Welcome to the last 2023 Energy Policy Pulse installment. Join us as we delve into several impactful U.S. energy policy developments and stay tuned for more news in 2024.
Northeastern rates
Massachusetts
Waltham Community Electricity has been renewed through December 2025
The Waltham Community Electricity program, the city’s electricity supply initiative since 2021, has been renewed with new pricing through November 2025 and the updated rates remain lower than Eversource’s current residential Basic Service price. Participants, totaling over 24,500 accounts, have cumulatively purchased 36,300 MWh of renewable energy, resulting in avoiding over 27,515,400 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions since the program’s launch in 2021.
Boston officials announce choice of electricity rates
The City of Boston has announced new electricity rates through Boston’s Community Choice Electricity (BCCE) program, effective from December 2023 to December 2025. The rates, offered by a new contracted supplier, Direct Energy, include BCCE’s default and Green100 rates, which offer more renewable energy and cost less than Eversource’s Basic Service Rate.
New Hampshire
Cheshire becomes first county-level member in community power group
Cheshire County has become the first county-level member of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, offering a streamlined process for its towns and city to enter community power agreements and secure lower electricity rates. Community power programs empower municipalities to purchase electricity on behalf of residents, providing flexibility and lower rates compared to state-regulated utilities.
Maine
Maine utilities move to time-varying electric rates to boost electrification
Maine is considering time-of-use rates to encourage widespread adoption of electric-vehicle chargers and heat pumps, while addressing potential strain on the power grid. Central Maine Power, the state’s larger investor-owned utility, is working on designs for time-of-use rates with regulators and advocacy groups.
Clean energy news
New England
New England needs lots of clean energy, new power lines, grid operator’s study says
A study by ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, emphasizes the need for a mix of clean energy sources, traditional power resources, and robust transmission to ensure a reliable electricity supply during the transition to renewable energy. The study highlights the challenges posed by weather-dependent and geographically scattered resources like solar and wind in addressing sudden changes in demand.
NYISO releases its ten-year comprehensive reliability plan
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has issued its 2023-2032 Comprehensive Reliability Plan (CRP), highlighting risks to electric system reliability due to increasing demand from the electrification of transportation and buildings, generator deactivations, delays in infrastructure projects, and extreme weather. The report emphasizes the importance of monitoring the rapidly changing electric grid and outlines potential risks to system reliability over the ten-year planning period.
Michigan
Michigan just passed one of the country’s most ambitious clean energy bills
Michigan’s Democrat-controlled legislature has passed a set of clean energy bills, including Senate Bill 271, which mandates the state’s major utilities to achieve 100% carbon-free energy by 2040. The bills were passed on party-line votes, with Michigan becoming one of several states with Democrat-controlled legislatures enacting significant climate policies.
California
Los Angeles will offer more energy incentives to low-income residents
Los Angeles will expand electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure and increase rebates for used EVs to address the inequities faced by low-income residents in the transition to clean energy, according to a report by the city’s utility, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the University of California, Los Angeles. The city will provide up to $4,000 in rebates for used EVs, up from $2,500, and build fast chargers in underserved neighborhoods.
Federal regulation
Biden wants hydrogen, carbon capture scaled up within a decade, but is the technology ready?
The Biden administration’s plan to achieve a net-zero emissions power grid by 2035 through the rapid deployment of clean hydrogen and carbon capture technologies is facing criticism from power utilities, grid operators, and industry experts. Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’s nonprofit, the Energy Future Initiative, highlighted major implementation challenges, including the need for extensive infrastructure and higher costs than estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Regulators call for natural gas supply protections after 2022 winter power outages
U.S. energy regulators, in a joint inquiry with the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC), urged lawmakers to address regulatory blind spots to ensure a reliable supply of natural gas during extreme cold weather. The report called for Congress and state lawmakers to establish reliability rules for natural gas infrastructure, emphasizing the need for authority to establish and enforce gas reliability standards.
Texas News
Texas voters approve $10B energy fund, with most going to build gas-fired power plants
Texas voters approved a new $10 billion Texas Energy Fund through a constitutional amendment, enabling low-interest loans for gas-fired power plants, microgrid development, and grid modernization. The fund will be administered by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, with $7.2 billion allocated for new construction or upgrades of dispatchable power generation.
Virtual power plants’ potential
How to turn your electric car into a mobile power plant
A growing number of electric vehicles (EVs) entering the market are equipped with bidirectional charging capabilities, allowing them to serve as backup power sources for homes during blackouts and support grid stability. This advancement presents an opportunity for utilities to aggregate EV batteries into virtual power plants, contributing to grid resilience and aiding in the transition to renewable energy.
Virtual power plants: A ‘critical resource’ for meeting rising electrification demand
Virtual power plants (VPPs) are evolving from demand response technology to encompass aggregated distributed energy resources (DER), providing grid services and energy capacity. The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office sees VPPs as a critical component in addressing the increasing peak demand on the grid resulting from the electrification of vehicles, industry, heating, and data centers.
