ELPC Press Release
As climate change intensifies and renewable energy sources become more prevalent, our nation’s electric grid has moved to the front burner of environmental discussions. Our electricity system is making a twofold transition – from fossil fuels to clean energy sources (decarbonization), and from centralized sources to decentralized sources like rooftop solar panels and distributed storage. While large-scale clean energy generation and transmission facilities will still play a key role in the transition, we need a flexible, reliable, and affordable electric grid capable of handling the full suite of centralized and decentralized clean energy resources.
As Midwest states invest in grid transformation, equity and energy justice must be at the forefront of the discussion. How do we make the shift without leaving anybody behind? How do we build an energy system that’s better than the one we have now?
Utility grid planning processes offer the venue to advocate for both environmental protections and grid equity. ELPC seeks partnerships with low-income and BIPOC communities, who disproportionately bear the burden of polluting fuel sources and the costs of our aging grid, to identify and advocate for mutual priorities.
Cleaning up the energy sector requires more than accelerating the shift to renewable energy; it requires regulatory grid planning to enable distributed energy resources (DERs) and to realize their full suite of benefits. This grid modernization and focus on long-term regulatory planning will help to support an inclusive, affordable clean energy economy.
Long-term regulatory planning offers a platform for previously ignored voices and stakeholders to influence and actively shape electric industry policies with far-reaching impacts. Each Midwest state addresses regulatory planning through various proceedings such as rate cases, integrated distribution planning (IDP), integrated resource planning (IRP), and/or integrated grid plans (IGP). These initiatives aim to clean up, modernize, and expand access to the electric system.
ELPC and its partners intervene in these venues, underscore the need to integrate equity and energy justice into energy planning and investments, and offer concrete recommendations on how to do so.
Energy burden refers to the proportion of a household’s income that is spent on energy bills. It is often used as a measure of the affordability of energy for households, particularly low-income households. Experts consider an energy burden above 6% as unaffordable. A high energy burden indicates that a significant portion of a household’s income is dedicated to meeting energy needs, leaving less money for other necessities such as food, healthcare, or education. Households with high energy burdens are at higher risk of utility shutoffs.
Reducing energy burden requires both near-term solutions like bill assistance and minimizing rate increases, as well as longer-term, more structural change. ELPC advocates for several different avenues that lead toward the long-term reduction of energy burden, especially in lower-income areas. Such methods include, among others, increasing access to local distributed energy resources (DERs), including community/shared solar, and energy efficiency and weatherization improvements to decrease energy usage and bills.
Energy justice encompasses various dimensions of utility performance, including safety, affordability, equitable grid access, and access to clean energy programs.
ELPC builds partnerships with a diverse group of allies across the country, including Vote Solar, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Cooperative Energy Futures, the Ecology Center, and frontline community groups such as Souladarity and We Want Green Too. We learn from the groups that have led in environmental justice for decades, exploring how their advocacy and ours can be mutually supportive. Together, we push for measurable grid equity assessments and equity considerations in rate cases and grid planning.
ELPC and our allies promote programs in underserved communities, push for investments in grid equity, and track on-the-ground progress and impacts. We strive to help amplify the voices and perspectives of our frontline partners and other underrepresented groups and communities, through our own advocacy and through promoting procedural changes to enable their direct participation.
To learn more about ELPC in action, read about a recent settlement ELPC, our clients, and fellow advocates brokered with DTE Energy. This agreement will add thousands of megawatts of renewable energy to the grid, invest millions in low-income communities, and accelerate the retirement of DTE’s coal plants.