Utility Reform and Grid Modernization

Policy Options

‘**’ indicates bipartisan support

Adaptation and Resilience

• Maryland HB31 (enacted 2022): Establishes the Resiliency Hub Grant Program to develop resiliency hubs that serve low- and moderate-income households at no cost to the households; defining “resiliency hub” as a location where solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage are designed to provide electricity during extended grid outages; etc.
• New Jersey A.2480 (introduced 2022): Requires electric public utilities to submit a proposal to the Board of Public Utilities detailing a plan to harden its electric distribution substations to protect against criminal attacks.

Environmental Justice

• Maine L.D. 2018 (enacted 2022): Establishes definitions for “environmental justice” and “front line communities;” sets methods to incorporate the weighing of equity decisions in deliberations at the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Public Utilities Commission.
• **Oregon HB2475 (enacted 2021): Authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to consider disproportionate energy burden and affordability in ratemaking.

Public Power and Rural Electric Coops

• **Colorado HB21-1131 (enacted 2021): Expands the state’s transparency rules for electric cooperatives and adds measures to improve co-op elections and governance.
• **Maine L.D. 1708 (passed both chambers 2021): Authorizes the replacement of the state’s two largest electricity companies with a publicly owned utility.
• New York S.6453C (passed Senate 2022): Requires the New York Power Authority to provide only renewable energy and power to customers; requires certain New York power authority projects and programs pay a prevailing wage and utilize project labor agreements.

Ratemaking, Planning, and Oversight

• Hawaii SB 2939 (enacted 2018): Requires the Public Utilities Commission to create a performance-based ratemaking structure to protect customers and facilitate the transition to renewables.
• **Maine L.D. 1959 (enacted 2022): Requires quarterly report cards for the state’s utility companies based on service standards; creates a mechanism for utility companies that routinely fail to meet service standards to be sold to a consumer-owned, quasi-municipal corporation; etc.
• New York S.1556 (enacted 2022): Disallows the cost recovery for membership dues of any entity that engages in legislative lobbying activities.
• **South Carolina H3659 (enacted 2020): Requires utilities to prove their generation plans are the most “prudent and reasonable” through public hearing.

Regionalization and Wholesale Markets

• Nevada S.B.448 (enacted 2021): Accelerates construction of a massive transmission project and requires that the state join a regional transmission organization by 2030. 
• **Colorado SB21-072 (enacted 2021): Requires transmission utilities to join an organized wholesale market by 2030 and modernize the state’s electricity grid system. 
• **South Carolina H4940 (enacted 2020): Forms a committee to investigate a range of market-based reforms, including participation by SC utilities in a statewide or regional wholesale market.

Securitization

• **Colorado SB19-236 (enacted 2019): Authorizes any electric utility to apply to issue low-cost  Colorado bonds to lower the cost to ratepayers when the retirement of an electric  generating facility occurs. A portion of bond proceeds will provide transition assistance for  Colorado workers and communities directly affected by the facility retirement.
• **Kansas HB2072 (enacted 2021): Permits utilities to refinance remaining debt on retiring coal-fired power plants by repackaging debt as ratepayer-backed bonds at far lower interest rates.

Transmission and Distribution

• Maryland HB 88 (enacted 2022): Establishes state policy goals regarding electric distribution; required efforts to support and pursue federal funding for system upgrades; and established labor standards for certain projects.
• **New Mexico HB233 (enacted 2020): directs the Energy, Mineral, and Natural Resources  Department to develop a roadmap for grid modernization. Creates a grant program funded by the state treasury for municipalities, agencies, schools, and Indian  tribes to pursue grid modernization projects. New Mexico also has a Renewable Energy Transmission Authority and you can find more information here.

Utility Regulator Mandate Expansion

• **Connecticut SB7 (enacted 2018): Ties the state’s energy strategy, which statutorily guides the decision-making power of the Public Utility Regulatory Authority, to the state’s climate targets.
• Massachusetts S9 (enacted 2021): Expands the scope of the Department of Public Utilities to  include security, equity, and the reduction of greenhouse gasses.
• Maine LD1682 (enacted 2021): Adds the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and  mitigation of disproportionate energy burdens to the purposes of the Commission and directs the adoption of rules to implement this new purpose.