Full Title: What Utility Regulators Need to Know about the IRA
Author(s): Jessie Ciulla, Gennelle Wilson, Rachel Gold
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)
Publication Date: October 15, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents the single largest investment to date by the United States to modernize the US energy system. It has the potential to accelerate an electrified, equitable, distributed energy future — one that many electric utilities and utility regulators have been working toward for the past decade or more. But that potential won’t be realized unless state utility regulators take further action to ensure the IRA is implemented in the public interest and results in an affordable and reliable energy future. Further, some key provisions of the IRA, such as the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Program, expire in the middle of this decade, making it imperative for utilities and regulators to come together quickly to capitalize on these offerings.
This report outlines the implications of the IRA on core utility commission activities. It provides practical considerations for regulators to ensure the transformational potential of the IRA is realized and its full range of benefits flow to ratepayers in their jurisdictions.