WRAP UP: CPES Dinner Meeting
Speakers: PURA Vice-Chairman and President of NARUC, Jack Betkoski, III; Tracy Babbidge, Bureau Chief of DEEP’s Bureau of Energy and Technology Policy
Moderated by: Kate Boucher, Associate at Locke Lord LLP, Member of CPES’ New Energy Professionals Group
On Wednesday, March 14th, CPES hosted Jack Betkoski III, PURA Vice-Chairman and President of NARUC and Tracy Babbidge, Bureau Chief of DEEP’s Bureau of Energy and Technology Policy for a dinner discussion on what’s happening and in the pipeline for 2018 at DEEP and PURA.
DEEP Bureau Chief Babbidge started the discussion with an overview of DEEP’s 2018 Comprehensive Energy Strategy released in February and its eight main themes. She noted the challenge in writing the CES to balance the document’s strategic and comprehensive goals while writing for an audience ranging from experts to lay readers.
PURA Vice-Chairman Betkoski followed, speaking on PURA’s focus areas for the year, such as a grid modernization, the ramifications of federal tax reform for the state’s utilities, and best practices for electrical suppliers. He also discussed the new statewide water plan, submitted February 1st to the legislature for review, which outlines water policy in Connecticut for the next 50 years and his work with NARUC nationally on the water-energy nexus.
The speakers fielded questions from moderator Kate Boucher and attendees on a range of topics, from the role of climate policy in future editions of the CES, the state’s electric-vehicle deployment strategy, and position on fuel cells, to siting of renewable energy projects and water plan implementation. Throughout the night, both speakers emphasized the collaborative relationship between DEEP and PURA and the positive synergies that have come out of the 2011 consolidation of the state’s energy policy, environmental, and public-utility functions into one agency.
When asked to identify the state’s biggest challenges in 2018, Bureau Chief Babbage noted the complexities of progressing on DEEP’s priorities in the uncertainty that comes with an election cycle. Vice-Chairman Betkoski identified the state’s ongoing budget problems and personnel turnover as overarching challenges for PURA.
RTO Insider’s Article “Conn. Officials Talk State Policy, Wider Trends”
To read the newly released 2018 CES, click here.