The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority will hold its first public forum to consider energy affordability and equity for the state’s commercial and industrial customers. The commission aims to engage customers who are most impacted by high energy costs and pave the way for long-term solutions to improve energy affordability for the state’s businesses. Last October, the agency began examining energy affordability for all customer classes following the approval of a framework for achieving an “Equitable Modern Grid,” designed to foster innovative solutions to address the challenges and opportunities facing the electric sector. READ MORE

The Maine Public Utilities Commission is due to receive bidders’ nonministerial permits obtained for projects proposed in response to the agency’s solicitation for the procurement of the output from distributed generation resources. A 2019 law directed the agency to conduct solicitations to obtain 250 megawatts of distributed generation from shared resources and 125 megawatts from commercial and institutional accounts over the next five years. The agency seeks proposals for the Block 1 procurement in one of two categories namely, commercial/institutional and shared projects for a procurement target of 25 megawatts and 50 megawatts, respectively. READ MORE

The Maryland Public Service Commission will consider Baltimore Gas and Electric Company’s proposed multi-year rate plan to address electric and gas revenue deficiencies in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In light of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Exelon Corp. subsidiary said it is not proposing to increase revenues in 2021 or 2022, and is seeking increases in 2023 of $140.4 million for electric and $94.9 million for gas service. The proposal is expected to result in an increase of about 8.3 percent in the total bill for an average residential customer receiving both electric and gas service from the company in 2023. 9645

The California Public Utilities Commission will vote on a proposal that would adopt short-term actions to expedite the deployment of microgrids and related resiliency strategies to mitigate the impacts of wildfire-caused outages and safety power shutoff events. The proposal would direct the state’s large investor-owned electric utilities to streamline interconnection of projects that could be operational by Sept. 1. Catastrophic fires in 2017, 2018, and 2019 resulted in billions of dollars in damage across the state. READ MORE

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will consider an application by Three Waters Wind Farm LLC, a subsidiary of Scout Clean Energy LLC, for a site permit to build a 201-megawatt wind project. The project footprint would occupy about 48,000 acres in Jackson County, and is expected to come online in 2021. The output of the facility will be sold to Minnesota Municipal Power Agency through a 20-year power purchase agreement. Scout is a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, an investor in low carbon energy infrastructure. WS-19-576

The New Mexico State Land Office will hold a tele-hearing to receive public comments on a proposed amendment regarding temporary shut-in of oil wells due to severe reductions in the price of oil. The agency has adopted an emergency rule amendment permitting a temporary shut-in for up to 120 days from April 21, and the proposed change would extend the duration for a period of one year from the effective date. READ MORE