Federal

Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The final statute included $1.2 trillion in infrastructure funding, $550 billion of which was previously unplanned spending. Besides things such as transportation, clean water, and broadband access, the legislation funds several aspects of energy system investment, including:

• $65 billion for grid modernization
• $7.5 billion in grants for new alternative-fuel stations, including hydrogen, electricity, and natural gas
• Creation of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to bring new energy technologies to market faster

President Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which would have included much more in the way of direct investment in alternative energy sources, failed to secure congressional approval. As an alternative, Biden focused on transitioning the government itself to a cleaner footprint, including an executive order directing the federal government to use its procurement power to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030, 100% zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035, a net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, and net-zero emissions from federal procurement and overall federal operations by 2050.

Arizona

The Arizona Corporation Commission approved the Transportation Electrification Plan, which directs regulated electric utilities to file proposals around transportation electrification every three years and to report their progress annually. The plan’s electric-vehicle (EV) adoption scenario anticipates 1.1 million EVs on Arizona roads by 2030. The barriers to adoption identified in the plan include an insufficient charging infrastructure, a lack of access in underserved communities, grid-planning and capacity needs, and the need for an effective rate design. Utilities will file their first plans by June 2022.

In December 2021, the commission’s staff proposed an order that, if adopted by the commission, would require utilities to develop 15-year integrated resource plans in even-numbered years. These plans would require a comprehensive analysis of power system resilience to extreme weather.

California

In December 2021, the California Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued Decision D2112011 relating to energy-efficiency actions to enhance 2022 and 2023 summer electricity reliability. The decision approves $180 million in new energy-efficiency spending and allows utilities to shift other efficiency funds previously allocated to address summer reliability objectives.

Illinois

Texas

The state’s PUC issued an order providing new customer protections for retail electric customers. The order alters the Provider of Last Resort rate formula, limits price volatility, restructures the maximum price cap and removes the alternative price cap, requires utilities to provide information about load-shed and critical customers, and implements Acknowledgment of Risk requirements. The added customer protections are in response to 2021 power system shutdowns.

Annual benchmarking reports highlight the importance of reliability

The Australian Economic Regulator published its Annual Benchmarking Reports for both distribution and transmission electricity network service providers in the national electricity market. The report shows how efficient the network companies are at providing services when compared with their peers. Among the outputs measured is reliability, based on customer minutes of power disruption.

The results showed overall distribution network productivity increased in 2020, representing a continuation of a trend that began in 2015. Looking at the comparative performance, nine of the distribution utilities had become more productive in 2020, while four had become less productive. The factor driving most improvement was a reduction in operating expenditure. For the four distribution utilities that became less productive, deteriorating reliability was identified as one of the two main drivers, alongside reductions in the amount of electricity delivered to customers.

Distribution utilities implementing policies to support decarbonization

The Commerce Commission,New Zealand’s competition, consumer, and regulatory agency, published analyses highlighting the increased focus by the29 electricity distribution utilities on policies to support the government’s decarbonization objectives.

A review of the companies’ asset-management plans found all were engaged in some way with the issues stemming from decarbonization. In many cases, the commission noted planning was at an early stage but that there was an increased focus on electrification, a consideration of new technologies, and a recognition of the need to consider alternative approaches to traditional solutions. Aligned with this, the review noted a range of measures being taken to reduce emissions, including those from sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), with several examples provided of utilities moving away from purchasing SF6 switchgear.

The commission’s review is part of a wider process aimed at exploring how it should organize its regulatory work program to reflect the challenges facing the sector, of which decarbonization is a significant factor. The outcome of this review is expected to be announced later in 2022.

Bill proposes a measure to modernize Alberta’s electricity system

In November 2021, the Alberta legislature introduced Bill 86, the Electricity Statutes and Amendment Act. The bill proposes a range of changes designed to support investments in an innovative electricity system and distributed energy resources, encourage competition, and seek leveraging the financial benefits associated with non-wires alternatives.

If successful, the bill could enable a greater role for energy storage, remove barriers for exporting energy to the grid, and require distribution utilities to prepare longer-term investment plans. Much of what is contained in the bill builds on the Alberta Utilities Commission’s Distribution System Inquiry published in February 2021. If the bill passes, amendments are expected to be finalized later in 2022.

British electricity distribution network businesses outline five-year investment plans

British electricity distribution utilities submitted their final rate filings under the RIIO-ED2 Performance-Based Rate framework in December 2021. Overall, the utilities anticipate spending £23.2 billion ($30.7 billion) from 2023 to 2028, a 23% increase from RIIO-ED1 rate spending but slightly down from their earlier draft plans.

Given the United Kingdom’s net-zero emissions targets for 2050 (2045 in Scotland) and the energy transition, these allowances potentially could flex upward during the period. Across the electricity distribution utilities, a range of proposals, if accepted, could enable a further £4 billion to £5 billion worth of investment over theRIIO-ED2 period.

Reliability continues to be a growing area of focus for the distribution network companies. The utilities are targeting further improvements in System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) of up to 20% and in System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) of up to 25%. They are also focusing on addressing worst-served customers at the grid edge, collectively targeting improvements for 84,000 customers for a total investment of £111 million, a10% increase from earlier draft plans.

In total, the electricity distribution companies expect more than 6.7 million new electric vehicles to be on the road by 2028 and the connection of more than 2.8 million additional electric heat pumps. All British distribution utilities will shift to a distribution system operator role for RIIO-ED2.