Search Climate Insights Directory

This report by RMI examines the use of cost tracker mechanisms by investor-owned utilities in the United States, arguing that their overutilization can weaken cost-containment incentives and increase energy burdens for households. It proposes a four-pronged regulatory strategy to help regulators manage these mechanisms, improve transparency, and align utility spending with customer needs.

This report provides a framework for conducting a Gas System Analysis (GSA) to help regulators and decision-makers evaluate the prudence of gas utility infrastructure investments, reduce consumer costs, and align utility operations with climate and public health goals.

This report by RMI provides guidance on using Performance-Based Regulation (PBR) as an alternative to traditional cost-of-service regulation (COSR) to better align utility incentives with customer and societal interests, specifically regarding decarbonization, affordability, resilience, and social equity.

This guide by RMI introduces Performance-Based Regulation (PBR) as a regulatory approach for electric utilities designed to align utility incentives with customer and societal interests. It contrasts PBR with traditional cost-of-service regulation (COSR), which the document argues creates perverse incentives such as 'gold plating' and 'capex bias' that hinder the clean energy transition. The guide details various PBR tools—including revenue decoupling, multi-year rate plans, and performance incentive mechanisms—and provides a framework for moving from incremental to comprehensive PBR reform.

This briefing by RMI explores how the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) Program, established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), can be used for "capital recycling" to accelerate the clean energy transition. The author argues that by using low-interest federal loans to displace costly utility equity and refinance "low-quality" rate base components (legacy fossil fuel costs), utilities can reduce ratepayer costs while maintaining sustainable shareholder earnings. The document provides a five-step implementation framework and applies it to case studies of utilities in Iowa and Missouri, while also detailing federal compliance requirements such as NEPA.

This briefing by RMI argues that high rates of return on equity (ROE) for regulated utilities hinder the energy transition by incentivizing capital-intensive projects over efficiency, increasing costs for consumers, and making utilities less competitive than third-party renewable developers.

This report by RMI examines the financial burden of high fuel costs on families in the United States and critiques the current utility practice of using fuel adjustment clauses to pass 100 percent of fuel costs to customers. The document proposes six regulatory strategies to incentivize utilities to manage fuel costs more efficiently and reduce the risk of price volatility for consumers.

This briefing by RMI outlines the energy affordability crisis in the US, driven by high fossil fuel prices and rising electricity rates, and provides a toolkit of short-term and long-term regulatory solutions for state public utility commissions to reduce the energy burden on vulnerable households.

This report examines how open-source utility planning software and stakeholder-driven modeling can improve integrated resource planning (IRP) outcomes, using a case study of the 2021 resource plan from Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities.

This policy brief by RMI outlines how the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) can reduce the high energy burden on Georgia electricity customers through specific regulatory reforms. It argues that while Georgia has low electricity rates, it has some of the highest bills in the contiguous US, disproportionately affecting low-income and minority households. The document proposes four primary levers for the PSC: implementing securitization, reforming the Return on Equity (ROE) for Georgia Power, establishing fuel-cost sharing mechanisms, and updating system planning to align with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

This report by RMI examines the shift toward "climate-forward efficiency," which prioritizes energy efficiency, electrification, and demand flexibility specifically to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It analyzes the use of Performance Incentive Mechanisms (PIMs) to align utility business models—which traditionally favor capital investment and sales growth—with state climate goals.

This policy brief describes the implementation of performance-based regulation (PBR) in Hawaii, where the Public Utilities Commission approved nearly 40 metrics and scorecards to hold Hawaiian Electric accountable to clean energy and social goals. It highlights the use of diverse outcomes, the challenges of establishing targets for emergent goals, and the importance of stakeholder engagement in designing a comprehensive regulatory portfolio.

This briefing explores "solar for coal swaps," a private-sector financial model where third parties purchase and retire uneconomic coal assets from utilities in exchange for providing new solar generation. The document argues that this approach can accelerate the clean energy transition, particularly for municipal and cooperative utilities, by leveraging private capital to bypass utility inertia and reduce consumer costs.

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for decarbonizing the US building sector, primarily through electrification. It outlines ten key strategies for public utilities commissions (PUCs) and government agencies to transition away from fossil fuel infrastructure, emphasizing equity, market transformation, and the management of stranded asset risks.

This guide by RMI provides five strategic tips for utility regulators to maintain progress on long-term climate and energy goals during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the use of virtual technology and the prioritization of decarbonization efforts.

This policy brief analyzes how the Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) achieved low-cost wind and solar bids through a competitive procurement process that mitigated the utility's monopsony market power. The author argues that these results were the product of long-term regulatory oversight, transparent planning, and a structured approval process by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

This briefing discusses the mandate given to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate the transition to a performance-based regulation (PBR) model to align utility operations with state clean energy and decarbonization goals.

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) examines utility regulatory reform efforts across 10 U.S. states to identify effective processes for transforming the power sector. It argues that traditional quasi-judicial regulatory processes are inadequate for the scale and complexity of current energy transitions and proposes a four-stage framework—initiation, vision communication, conduction, and delivery of outcomes—to achieve more transformational results.

This briefing by Energy Innovation examines how utility depreciation accounting and regulatory asset management influence the transition from coal-fired power plants to clean energy in the United States. It details the mechanisms regulators use to handle 'stranded assets'—plants that become uneconomic before their useful life ends—and the trade-offs between accelerated and extended depreciation schedules regarding consumer rates and investor returns.

This briefing by Energy Innovation introduces a series of tools designed to help regulators, utilities, and investors manage the financial transition from uneconomic coal-fired power plants to cheaper clean energy generation, using Colorado as a case study.