The States

Regulators: Tony Clark

NARUC

“American businesses need stable regulatory environments to ensure they have an opportunity to engage in international commerce. That has been an important part of the basis of the NARUC International Program for decades.”

Regulators: Tammy Cordova

NARUC

“Different countries have different solutions. I love that the International Committee provides the opportunity to talk directly to folks and create a space where we can understand what new technologies are available.”

Regulators: Erin Hammel

NARUC

“These countries that our first project dealt with in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were going through massive political change, opening to more democratic processes and transparency.”

The Global Community of Regulators

NARUC

NARUC’s Committee on International Relations has provided help and best practices for almost thirty years as energy market development needs grew overseas. The Committee manages NARUC’s outreach activities across the globe, including partnerships with numerous countries. PUF’s Paul Kjellander spoke with NARUC Senior Director of Professional Development Erin Hammel, Committee on International Relations Chair and Nevada Commissioner Tammy Cordova, and NARUC Executive Director Tony Clark.

Regulating Load Growth: Jeremy McDiarmid

Massachusetts DPU

“We’re working closely with utilities and stakeholders to identify places in the distribution system where upgrades will be high value. That is to increase the amount of distributed generation and storage on the grid and to improve reliability and access for high-load-demand customers.”

Regulating Load Growth: John Harvey

PSC of Utah

“Our legislature has put statutes in place that allow the utility to obtain pre-approval for significant energy resources. It’s not an absolute final approval, but it sets parameters, so they have more confidence in building infrastructure.”

Regulating Load Growth: Katie Anderson

Arkansas PSC

“Before significant infrastructure is constructed, utilities should carefully evaluate whether operational improvements, planning enhancements, or other measures can allow existing assets to continue serving ratepayers efficiently and reliably.”

Regulating to Meet Load Growth Challenges

The States

Load growth and system planning all require adding electric utility infrastructure but building that runs smack into many reasons for delays, including permitting, NIMBY-ism, supply chain disruptions, and more. The situation threatens to stunt the needed industry growth to handle increased demand.

Throw in affordability, and the issues surrounding meeting the energy required to allow modern society to thrive become even more fraught. Regulators are charged with the difficult task of figuring it all out, culminating in decisions that serve the public interest.

Regulators: Floyd McKissick

North Carolina UC

“Last year, we had a two-day Technical Conference dealing with large-load growth. We brought in all the stakeholder entities to provide insight. We also brought in Dominion Energy from Virginia, which has seen the greatest increase in load growth from data centers.”

Regulators: Erik Helland

Iowa UC

“Iowa’s wind development conversations often leave out a critical innovation that doesn’t get talked about enough and that’s regulatory innovations. That allowed Iowa to invest responsibly and grow a large renewable portfolio that delivered reliable and affordable rates.”