Dive Brief:
- The Missouri Public Service Commission is seeking comments and will hold two workshops to examine emerging issues in utility regulation, with a particular focus on distributed energy resources (DER).
- Comments are due Oct. 20, and workshops will be held in November and January. A PSC staff report regarding DERs will be completed by March 2018.
- Missouri is just the latest state to undertake a review of utility business modes and the changing electric grid. States from New York to California have undertaken a range of proceedings from comprehensive reviews of utility business models to focusing on new types of resources.
Dive Insight:
Missouri regulators have issued a list of questions they are examining, with particular focus on distributed resources, behind-the-meter capacity and whether changes should be made to the resource planning process. In particularly, the PSC said it wants to discuss:
- What are the current levels of distributed energy resources in Missouri, including energy efficiency, distributed generation, and demand-response?
- Should previous policy decisions regarding demand response aggregation be reconsidered, and should a model state tariff be designed?
- Should changes be made to the Integrated Resource Planning process to accommodate increased use of distributed energy resources?
- Is new behind-the-meter technology or hardware needed to accommodate or facilitate the development of distributed energy resources?
Workshop meetings will be held Nov., 20, and Jan., 9, 2018.
Regulators also want to determine if any distribution system upgrades will be required to accommodate or
facilitate DER development, and what process should be developed to provide for resource accreditation,
including consideration of capacity factors
Other states have focused on developing DERs as well. New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision is the most well-known and comprehensive utility business model proceeding. In it, regulators are seeking to remake the utility business model to incentivize deployment of DERs and demand management as an alternative to traditional infrastructure.
California, Minnesota, Hawaii, Rhode Island and many other states have all launched proceedings of their own, with varying focuses. Of particular focus in California has been how to bring demand-side resources into the wholesale markets.
