Category Archives: Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES)

CPES Policy Committee Update: July 25, 2017

This update features policy, regulatory, legislative, and regional developments in Connecticut and New England. The policy updates are compiled by the CPES New Energy Professionals Team. If you are interested in learning more about the New Energy Professionals, the Policy Committee, or if you have ideas for future policy updates, we would welcome your input and feedback. Please send comments to Kathryn Dube, CPES Executive Director, via email: kdube@ctpower.org.

In this Update:

  • MA Preliminary 2018 SREC I and II Minimum Standards and
    Solar Program Administrator RFP
  • Consumers Fare Better With Competitive Electricity Market

REGIONAL NEWS:

Solar Program Administrator RFP Posted
Earlier today, the electric distribution companies issued a Request for Proposals to select a Solar Program Administrator for the SMART program.  Interested bidders must be registered within the Eversource “SAP Ariba Sourcing” purchasing system. More details and a copy of the RFP can be found on DOER’s website.

Preliminary 2018 SREC I and II Minimum Standards
Pursuant to 225 CMR 14.07(2) and (3), the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is required to calculate the Solar Carve-out and Solar Carve-out II Compliance Obligations and Minimum Standards for each Compliance Year by no later than August 30th of the preceding year. As has been the practice to date, DOER announces a preliminary Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard prior to conducting the Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auctions (“Auctions”) each July. For Compliance Year 2018, the formula in 225 CMR 14.07(2)(g) will be used to calculate the Solar Carve-out Compliance Obligation, and the formula in 225 CMR 14.07(3)(e) and (f) will be used to calculate the Solar Carve-out II Compliance Obligation.DOER emphasizes that this is only a preliminary announcement and that final Minimum Standards will be announced no later than August 30th.  

Solar Carve-out (SREC I Program) Based on the information available at this time, DOER estimates that the 2018 Compliance Obligation for the SREC I Program will be approximately 838,995 MWh and that the Minimum Standard will be approximately 1.7903%. Should this year’s SREC I Auction not fully clear in the first two rounds, the 2018 Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard will be increased to 857,423 MWh and 1.8296%, respectively. The details of how this preliminary Minimum Standard was calculated are available on the DOER’s website. 

Solar Carve-out II (SREC II Program) Pursuant to 225 CMR 14.07(3)(a)1, all Retail Electricity Suppliers are exempt from any incremental obligations resulting from the provisions contained in the RPS Class I Emergency Regulation filed on April 8, 2016, which expanded the Solar Carve-out II (SREC II) Program Capacity Cap. As such, it is necessary for DOER to establish a baseline Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard that would have applied had the Emergency Regulation not been filed.
 
To determine this baseline Minimum Standard, DOER analyzed the percentage shares of MW qualified under each of the four SREC II Market Sectors at the time the extension was announced. DOER then multiplied these percentages by the original 947.7 MW SREC II Program Capacity Cap. DOER multiplied these totals by the applicable SREC Factors, a 13.71% expected capacity factor, and 8,760 hrs/year and determined the expected MWh/year that would have resulted had the SREC II Program Capacity Cap remained 947.7 MW. Lastly, DOER added the remaining auction certificates available from 2015 as well as the auction certificates and banked SREC II volume from the 2016 Compliance Filings. This yields a total baseline Compliance Obligation of 1,347,902 MWh and a Minimum Standard of 2.8762%

If the upcoming SREC II Auction does not fully clear in the first two rounds, the baseline Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard for 2018 will be 1,591,279 MWh and 3.3955%, respectively.  

Using all of the available information at this time, DOER has also calculated the preliminary 2018 SREC II Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard for load under contracts signed on or after May 8, 2016. DOER has determined that the Compliance Obligation will be approximately 1,923,743 MWh and that the Minimum Standard will be approximately 4.1049%. Should this year’s SREC II Auction not fully clear in the first two rounds, the 2018 Compliance Obligation and Minimum Standard will be increased to 2,167,120 MWh and 4.6242%, respectively. The details of how this preliminary Minimum Standard was calculated are also available on the DOER’s website.

Next Steps
The first rounds of both the SREC and SREC II Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auctions are scheduled to take place on July 24, 2017. Should these auctions not fully clear, second and third rounds will be held as necessary on July 25, 2017 and July 28, 2017, respectively. Once both auctions have concluded, DOER will be able to make its final determination of the Compliance Obligations and Minimum Standards for 2018. The announcement of these final Minimum Standards will occur no later than August 30, 2017. More information on the auctions taking place later this month is available on the DOER’s auction website.

OP-ED FROM MORNING CONSULT, JULY 12, 2017:
CPES does not take a position on this Op-Ed piece; this is provided for informational purposes only to CPES members.

Consumers Fare Better With Competitive Electricity Markets
DARRIN PFANNENSTIEL

Policymakers across the country are grappling with a stunning transition under way in the United States’ $380 billion electricity sector. Electricity consumption is flat, cleaner energy sources are dramatically increasing market share while nuclear and fossil fuel generation plants struggle to maintain economic viability, and new consumer-empowering technology innovations promise to transform how households and businesses use energy.

The U.S. electricity sector hasn’t seen such foment since 20 years ago, when state and federal policymakers began to introduce competitive reforms to the staid monopoly-regulated electric utility industry. While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted to establish the wholesale power markets that now dominate most of the country, many states acted to open up retail markets so that for the first time in more than a century electricity consumers could choose from among competing suppliers.

Indeed, until California’s well-intentioned but poorly conceived first-in-the-nation experience with electricity competition, it appeared that a majority of states across the country would restructure their electricity markets to enable competition. But after California, some states poised to enact restructuring declined to do so, and others that had adopted competitive reforms reversed course.

Nevertheless, slightly more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia, which account for one-third of all electricity generation and consumption in the country, persisted with the task. They learned from California’s mistakes and created vibrant retail competition programs that have grown and prospered over the past 20 years, benefiting consumers with abundant choices among increasingly innovative, clean and cost-competitive electricity product and service offerings.

So for two decades we’ve had what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described as laboratories of democracy at work, with one set of states preserving monopoly utility regulation while another set pursued competition and customer choice.

And as shown in a new white paper commissioned by the Retail Energy Supply Association, entitled “RESTRUCTURING RECHARGED — The Superior Performance of Competitive Electricity Markets 2008-2016,” the verdict is in: Consumers with competitive choice are disproportionately benefiting. Using U.S. Energy Information Administration data, the white paper by Philip R. O’Connor, Ph.D., former chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, found that competitive choice jurisdiction customers fared demonstrably better in terms of price, investment and efficiency than did those who remained under monopoly regulation.

Weighted average prices in the group of 35 monopoly states have risen nearly 15 percent while in the 14 competitive markets total weighted average prices have declined 8 percent. Inflation-adjusted price changes for major customer classes in choice and monopoly states are starkly different, declining 18 percent for customers in competitive jurisdictions compared to the experience in monopoly states.

It is no surprise then that relatively sophisticated commercial and industrial electricity customers have widely embraced competition, and we’ve a seen a majority of customers in those classes benefit by purchasing electricity from non-utility suppliers in competitive choice states, particularly as competition enables access to cleaner energy supply options. But residential customers are increasingly benefiting from the competitive marketplace too.

Between 2003 and 2008, the number of residential accounts served in competitive jurisdictions by non-utility providers more than tripled from about 2.3 million to 7.1 million, and more than doubled again since to average more than 16.4 million annually. For jobs-producing commercial and industrial customers, between 2003 and 2008 those served by non-utility suppliers grew 240 percent, from 436,000 to nearly 1.6 million. Since then we’ve seen a near doubling again with competitive commercial and industrial accounts averaging more than 2.9 million and exceeding 3 million in 2016.

Dr. O’Connor’s analysis also found a sharp contrast between the two sets of states in terms of innovation. Competitive choice jurisdictions are enabling innovation in customer-empowering alternatives such as “green” energy options and smart thermostats that allow customers to better manage how and when they use electricity. Monopoly utilities, meanwhile, are inherently inhospitable to innovation, his analysis found. This is especially important when one considers the many innovative ideas emerging from Silicon Valley that will power the electricity sector and consumers into a clean energy future.

It is against this backdrop of growing evidence that competitive markets are delivering real and tangible benefits in terms of pricing and innovation that policy makers in several states are beginning to consider once again taking steps to introduce competition in electricity to retail customers. Given the demonstrably superior performance of retail choice markets, a coming second wave of retail electricity market restructuring has begun, as evidenced by ongoing debates in Nevada and California.

Consumers want and expect choices. Given the stunning economic and technological transformation underway in the electricity industry, it makes little sense to cling to a monopoly regulatory model for electricity that is a vestige of 19th century economic thinking and a barrier to the efficient 21st century clean-energy economy that consumers and policymakers seek to embrace.

Darrin Pfannenstiel, senior vice president and associate general counsel for Stream, a Dallas-based competitive retail energy supplier, is president of the Retail Energy Supply Association, a broad and diverse group of retail energy suppliers who share the common vision that competitive retail electricity and natural gas markets deliver a more efficient, customer-oriented outcome than the regulated utility structure.

https://morningconsult.com/opinions/consumers-fare-better-competitive-electricity-markets/

Making Sense of Integrating Markets and Public Policy in New England (IMAPP): CPES / NEWIEE Joint Meeting

WRAP UP:

“Making Sense of IMAPP”
Integrating Markets and Public Policy in New England:

Sponsored by: Eversource, HQUS, Starion Energy, Robinson+Cole, DCO Energy, Globelé Energy, LLC
  

WRAP UP:
CPES and NEWIEE Host Joint Meeting on Integrating Markets and Public Policy (IMAPP) in New England

On September 13, 2017, the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES) and New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE) hosted a joint meeting in Hartford, Connecticut on an important regional topic—the integration of the region’s wholesale electricity markets with the public policy goals of the New England states. The meeting marked the third collaboration between CPES and NEWIEE, reflecting the organizations’ respective commitments to create opportunities to share information about hot topics in energy, while recognizing women who work in the industry. The panel discussion featured state and regional experts on energy, including Allison DiGrande, Director of NEPOOL Relations for ISO New England, Michelle Gardner, Director of Regulatory Affairs – Northeast for NextEra Energy Resources, and Elin Katz, Consumer Counsel for the State of Connecticut. Flossie Davis, Partner at Day Pitney LLP, moderated the panel and provided background on the stakeholder discussions launched by NEPOOL to consider potential market rule changes to integrate markets and public policy in New England.      

Allison DiGrande set the stage for the discussion, explaining how state polices promoting the procurement of clean energy resources are impacting the region’s wholesale electricity markets. She explained the proposal the ISO has put forward to accommodate the states’ public policy goals in the near term—called Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources—involving enhancements to the region’s Forward Capacity Market. She noted that the ISO’s proposal is intended to integrate the states’ sponsored policy resources into the Forward Capacity Market over time while preserving competitively based capacity pricing for other resources in New England to ensure resource adequacy. She stated that the ISO is currently working with stakeholders on design details and plans to file its proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by the end of the year for review and approval.

Michelle Gardner discussed a longer-term proposal offered by NextEra Energy, Conservation Law Foundation, and Brookfield Renewable aimed at achieving the states’ public policy goals through the wholesale electricity markets. She laid out the general framework for a proposed Forward Clean Energy Market intended to procure the clean energy attributes of resources needed to fulfill the states’ long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals. She explained that the design proposal is intended to not only attract new clean energy resources but also retain existing clean energy resources to cost-effectively reduce GHG emissions in New England. She also described the proposal’s location-specific payments to focus incentives to develop new clean energy resources where they will displace the most CO2 emissions.

Elin Katz voiced her support for a solution that accommodates the states’ public policy goals, expressing concern over the willingness and ability of the six New England states to gain consensus over one set of public policy goals to achieve through the markets. She explained to attendees that the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel is an active and voting member of the End-User Sector of NEPOOL, which gives consumer interests a voice in stakeholder discussions. She also touched on the issue of Millstone Nuclear Power Station and how the debate over the plant’s future is indicative of the challenges associated with coming to agreement over matters of state policy.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Panel Description:
Since last August, market participants, policymakers, and other stakeholders have been discussing potential market rule changes to integrate the region’s wholesale electricity markets with the public policy goals of the New England states. Through that process, ISO New England has offered a conceptual approach to accommodate state policies in the near term, involving enhancements to the Forward Capacity Market. The region’s stakeholders are exploring several other concepts as well, including longer-term solutions aimed at achieving the states’ public policy goals, not simply accommodating them. How did we get here? How are consumers represented in these discussions? 

Location:
Day Pitney LLP, 242 Trumbull Street, Hartford, CT 06103

Program:

  • 5:30: Registration and networking reception
  • 6:15: Welcoming remarks by NEWIEE and CPES Board Members
    • Elizabeth C. Barton, NEWIEE President and Partner, Day Pitney LLC
    • Joey Lee Miranda, CPES President and Partner, Robinson+Cole
  • 6:30: Panel discussion: Making Sense of IMAPP: Integrating Markets and Public Policy in New England
  • 7:30: Conclusion

 

CPES Policy Committee Update: July 10, 2017

This update features policy, regulatory, legislative, and regional developments in Connecticut and New England. The policy updates are compiled by the CPES New Energy Professionals Team. If you are interested in learning more about the New Energy Professionals, the Policy Committee, or if you have ideas for future policy updates, we would welcome your input and feedback. Please send comments to Kathryn Dube, CPES Executive Director, via email: kdube@ctpower.org.

This week’s feature:

  • Summer 2017 Update on Regional Transmission Investment
  • Office of Legislative Research Report on Acts Affecting Energy & Utilities
  • Three New PURA Dockets

REGIONAL AND INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Summer 2017 Update on Regional Transmission Investment
ISO New England recently published the June 2017 update to the Regional System Plan (RSP) Project List, which details Pool Transmission Facility (PTF) projects needed to ensure reliability in New England. Since the March 2017 update, 2 projects plus a portion of a third were cancelled, 16 upgrades were placed in service across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and 2 new projects were added to the list. Additionally, some project cost estimates changed, and in-service dates for 4 projects were moved into 2022.

Since 2002, a cumulative total of 730 project components representing an investment of $8.4 billion have been placed into service to help ensure that New England’s transmission system continues to reliably and efficiently move electricity across the region.

For more information, visit the ISO Newswire.

PUBLIC UTILITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY NEW DOCKETS:

On June 27, 2017, PURA established the following docket:

On June 28, 2017, PURA established the following docket:

On June 29, 2017, PURA established the following docket:

CONNECTICUT LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The Office of Legislative Research recently released the special report on Acts Affecting Energy & Utilities.

The 2017 Regular Session adjourned on June 7, 2017.  Information about the Energy and Technology Committee, including committee meetings and public hearings, is available at: https://www.cga.ct.gov/et/

 CPES does not take a position on these legislative proposals; this is provided for informational purposes only to CPES members.

CPES Policy Committee Update: May 30, 2017

This update features policy, regulatory, legislative, and regional developments in Connecticut and New England. The policy updates are compiled by the CPES New Energy Professionals Team. If you are interested in learning more about the New Energy Professionals, the Policy Committee, or if you have ideas for future policy updates, we would welcome your input and feedback. Please send comments to Kathryn Dube, CPES Executive Director, via email: kdube@ctpower.org.

This week’s feature:

  • Governor Malloy Re-appoints Elin Swanson Katz as Consumer Counsel
  • RESA Issues Whitepaper – The Superior Performance of Competitive Electricity Markets 2008-2016
  • CT Office of Consumer Counsel Issues Report on Retail Electric Market
  • ISO New England Is Conducting a Study of Fuel Security Challenges
  • Budgets Swipe Funding for Clean Energy and Efficiency Programs; Advocates, Local Businesses Decry Impact to Environment and Economy
  • The House and Senate Pass Legislation Concerning Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Administrative Hearings

STATE AND INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS

On May 3, 2017, Governor Dannel P. Malloy re-appointed Elin Swanson Katz of West Hartford to serve another five-year term as Consumer Counsel for the State of Connecticut.  The Consumer Counsel is responsible for advocating on behalf on Connecticut Consumers on issues relating to electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, and water. Press Release

Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA) Issues Whitepaper – The Superior Performance of Competitive Electricity Markets 2008—2016, authored by Philip R. O’Connor, Ph.D

Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel Issues Report on Retail Electric Market

ISO New England Is Conducting a Study of Fuel Security Challenges
ISO New England is conducting a study of fuel security challenges to the continued reliability of New England’s power system. In this context, fuel security refers to the ability of power plants to have or obtain the fuel required to generate electricity, especially during the winter peak season.

The study is examining more than a dozen cases of generating resource and fuel-mix combinations and will quantify each case’s fuel security risk—that is, the number and duration of energy shortfalls that would require implementation of emergency procedures to maintain reliability during the entire winter period in 2025. The study is not focused on the effects of expanded access to natural gas and will not identify needs for new or expanded pipeline capacity or natural gas infrastructure. 

The study is still underway, with completion expected by the end of October 2017.

More information is posted on the ISO New England website and featured on the ISO Newswire.

Budgets Swipe Funding for Clean Energy and Efficiency Programs; Advocates, Local Businesses Decry Impact to Environment and Economy
Energy Efficiency and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to be raided

Labor, public health, consumer and environmental advocates, as well as owners and employees of local clean energy businesses, denounce state budget proposals that massively raid energy efficiency and clean energy programs.

The Republican proposal raids $320 million ($160 million annually) from Connecticut’s nationally acclaimed Conservation & Load Management programs (C&LM) and the Democratic proposal would divert $20 million in revenue from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). That revenue supports the C&LM residential and commercial programs, municipal energy efficiency efforts, and the Connecticut Green Bank’s clean energy programs. Both the C&LM and RGGI funds create jobs, help families and businesses save billions of dollars in energy costs, reduce harmful climate pollution, and supply significant state tax revenue by fueling private growth. Cutting funding for these programs will harm Connecticut’s economy and health, and damage the state’s credibility as clean energy leader.

See link for full press release.

CONNECTICUT LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Information about the Energy and Technology Committee, including committee meetings and public hearings, is available at: https://www.cga.ct.gov/et/

The Energy and Technology Committee’s JF deadline was March 23, 2017.  The list of bills reported out of the Energy and Technology Committee is available here and additional information about the status of these bills is available at this link.

The House and Senate passed the following legislation:

CPES does not take a position on these legislative proposals; this is provided for informational purposes only to CPES members.

Natural Gas Representatives Share Latest Information on Infrastructure Projects Progressing in Connecticut and New England

Wrap Up: Natural Gas Infrastructure Project Updates: Transmission and LDCs
Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Cromwell, CT
Presentations

On June 14, 2017, the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES) hosted representatives from Connecticut-based gas utilities and an interstate pipeline company to provide an update on the natural gas expansion projects progressing in Connecticut and the larger New England region.  Gregg Therrien, Assistant Vice President of Concentric Energy Advisors and member of the CPES Board of Directors, moderated the panel discussion, which included remarks by:

  • Michael J. Dirrane, Director of Marketing, Enbridge
  • Erik Robie, Manager for Commercial Sales, Connecticut Natural Gas and The Southern Connecticut Gas Company
  • Chris Luca, Program Manager for Gas Expansion, Eversource

 
Michael Dirrane provided an update on the interstate pipeline expansion projects completed and advancing in New England. Enbridge, a leader in the gathering, transportation, processing and storage of natural gas, merged with Spectra Energy on March 1, 2017, creating one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. Dirrane is responsible for managing the commercial relationships between Enbridge pipelines in the Northeast, including the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) pipeline system, and gas utilities in the region. He said that natural gas supplies from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays have been a “game changer” for the industry since they came on line in the 2010 timeframe. Today, six billion cubic feet of natural gas per day is supplied by the Marcellus and Utica shale formations, and this gas, he said, is being transported all across the country. Dirrane provided an update on the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) and Atlantic Bridge expansion projects. The AIM project, completed in January 2017, expanded the pipeline capacity of the existing AGT pipeline system by roughly 342,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day. The Atlantic Bridge project, scheduled for completion in 2018, is designed to provide additional capacity on both the AGT and Maritimes & Northeast pipeline systems.
 
Erik Robie discussed the key role the 2013 Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES) has played in the expansion of the natural gas distribution system in Connecticut, calling it the “playbook” for gas utilities in the state. The CES, issued by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in February 2013, made several recommendations to advance to the state’s vision for a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy future. One of the central goals of the 2013 CES, Robie explained, was to increase customer choice by providing residents and businesses greater access to natural gas. The 2013 CES, and its enabling legislation passed in 2014, established new rate and cost-recovery mechanisms, among other tools, to help move natural gas expansion projects forward in Connecticut. Since the 2013 CES was issued, Connecticut Natural Gas and The Southern Connecticut Gas Company have added 153 miles of new main and supplied more than 34,000 new customers with natural gas. Their goal is to install 180 miles of new main by the end of 2017.
 
Chris Luca underscored the importance of the 2013 CES in the expansion of the natural gas distribution system in Connecticut. Luca also discussed the importance of working with municipalities to minimize the costs associated with permitting, policing the construction site, and restoring the site to its original condition after installing new pipeline. Luca highlighted the Ansonia residential expansion project, one of three major gas expansion projects for Eversource in 2016. The project involved 4.25 miles of new pipe and provided access to natural gas for more than 294 residential properties. Eversource’s communications strategy with the municipality and residents was key to the project’s success, Luca said.           
 
All of the panelists’ presentations are available on the CPES website.