The Maine Public Utilities Commission is due to receive submissions for transmission projects in response to its request for proposals for high voltage transmission line and renewable energy generation projects to transmit electricity from Northern Maine to the electric grid operated by the Independent System Operator of New England. A 2021 law established the “Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program,” which seeks to encourage the rapid development of renewable sources as well as the necessary transmission infrastructure to expeditiously meet the state’s renewable energy and climate goals. Renewable generation proposals are due by May 1, 2022. Maine’s renewable portfolio standard requires 80 percent of the state’s electricity to be sourced from renewables by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is due to receive comments on the development of the 2022 Comprehensive Energy Strategy to plan for the effective management of the state’s energy supply, distribution, and demand. The plan will identify strategies to lower costs, ensure reliable energy supply, incorporate energy equity, maintain the state’s economic competitiveness, and alleviate public health and environmental impacts of energy use. Key topics that the agency expects to address include thermal decarbonization and energy affordability of buildings, greenhouse gas accounting for biofuels, and updates to the electric vehicle roadmap and integrated resource plan. READ MORE

The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold a work group meeting to discuss proposals on cost-recovery, bill impacts, and funding as it examines a new goal structure for EmPOWER Maryland, the state’s energy efficiency program. The current goal structure 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 Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a prehearing conference on Puget Sound Energy’ proposal to increase its electric and gas delivery revenues. The company has proposed a three-year rate plan for the 2023-2025 period and a return on equity of 9.9 percent. The plan proposes an increase in electric delivery revenues of about $310.5 million for 2023, $63 million for 2024, and $31.8 million for 2025. For natural gas revenues, the utility seeks increases of $143 million, $28.5 million, and $23.3 million for the first, second, and third years, respectively. Under the plan, a residential customer would see an average monthly bill increase of $12 for electricity and $9 for gas next year. UE-22006, UG-220067

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is due to receive comments in response to its proceeding on evaluating the liability of a wholesale, opt-out model for community choice energy, or CCE. The proceeding follows a law enacted in June 2021 to study the concept of CCE under which, a community, or group of communities, may choose to purchase their electricity from a wholesale supplier other than the local investor-owned electric utility. The law underscores the potential of CCE to help communities meet their renewable energy goals and lower electricity rates through wholesale competition and local control over the supplier and energy mix without changing the local utility’s status as the transmission and distribution provider. The study must identify best practices and lessons learned from the experiences of other states that have implemented the model to determine whether CCE could provide net benefits to Colorado communities. Responsive comments are due by April 15, 2022. READ MORE

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a public forum on Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s proposal to increase its electric and gas delivery revenues. The company has proposed a four-year rate plan for the 2023-2026 period with a return on equity of 10.25 percent. The proposal would result in a revenue increase of $3.56 billion for 2023, and additional increases of $930 million in 2024, $590 million in 2025, and $381 million in 2026. Under the proposal, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer, including customers enrolled in the assistance program California Alternate Rates for Energy, would increase by 18 percent in 2023. The company forecasts an investment of approximately $3.2 billion in expense and $4.2 billion in capital during the period to address wildfire risk and minimize the customer impacts caused by public power shutoffs. A2106021

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission is due to receive comments on Puget Sound Energy’s clean energy implementation plan. The company has set an interim target to source 63 percent of its electric supply from renewable or non-emitting resources by 2025, up from 34 percent in 2020. To achieve the target, the company intends to bring recently acquired renewable energy contracts into its portfolio, seeking to add 11,404,183 megawatt-hours in 2025, the equivalent of 500 megawatts of wind and 300 megawatts of solar. The plan also includes aspirational sub-targets of 80 megawatts of distributed solar and 25 megawatts of distributed battery storage programs. The 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act requires the state’s electricity supply to be carbon-neutral by 2030 and carbon-free by 2045, and directs electric utilities to phase out coal from their generation portfolio by 2025. READ MORE

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will hold a virtual public hearing on the impact of the February 2021 cold weather event on the state’s regulated natural gas utilities and customers. The commission is examining utilities’ proposals for a recovery process for the cost impacts due to extreme gas market conditions during the event. Disruptions in gas supply, combined with a steep rise in demand during last year’s mid-February cold weather, led to extraordinary market conditions, with prices at delivery points to Minnesota increasing dramatically to as much as $231 per dekatherm compared to the forecasted February weighted average cost of gas at $3.06 per dekatherm.