Ahmad Faruqui, Charles River Associates
• September 2003 -- CEC-Sponsored DR Technology Program, Michael Gibbs, ICF

Oregon

• February 2005 -- OR: DG in Oregon: Overview, Regulatory Barriers and Recommendations, Lisa Schwartz, Public Utility
  Commission Staff
• Oregon experience with "decoupling" revenue from sales:
  • March 2005 -- Distributed Generation in Oregon: Overview, Regulatory Barriers and Recommendations, by staff of Oregon PUC
  • March 2005 -- Review of Distribution Margin Normalization (DMN) Approved by Oregon PUC for Northwest Natural Gas, Christiensen Associates
  • September, 2002, Oregon PUC Order 02-633, UE 126, Proposed Decoupling Mechanism Denied: Portland General Electric Company

Treatment of Distributed Resources Under ISO-New England Market Rules

Detailed information on this topic is available at the ISO Market Rules page. 

 

Materials Presented at MADRI

• See MADRI materials posted on the following page:

• Potential Win-Win Business & Regulatory Frameworks

• See also Mid-Atlantic Distributed Resources Initiative Working Group.  (Some of the discussions underway at MADRI on regulatory and business model options for demand response in PJM may also be relevant in some respects to DG in NE.)

• Selection of recent MADRI options papers for use in MTC January 25, 2006 Symposium
• Dec. 19, 2005 -- Potential Model for Monetizing DR Distribution System Value, a strawman concept, prepared by Brad Johnson
• Nov. 3, 2005 -- Distribution System Regulation, Draft (see discussion of Distributed Resource Credits)

 

• A pilot project is being initiated in New Jersey, funded by New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program, that is similar to MTC's Congestion Relief Pilots.  It is described in detail in the solicitation:

  • April 2006 -- Utility Distributed Energy Resources Pilot Project Grant Solicitation (word)

Other States -- CHP:

The following file contains separate worksheets for each state:

• Incentives Database (excel file, as of Oct. 2005)
• source: www.northeastchp.org/nac/librarylinks/library.htm

Additional information on existing and potential state policies for CHP is available:

• EPA Combined Heat and Power Partnership: State Resources
  • Note: the following 5 states currently include CHP and/or waste heat recovery as an eligible resource in their portfolio standards: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, Nevada & Hawai

Federal Policies

• July 2005 -- Energy Policy Act of 2005, Conference Report (1.6 MB pdf)
  • FERC implementation activities (web page)

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Other Source Materials for Reference

• DG Benefits and Costs

• Economics of Renewable DG

• Environmental Benefits and Impacts of DG

• Methodologies for Addressing DG in Distribution Planning

(Click here to return to the Distribution Planning Working Group Page.)

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Related Projects

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) is a leader or sponsor of the following two projects which are closely related to the work of the Distribution Planning Working Group:

• MTC Congestion Relief Pilot Projects

 

• July 11, 2005 -- EPRI DER Public/Private Partnership: Creating and Demonstrating Incentives for Electricity Providers to Integrate Distributed Energy Resources (DER), a proposal submitted by Massachusetts DOER to the State Technologies Advancement Collaborative (STAC) -- contact Ellen Petrill (650-855-8939) to discuss ways to participate in the EPRI DER Partnership.

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Working Groups of the Massachusetts DG Collaborative:

• Distribution Planning Working Group
• Tariff Working Group
• Technical/Network Working Group

This page is under construction -- suggestions for additional resources, or other questions or comments about the Massachusetts DG Collaborative, may be directed to:

          Fran Cummings, RET Policy Director