Berkeley Lab’s Electricity Markets & Policy (EMP) department performs quantitative analysis, provides technical assistance, and explores the potential future state of electric utility regulation and business models in areas such as rate design, clean energy technology adoption, grid modernization and value-added electricity services. This work builds on decades of research in five related areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, customer adoption of technologies, demand response and smart grid, and retail rate design.
For the past decade, the Utility Regulation/Business Models area has quantified, through independent research or in collaboration with state regulators and policy makers, the financial impacts of energy efficiency and other distributed energy resources on electric utility shareholders and ratepayers to better understand how existing and potential business models for regulated utilities align with public policy goals. It also provides primary research and technical assistance on design and implementation of regulatory paradigms for electric utilities, as well as utility business model frameworks to explore the alignment of regulated utility business models and achievement of public policy goals.
Future Electric Utility Regulation Series
The electric sector in the United States is facing a range of challenges and opportunities created by new and improved technologies, changing customer desires, low load growth in many regions, and federal and state policies and regulations. This series of reports, produced by the EMP Group, takes a unique multiple perspective approach to highlight different views on the future of electric utility regulation and business models and achieving a reliable, affordable, and flexible power system.
FINDER Model
The FINancial impacts of Distributed Energy Resources (FINDER) model quantifies changes in utility costs and revenues, as well as the financial impacts to utility shareholders and customers with the addition of demand-side and distributed energy resources (DERs) like energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed solar. The model can also assess incremental changes to utility regulatory and business models, like alternative rate designs, revenue decoupling, and utility financial incentives, and the efficacy of such approaches to mitigate negative financial impacts due to increased DER adoption.
SUPRA Tool
The Standardized Utility Pro-forma Financial Analysis (SUPRA) tool provides regulators, policymakers, utilities, and third-party development organizations in island and remote communities with a relatively simple and publicly accessible financial analysis tool to better assess island and remote community utility opportunities to manage, mitigate, and/or improve its financial situation, and quantify the financial impacts from pursuing changes to its regulatory and business model.
Analysis of Utility Regulatory and Business Model Issues
Through independent research or in collaboration with state regulators and policymakers, EMP quantifies the financial impacts of distributed energy resources on electric utility shareholders and ratepayers—as well as various alternative utility regulatory and business models that could be implemented to mitigate any negative financial impacts. Our quantitative analysis also draws on and includes a broad range of related work from other EMP research areas, including valuation of renewable energy resources and the impacts of retail rate design and net metering on the customer-economics of distributed solar. We also develop conceptual frameworks identifying and describing changes in utility regulatory and business models, as well as evolutions in utility grid services, products, and market opportunities.
Technical Assistance on Utility Business Models
EMP provides technical assistance to states that are considering possible changes to regulations and policies including revenue adjustment mechanism design and implementation issues, performance incentive mechanism design and implementation issues, and broader performance-based regulation, in order to advance public policy goals for the electricity sector that support grid modernization, electrification (for transportation, building, and industrial applications), grid resilience, system reliability, and customer empowerment.
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Andrew Satchwell
Project Lead
(510) 486-6544
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Galen Barbose
(510) 495-2593 -
Peter Cappers
(315) 637-0513 -
Naim Darghouth
(510) 486-4570 -
Sydney Forrester
(510) 486-4123 -
Natalie Mims Frick
(510) 486-7584 -
Charles Goldman
(510) 486-4637 -
Will Gorman
(972) 824-3034 -
Lisa Schwartz
(510) 486-6315 -
Ryan Wiser
(510) 520-9357
Pages
The FINancial impacts of Distributed Energy Resources (FINDER) model quantifies changes in utility costs and revenues, as well as the financial impacts to utility shareholders and customers with the addition of demand-side and distributed energy resources (DERs) like energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed solar. The model can also assess incremental changes to utility regulatory and business models, like alternative rate designs, revenue decoupling, and utility financial incentives, and the efficacy of such approaches to mitigate negative financial impacts due to increased DER adoption.
The Standardized Utility Pro-forma Financial Analysis (SUPRA) tool provides regulators, policymakers, utilities, and third-party development organizations in island and remote communities with a relatively simple and publicly accessible financial analysis tool to better assess island and remote community utility opportunities to manage, mitigate, and/or improve its financial situation, and quantify the financial impacts from pursuing changes to its regulatory and business model.