We review long-term electric utility plans representing ~90% of generation within the Western U.S. and Canadian provinces. We address what utility planners assume about future growth of electricity demand and supply; what types of risk they consider in their long-term resource planning; and the...

Residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in the US are often compensated at the customer's underlying retail electricity rate through net metering. Given the uncertainty in future retail rates and the inherent links between rates and the customer–economics of behind-the-meter PV, there is growing...

Achieving significant reductions in retail electric sales is becoming a priority for policymakers in many states and is echoed at the federal level with the introduction of legislation to establish a national energy efficiency resource standard. Yet, as the National Action Plan on Energy...

ABSTRACT=Demand response (DR) is increasingly recognized asan essential ingredient to well-functioning electricity markets. DRmarket potential studies can answer questions about the amount of DRavailable in a given area, from which market segments. Several recent DRmarket potential studies have...

In the aftermath of the consumer price shocks and short-term power shortages of the 2000-01 electricity crisis, policymakers and regulators in Western states are placing increased emphasis on integrated resource planning (IRP), resource adequacy and assessment and a diversified portfolio of...

Market monitoring involves the systematic analysis of pricesand behavior in wholesale power markets to determine when and whetherpotentially anti-competitive behavior is occurring. Regional TransmissionOrganizations (RTOs) typically have a market monitoring function. Becausethe West does not...

Empirical evidence concerning demand response (DR) resources is needed in order to establish baseline conditions, develop standardized methods to assess DR availability and performance, and to build confidence among policymakers, utilities, system operators, and stakeholders that DR resources do...

The federal market has been a source of strong energy service company (ESCO) industry growth over the last decade as traditional MUSH markets municipal/state governments, universities, schools and hospitals have matured. Federal alternative financing programs Utility Energy Services Contracts...

Demand response is increasingly recognized as an essentialingredient to well functioning electricity markets. This growingconsensus was formalized in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT), whichestablished demand response as an official policy of the U.S. government,and directed states (and...

The Organization of Midwest ISO States (OMS) launched the Midwest Demand Resource Initiative (MWDRI) in 2007 to identify barriers to deploying demand response (DR) resources in the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) region and develop policies to overcome them. The MWDRI stakeholders...