Dive Brief:
- New York regulators approved a rate freeze for Consolidated Edison that allows the New York City-based utility to spend $1 billion hardening its system to adapt to climate change.
- With stakeholders, ConEd will consider adopting critical peak pricing plans and creating rate options to encourage smart charging of electric vehicles.
- ConEd agreed to study “non-transmission alternatives” to boosting grid reliability, like distributed generation.
- Also, ConEd will study the possibility of creating microgrids in its service territory.
Dive Insight:
While still in development, ConEd's approach shows how utilities have a various options, ranging from different rate structures to energy storage, to deal with climate change issues.
“The Con Ed settlement serves as a model for how public utility commissions across the country should require the companies they regulate to ensure that essential services are still provided in the face of future climate change,” Columbia Center for Climate Change Law Director Professor Michael Gerrard said. “We are extremely pleased with Con Ed’s receptivity to considering recent scientific projections rather than basing its investments on historical events."
