In response to Consumer Defection, Utilities Abandoning Attack on Solar

[kristopher]

The future of rate design: Why the utility industry may shift away from fixed charges
The animosity over fixed charges is giving way to a debate over comprehensive rate reform
By Gavin Bade | November 19, 2015

Less than three years after the utility industry first introduced fixed charges into its playbook, state regulators and utilities across the country appear to be looking for a new approach to growing concerns over load defection.

In January 2013, the Edison Electric Institute, the national trade group for investor-owned utilities, released its landmark “Disruptive Challenges” report. The report's most notable recommendation was to advise utilities to increase fixed charges to make up for stagnant load growth and customers installing their own distributed generation.

Utilities across the nation took to the recommendation. Last November, Utility Dive reported that there were at least 23 separate fixed charge proposals being considered by state regulators across the country, and the trend has continued through 2015. A recent report from the NC Clean Energy Technology Center found that there were 26 open dockets in 18 states relating to fixed charge increases in the third quarter of this year.

But as quickly as fixed charges came into vogue, they now appear to be on the way out...

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/the-future-of-rate-design-why-the-utility-industry-may-shift-away-from-fix/409504/

[bananas]

1. Wow - glad to hear that!

EEI Executive Vice President David Owens stressed to the audience that utilities must create a rate design that will enable the transition to a networked grid where bidirectional power flows are the norm.

[kristopher]

2. I'd say that it amounts to bowing to the inevitable. nt