Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Adapting Public Utility Commissions to Meet Twenty-First Century Climate Challenges

44 Pages Posted: 18 Oct 2014

See all articles by Inara Scott

Inara Scott

Oregon State University, College of Business

Date Written: October 16, 2013

Abstract

Climate change and efforts to address it have put the electric utility system under increasing pressure to adapt and evolve. Key to the success of these efforts will be the support of public utility commissions, the state agencies that oversee retail electric utilities. In an effort to determine how these commissions will make decisions, this article explores the history, enabling legislation, and jurisdiction of commissions. It concludes that the authority and purpose of commissions has been narrowly defined to focus almost exclusively on short-term rate impacts to current utility customers, and as a result, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, modernize or transform the electric grid, or expand the path for new technologies such as electric vehicles, will not come from commissions, and in fact may be blocked by the same. Accordingly, the article offers options for modernization, ultimately recommending a melding of economic and environmental goals through a long-term planning process that balances cost and risk, yet remains squarely within the jurisdiction and historical purpose of the regulatory commission.

Keywords: electric utility, utility regulation, energy law, energy policy

JEL Classification: K32, K23, L94, L98

Suggested Citation

Scott, Inara, Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Adapting Public Utility Commissions to Meet Twenty-First Century Climate Challenges (October 16, 2013). Harvard Environmental Law Review, Vol. 38, No. 2, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2511041

Inara Scott (Contact Author)

Oregon State University, College of Business ( email )

443 Austin Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States

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