New England is moving rapidly towards a restructured utility industry environment, with policy conversations which are significantly more reasonable than average. The main action right now is in Massachusetts and Vermont, with some spillover into Rhode Island.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) released its draft restructuring proposal (DR 96-100) in early 1996, calling for a transition to full retail wheeling for all customers by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, the Division of Energy Resources (DER) issued Power Choice, the DER proposal for dealing with the transitional and structural issues of the emerging utility universe, and has followed up with a detailed analysis and counterproposal to 96-100.
One of the most interesting responses to DR 96-100 is a study performed by Resource Insight on behalf of the state Attorney General which shows that, on balance, the generating assets which consumers have paid for have a net positive value. Since consumers paid for those generating plants, presumably they should reap the benefits of any profits made selling power from those projects in a restructured market environment.
A slew of responses to these policy initiatives are available, including comments from:
The Rhode Island electric system is intimately connected with the Massachusetts grid. In fact, the most interesting parts of the Rhode Island restructuring proceeding (Docket 2320) have been included as part of the Massachusetts DER analysis of restructuring in Massachusetts:
Meanwhile, in June 1996 the Rhode Island legislature approved
a $0.0025/kWh public benefits charge for developing energy conservation
and renewable resources in a restructured environment.
In Vermont, the Public Service Commission has initiated a restructuring inquiry, which has in turn generated an interesting proposal from Green Mountain Power. Other comments of note from various parties include responses from:
Convergence Research - 6/1/96