The Maryland Public Service Commission is set to establish a Community Choice Energy Workgroup pursuant to legislation enacted in May that created a Community Choice Aggregator Pilot Program for Montgomery County. The workgroup is tasked with submitting an annual report to the commission detailing the status of the aggregator pilot. The commission must establish standards and procedures to protect the rights of residential customers who receive electricity supply through the aggregator, including prohibition of discrimination on the basis of customer location. The pilot program will operate for seven years beginning April 1, 2024. READ MORE

The Maine Public Utilities Commission will conduct a public hearing on a proposal to amend the state’s renewable portfolio standard rule pursuant to recently enacted legislation that established a thermal energy investment program within the Efficiency Maine Trust. The legislation specifies that alternative compliance payments made by competitive electricity providers to meet the requirements for thermal renewable energy credits be deposited into a fund that will be used to provide incentives and low-interest or no-interest loans to businesses, municipalities, educational institutions and nonprofit entities for the installation of new thermal energy-derived projects. 2021-00213

The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold the first of a series of educational sessions to build a knowledge base related to distribution system planning. Exelon Corp.’s utilities Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Potomac Electric Power Company, and Delmarva Power and Light Company will provide a presentation covering the basics of the distribution system. The move is part of the commission’s proceeding to examine opportunities to transform the distribution grid to ensure that electric service is customer centered, affordable, reliable, and environmentally sustainable.

The Maryland Public Service Commission is due to receive proposals on energy efficiency and demand response programs, distributed energy resources, and fuel switching as part of EmPOWER Maryland, the state’s energy efficiency program. The current goal structure for EmPOWER is mandated by legislation through the end of the 2021-2023 program cycle and the commission is required to provide the General Assembly with recommendations on future goals and cost-effectiveness tests by July 1, 2022. An order issued in December 2020 authorized the transition to the next three-year program cycle and approved various proposals by the program administrators to continue operating the core energy efficiency programs in 2021-2023. 9648

The Michigan Public Service Commission staff is due to issue a report providing a comprehensive analysis of how customer-sited generation and energy storage are changing the way customers use the grid, as well as rate design options and recommendations for evolving energy technologies. The commision established the Distributed Energy Resources Rate Design workgroup in February to study rate design issues relating to the growth of distributed resources. The workgroup took the place of the Distributed Generation Pricing stakeholder workgroup under the Innovative Rate Offerings of the MI Power Grid initiative, which was launched in 2019 to maximize the benefits of the transition to clean, distributed energy resources for residents and businesses. READ MORE

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will consider the Public Service Company of Colorado’s proposal to recover the costs incurred by its electric and gas utilities during the February winter storm event. In the wake of the event that affected the south-central U.S., extreme weather conditions led to a reduction in natural gas supply, coupled with an increase in demand for home heating, causing natural gas prices to soar. The Xcel Energy Inc. subsidiary, in its initial proposal, requested approval to spread the costs across a 24-month period that would not include carrying cost through its gas cost adjustment or electric commodity adjustment mechanisms. A decision on the proposal is anticipated by March 7, 2022. 21A-0192EG