The utility and regulatory landscape is undergoing significant changes driven by surging demand, the integration of distributed energy resources, and the need for extreme weather and climate resiliency. Stateside, along with public utility commissioners, staff, and industry leaders gathered at the 2025 NARUC Annual Meeting & Education Conference in Seattle, Washington, from November 9th to 11th, to discuss obstacles, share best practices, and collaborate on ideas to build a more secure, affordable, and resilient energy system.
Adaptability and Affordability
State adaptability amidst federal policy changes was also a major discussion point at NARUC in the Committee on Consumers and the Public Interest. States are developing creative solutions to funding gaps, such as those caused by the then on-going government shutdown. Of particular focus was funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). States managed funding gaps by pushing back assistance application start dates, utilizing leftover federal funding, or pre-existing state supplemental resources. States are seeking more reliable, long-term solutions, including the expansion of ratepayer programs and utility bill Percentage of Income Payment Programs (PIPPs). Affordability for customers remains a top priority across all state commissions, and states like Washington and New Jersey are leading the way in establishing working definitions of energy affordability.
Growth and Innovation
In the general session “Regulation Without Borders: Regulatory Leadership Across Jurisdictional Lines”, panelists made up of industry leaders called for a "regulatory reset" to address an increasingly complex environment where regulations have "stacked onto each other" hindering cross-state collaboration on generation, transmission, and energy infrastructure. Utilities urged for greater flexibility to reflect the urgency of infrastructure investments needed and cited Arizona and Florida as positive examples in providing clear guidelines that favor robust development. Demand growth not only impacts investor-owned utilities; cooperatives and municipal utilities face similar demand pressure but are often more resource-constrained than their investor-owned counterparts. In the session “Demand Growth in the Electricity Sector”, municipalities and cooperatives discussed the need for careful planning to prevent unfair ratepayer cost-shifting. Given the scale of the challenge, transmission was universally identified as essential, and successful transmission development will require fostering partnerships with tribal communities whose territory is integral to land-intensive projects.
The integration of emerging technologies is also vital to help meet demand growth. The Clean Transition Tariff (CTT), a power purchasing agreement between Google and NV Energy that will bring 115 MW of advanced geothermal power to Nevada, allows Google to pay an initial premium associated with developing "first-of-a-kind" clean energy projects. This is vital for overcoming the initial high-cost of bringing next-generation geothermal to scale. Crucial to the scalability of geothermal across the Western United States is iteratively building on these successful models to lower the long-term cost of emerging clean technology.
Wildfire Mitigation and Looking Forward
Wildfire resilience remains a major concern, particularly as the intensity, geographical scope, and duration of wildfires have expanded dramatically over the past two decades. At the federal level, bipartisan legislative reforms aim to reduce utility liability and streamline response. In the final session on “Policy and Technology in Wildfire Resilience”, regulators recognized wildfire threats as a broad-based issue that necessitates resilience planning in new areas. The conference highlighted the value of resources like the NARUC Wildfire Workbook, created in collaboration with the private sector and the Department of Energy, and the potential for new technologies like Pano AI to improve early wildfire spark detection.
State regulators and partners will next meet to discuss affordability, resilience, and security at the NARUC Winter Policy Summit, February 8 to 11, in Washington, DC. Join Stateside, your industry colleagues, commissioners and staff from across the country for the Winter Policy Summit. Please reach out if you have questions about programming and participation at any of the upcoming NARUC meetings and engagement opportunities.