The energy industry is at an inflection point. We are witnessing an “affordability crisis” colliding with a “sustainability crisis”. Utilities are pushing out the retirement of generation assets and Inverter Based Resources (IBR’s) are making the grid balancing dance more difficult, all while suppliers can’t keep their natural gas turbines in stock and transformers remain in backorder. Building an electric grid that is both sustainable and kind to consumers’ wallets is a formidable task. At GridX, we are on a mission to help utilities bend the cost curve by reshaping how they approach rates and programs – it’s about creating incentives that shift usage and ultimately minimize the need for future rate increases. For decades, the industry relied on the “build more infrastructure” model. Today, that model is financially unsustainable. We have to do more with what we have via Rate Design. We have to make grid modernization co-exist with affordability and sustainability.
This brings us to the core challenge: How do we bend the cost curve considering both peak load and base load are expected to rise significantly over the next 10 years? The answer lies not just in new technology, but in the unglamorous, critical work of implementing complex rates and programs that actually work for the grid and for the people who pay for the electricity.
The only way to exert downward pressure on rate increases is through collective action.
This guide outlines how modern utilities are overcoming these barriers, utilizing the expertise of Grant Reynolds, Solutions Architect at GridX, to bridge the gap between regulatory design and operational reality. But doing rates right is difficult – for an abundance of reasons. As we talk about solutions, we have to look at why execution is so difficult.
