State Impact Pennsylvania
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By Robert Dillon
Executive Director, Energy Choice Coalition
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"
More than a dozen states have restructured their electricity markets to some degree in order to give consumers, large and small, a greater say in the type of energy they use every day to power their homes and offices.
Proper policy design is crucial for ensuring that end users have the freedom to choose their service providers and are adequately protected from unscrupulous business practices....
"Many states remain resistant to restructuring the electricity market to allow independent retail sales, with opponents often citing concerns over consumer protection. However, a well-designed electricity market can address these concerns. A starting point would be the creation of regulations similar to those of Texas, separating the monopoly utility from participating in the generation and sale of power...."
Read more.
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- What are additional “must haves” of electricity market design to ensure consumers can realize the full benefits of competition?
- Should monopoly utilities be allowed to compete with retail companies in the generation and sale of electricity or be quarantined to the building and operating of the transmission and distribution infrastructure?
- Is there a need to further educate consumers on the electricity market so as to promote more informed decision making and ensure protection from misleading providers?
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"
Retail electricity competition is not the only way to encourage competition for power generation and is not likely the best way to enable the transition to a low-cost full clean electric power future, which is critical to effectively addressing the global warming crisis
....Arizona will more cost-effectively make the transition to 100% clean electric power by mid-century following an optimized wholesale competition approach with “independent system evaluator” oversight of a transformed integrated resource planning (IRP) process performed by the incumbent electric utilities...."
"We share similar goals but see greater competition as a better way to achieve them.
Consumers have to be the deciders when it comes to the energy they use.
They are the end users of the electricity and the ones who shoulder the burden of the cost of building and maintaining generation assets. Incumbent utilities will respond to government intervention in the market up to the point where they have satisfied regulators.
But there’s little incentive for incumbents to innovate and push the market beyond that point. Competition changes that formula
...."
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While there is nothing wrong with consumer choice, it will certainly not address climate change in the time allotted.
Utilities currently use fossil fuels even though it is the most expensive form of energy when all costs (including societal costs) are included. Why would you let consumers choose a form of energy that is priced artificially low and causes damage to all future generations?...."
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The International Council on Clean Transportation
August 12, 2019
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California Air Resources Board
August 12, 2019
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Podcast Spotlight
We're pleased to feature
Columbia Energy Exchange
's new podcast this week, which is a conversation with one of our OurEnergyPolicy.org
topic directors
!
Andy Revkin
is an award-winning science and environmental journalist and was one of the first journalists to cover climate change three decades ago.
Andy wrote for
the
New York Times
for more than two decades, was a Strategic Advisor for Science and Journalism at the National Geographic Society, and was a senior reporter for
ProPublica
. He recently joined Columbia University to launch and head a new initiative on communication and sustainability at the Earth Institute.
Listen to
this podcast
for Andy's take on how we communicate about climate change and climate science--both in news coverage and in casual conversation.
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See the
original animated chart
(below "3. Europe decarbonizes furthest, fastest. Coal-heavy China and gas-heavy U.S. play catch-up.") for past wind and solar penetration since 2012 and projected penetration up to 2050. See more findings from the
New Energy Outlook 2019
in the interactive
Executive Summary
and
press release
.
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Featured Events This Week
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Washington, D.C.
- When: Thurs, Aug 22, 8:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
- Where: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 777 North Capitol St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002
- When: Fri, August 23, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
- Where: The Fairmont, 2401 M Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037
To see more upcoming events across the country, visit the OEP
Events Calendar.
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The Our Energy Policy Foundation is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit and does not have or endorse any specific political, programmatic, policy, or technological agendas, but rather seeks to encourage a broad discussion of all points of view. OurEnergyPolicy.org's mission is
to facilitate substantive, responsible dialogue on energy policy issues and provide this dialogue as a resource for the public, policymakers, and the media.
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