New York aims to Reform its Energy Vision. For technology companies, it’s a dream come true.
Andrew Kaplan, an energy lawyer and partner at Pierce Atwood LLP in Boston, represents providers of energy storage, demand response, ancillary services, and electricity and natural gas transmission and supply in wholesale and retail markets. He served previously as general counsel and chief of staff for the Massachusetts Dept. of Telecomm. & Energy (now the Dept. of Pub. Utils.).
For New York's electric utilities, there's no shortage of challenges:
- The widespread devastation wreaked by Superstorm Sandy and other catastrophic weather events;
- The aging infrastructure of the energy distribution system;
- The significant capital expenditures needed to replace aging power facilities;
- The ever-increasing demand for electricity from commercial and residential users;
- The public outcry for cheaper and cleaner energy.
Against this backdrop, and in tune with the urging of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York Public Service Commission ("PSC") in April 2014 coined a new phrase in the energy industry lexicon. It opened a new proceeding to be known as Reforming the Energy Vision ("REV") - an initiative beginning at square one and aimed at overhauling how electricity is produced, distributed, consumed, regulated, and priced in the Empire State.