During the pandemic, don’t adopt policies that make it harder to keep the lights on – Roll Call

Weeks into one of the greatest crises the nation has faced in generations, we are all learning much about the importance of the resilience of our nations utilities.The work of countless control room operators, line workers and power plant engineers, to name just a few, has been heroic during the COVID-19 pandemic.Energy keeps our health care facilities powered and enables telework for other sectors of the economy.Reliable energy delivery is foundational to modern society.

Those that oversee our energy companies are also meeting the moment.From the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the reliability of the bulk power system, to state public utility commissions, which have responsibility for the direct interface between utilities and their customers, regulators are finding themselves in a critical position.

In the succeeding months, these critical infrastructure companies must have the wherewithal to keep the lights on and energy flowing to hospitals, homes and stores.For the near term, close to half the states have required, and all investor-owned utilities have voluntarily offered, a halt to utility disconnections.In addition, state utility commissions around the country have begun proceedings to proactively address questions related to recovering costs associated with the crisis, including how to account for things such as higher bad debt expense due to customers inability to pay for energy.

In the longer term, we should expect a renewed focus on regulatory mechanisms to ensure the viability of an essential industry that has high fixed costs but falling volumetric usage, as industrial and commercial demand plummets.These reforms will be important to both mitigating the effects of this crisis and positioning utilities to successfully meet the next one.

The good news is that well-understood regulatory tools exist to address these challenges.The key for regulators will be to consider both sides of the ledger.They will need to ensure compassionate policies exist to protect customers hurting financially, while seeing to the continued viability of companies that are delivering electricity and natural gas where and when it is needed the most.

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During the pandemic, don't adopt policies that make it harder to keep the lights on - Roll Call