ESG issues weigh on utility credit ratings, particularly PG&E, Edison and FirstEnergy: Moody's

It's early in the energy transition, said Moody's analyst Jeffrey Cassella, but so far the firm has not identified any utility companies turning ESG concerns into net-positives.

By Robert Walton • June 3, 2021

The Texas Big Freeze: How a changing climate pushed the state's power grid to the brink

Energy Innovation explains what drove the extended Texas outages in February in a series on resiliency against extreme events.

By Dan Esposito and Eric Gimon • June 2, 2021

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Reliability

A curated selection of recent stories that explore advances in policy and technology to address reliability, as well as the reliability risks the U.S. power system is facing.

By Utility Dive staff

Local communities want to lead the fight for clean energy

Local governments want to step up and advance all-electric buildings because they know it's good for communities, public health, affordability, reliability and our planet, the author writes.

By Alejandra Mejia Cunningham • June 1, 2021

Record wildfire threats mean California must pick when and where to fight, utilities, analysts, CalFire agree

Utilities, public agencies and firefighters are preparing for the worst as the climate crisis-driven threat of deadly, destructive wildfires in California grows, but the biggest question remains unanswered.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 27, 2021

ClearGen, GreenStruxure announce $500M partnership on renewable microgrids

The microgrids serve industrial facilities, schools, hotels and other commercial facilities with a no-money-down offer, making on-site generation and storage a possibility for more businesses.

By Jason Plautz • May 25, 2021

A 'literal tinderbox': Oregon regulators brace for 2021 wildfire season with temporary utility rules

"[E]xtreme weather conditions — especially high wind — tests even the best built and maintained electrical systems,” Oregon PUC Commissioner Letha Tawney said at a meeting last week.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 24, 2021

CAISO 'cautiously optimistic' about summer 2021, but still sees causes for concern

"[T]here are remaining risks to reliability, such as an extreme prolonged heat wave affecting wide swaths of the West, or serious wildfires," CAISO President and CEO Elliot Mainzer said in a statement.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 13, 2021

PG&E gets greenlight for $7.5B wildfire securitization, but consumer advocates raise challenges

Utility securitizations generally involve costs that ratepayers would be paying for anyway, but "that is not the situation here," said April Rose Maurath Sommer, executive and legal director of the Wild Tree Foundation.   

By Kavya Balaraman • May 7, 2021

PG&E will fight criminal charges tied to 2019 Kincade Fire, CEO Patti Poppe says

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s office earlier this month filed a criminal complaint charging PG&E with five felonies and 28 misdemeanors connected to the fire. 

By Kavya Balaraman • April 30, 2021

California's dilemma: How to control skyrocketing electric rates while building the grid of the future

New ideas include income-based rates, publicly-funded infrastructure, utility entrepreneurship, and customer-funded wildfire insurance.

By Herman K. Trabish • April 26, 2021

PG&E gets initial approval to securitize $7.5B of wildfire costs, despite ratepayer impact concerns

"The only guarantee [here] is the ratepayers have to pay regardless. That’s the problem there in a nutshell," one ratepayer advocate said. 

By Kavya Balaraman • April 23, 2021

PG&E, other IOUs failed on 'obligation to promote safety' during 2019 power shut-offs, regulators say

The three utilities collectively shut off power to more than 2.1 million households, businesses and other customer accounts in late 2019.

By Kavya Balaraman • April 21, 2021

California puts PG&E under enhanced oversight due to wildfire prevention work lapses

The process involves additional reporting requirements and the possibility, down the line, of revoking PG&E's operational certificate.

By Kavya Balaraman • April 16, 2021

PG&E bid to securitize $7.5B in wildfire costs could hit ratepayers hard, consumer advocates warn

"If there is a shortfall, that means that PG&E’s customers will be forced to pay higher rates to fund PG&E’s wildfire liabilities. Another word for that is bailout,” said Tom Long, legal director at The Utility Reform Network.

By Kavya Balaraman • April 12, 2021

California tees up proposals to securitize $7.5B in PG&E wildfire costs

Without the securitization, "ratepayer costs will be higher as it will take PG&E longer to achieve investment grade credit ratings," according to the California Public Utilities Commission. 

By Kavya Balaraman • April 7, 2021

How Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan could boost California's energy transition

Transmission investments could help California address reliability challenges and utility wildfire risk, experts say.

By Kavya Balaraman • April 6, 2021

Record wildfires upend lockdown-driven air quality gains

The United States was home to 77 of the world's 100 most polluted cities at one point last year, even as some parts of the world reaped the benefits of lower emissions amid the pandemic.

By Maria Rachal • March 23, 2021

Bipartisan House lawmakers to reintroduce grid security bill after Texas outages, SolarWinds attack

The Grid Security Research and Development Act was passed last year by the House but was later withdrawn due to procedural issues.

By Robert Walton • March 19, 2021

Solar makes up majority of new resource additions for 2nd year in a row, reaching record 19.2 GW

With residential installations booming and expected to triple by 2030, Wood Mackenzie reported the largest year on record for utility-scale solar installations in the U.S.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • March 17, 2021

Analysts point to $500B investment gap in climate resilience for electric utilities

Investor owned utilities in the U.S. are seeing a gap in investment to adequately prepare energy systems for a changing environment, ICF said in a new report.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • March 9, 2021

California proposes enhanced oversight of PG&E as concerns rise over wildfire mitigation

The process is based on six steps triggered by certain events and could potentially lead to the commission reviewing — and possibly revoking — PG&E’s operational certification down the road.

By Kavya Balaraman • Feb. 26, 2021

Utilities need to harden the grid as they green it. Consumers aren't ready for the cost

Federal funding for grid modernization and decarbonization is the way to ensure events like the Texas blackouts don’t happen again.

By Stephanie Eyocko • Feb. 26, 2021

Possible hundreds of billions in US power sector securitizations spur ratepayer protection debate

Securitization can ease impacts of COVID-19 moratoria debt, stranded asset costs, and extreme weather losses, but bankers and regulators agree that customer costs need oversight.

By Herman K. Trabish • Feb. 22, 2021

Residents' climate anecdotes to inform San Diego resilience plan

Following hazard vulnerability assessments, the city is nearing a resilience draft plan focused on wildfires, sea level rise, extreme heat and flooding.

By Maria Rachal • Feb. 22, 2021

FERC closes resilience docket opened in response to DOE coal, nuclear bailout proposal

The decision comes amid rolling outages that have plagued Texas, and Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, in his sole dissent, said the docket was precisely the right place to examine these and other reliability issues.

By Catherine Morehouse • Feb. 19, 2021