Task Force

Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) provided a forum for the development of state-led pathways toward a more resilient, efficient, and affordable grid.

Electricity Planning for a 21st Century Power Grid

Emerging technologies, decreasing costs, consumer preferences, new energy service providers, and state and local efforts are driving significant growth in distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar, storage, energy efficiency, demand management, and microgrids. These investments increasingly require regulatory and policy innovation and a greater emphasis on planning to overcome system complexities and avoid unnecessary costs associated with operating the grid.

With greater alignment of resource and distribution system planning, states and utilities could:

  • Improve grid reliability and resilience
  • Optimize use of distributed and existing energy resources
  • Avoid unnecessary costs to ratepayers
  • Support state policy priorities
  • Increase the transparency of grid-related investment decisions

Why is Comprehensive Electricity Planning Needed?

With utilities making annual capital expenditures of more than $100 billion on behalf of customers, considering the full range of investment options across the electricity system is essential for cost effectively meeting current and emerging grid needs such as increased flexibility and resilience.

With growing customer installation of DERs, electricity planning needs to account for the quantity, location, capabilities, and load shapes of resources added to the distribution system and the bulk power system.

Learn more by exploring this site or downloading the Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning Factsheet.

NARUC and NASEO are grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy for its support of this initiative.

Contact Us

For questions, or if you need more information regarding the Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning, contact Danielle Sass Byrnett.