What is the Utility of the Future?

The electricity system that now dominates the United States focuses on increasingly more expensive forms of energy and a utility business model that encourages greater power consumption—and higher electric bills.

With Illinois utilities launching “smart grid” improvements and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introducing its Clean Power Plan, now is the time to change the status quo. A “Utility of the Future” business model would encourage electric companies to offer new services and optional rate plans to maximize energy efficiency, demand response and distributed generation (like small-scale solar). That would open the door to a healthier electric market and lower power bills.

The following is a library of publications giving background on today’s key energy issues underlying the “Utility of the Future.”

Smart Grid

Webinar: The Effects of the Clean Power Plan and Order 745 on Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS Webinar – July 8, 2014)

21st Century Electric Distribution System Operations (Lorenzo Kristov, California Independent System Operator; Paul De Martini, Caltech Resnick Institute – May 2014)

Capitalizing on the Evolving Power Sector: Policies for a Modern and Reliable U.S. Electric Grid (Bipartisan Policy Center – Feb. 7, 2013) Final Report (Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project – April 2015)

eBook: The Evolving Electric Power Industry (The Edison Foundation – June 2015)

Demand Response

D.C. Circuit Kills Demand Response Compensation: Now What? (Scott Hempling – June 2014)

The Evolution of Demand Response in the PJM Wholesale Market (PJM – October 6, 2014)

California’s Demand Response 2.0 Creates New Competitive Markets (Greentech Media – March 11, 2015)

DR 2.0: A Future of Customer Response (Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid – July 2013)

Next Generation Demand Response: Responsive Demand through Automation and Variable Pricing (The Sustainable FERC Project, March 17, 2015)

Energy Efficiency/ Distributed Generation

Integrating Renewable Energy into the Electricity Grid (Advanced Energy Economy Institute – June 2015)

Solar and Energy Storage Impacts on Wholesale Power Markets (Solar Electric Power Association and Black & Veatch White Paper – June 1, 2015)

Energy and Environment Guide to Action (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA)

Rate Design

Interim report on customer acceptance, retention, and response to time-based rates from the Consumer Behavior Studies (U.S. Department of Energy – June 2015)