D.C. Grid Reform Campaign
Tell the PSC to improve our electric system!
Grid reform is an essential component for building a clean, equitable energy system that directs control and benefits back to local communities, with rooftop solar as the cornerstone. The D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) is engaged in a process, known as MEDSIS, to develop rules to improve electric service in the District. If done correctly, this will create a lower cost, reliable, and renewable electric grid for all District residents. We’ve followed this proceeding for over two years. Unfortunately, the PSC is dragging its feet. We need to show them the public is watching.
The PSC has released a vision statement to guide the MEDSIS process as it moves forward. While the vision statement is a step in the right direction, the PSC must still adopt a specific set of energy democracy principals, like the ones we submitted in March:
- Consumers should have the right to access all retail electricity services, including clean energy resources, real-time usage data, and dynamic pricing;
- Individual consumers, businesses, and communities (not just private developers, government, and utilities) should have the right to aggregate consumer electricity services and implement DG microgrids;
- New and improving technologies are driving fundamental change in DC’s electric distribution system, and changes to the regulatory structure, projects or programs are required to ensure the seamless integration of technologies that will result in clear benefits – including cost reductions – for DC’s ratepayers;
- The distribution utility must be held accountable to consumers for specific performance goals, which could include goals concerning support for alternative energy, reliability, and customer service;
- Electric distribution companies and cooperatives must serve as impartial grid operators, particularly when non-regulated affiliates are market participants;
- Distribution utility revenues must be based on the quality, efficiency, and reliability of the utility’s distribution service, not on electricity consumption; and
- Materials should be created and disseminated that describe the MEDSIS process in language that is accessible as possible to the public.
The Commission must also establish working groups and start taking concrete steps to create an electric grid that will work for all District residents. These working groups must be clearly defined and include appropriate stakeholders so that they can begin suggesting pilot programs to modernize the grid in an equitable and democratic manner.
You can find the official comments submitted by Solar United Neighbors of D.C. in response to the PSC vision statement (filed December 18, 2017), and the ensuing reply comments (filed January 18, 2017) in the official proceeding docket.