Advancing Equity in Utility Regulation

Increasingly, states are recognizing equity as a goal of utility regulation, going beyond traditionally stated objectives to ensure that electricity systems are reliable, safe, and fairly priced. State initiatives are critical not only to address historical inequities, but to ensure equitable benefits and burdens in the transition to a clean energy future. This report provides four perspectives on advancing equity in electric utility regulation, from representatives of energy justice and consumer organizations and a leading utility in this area. The authors provide recommendations related to regulatory issues such as stakeholder engagement, defining "public interest," intervenor funding, electricity infrastructure siting, access to distributed energy technologies, consumer protections, bill affordability programs, rate design, program design, and metrics to track and evaluate results of policies, regulations, and programs intended to deliver equitable outcomes.

The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy — Solar Energy Technologies Office and Office of Electricity - Energy Resilience Division as part of DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative. Lisa Schwartz of Berkeley Lab’s Electricity Markets and Policy Department is the project manager and technical editor. For more information on this report series, click here.

A webinar discussing this research recorded on December 16, 2021, can be viewed here.