In this Convo of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines, a new nonprofit organization aiming to modernize utility regulation to accelerate affordable, reliable, and clean energy for American consumers. He is also an energy analyst who has worked at Rewiring America, DOE’s Loan Programs Office, and now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a research affiliate.
Charles wants people to pay attention to the enormous influence that public utility commissions (PUCs) have on the U.S. energy transition, and get involved with this long-neglected area, pushing for a utility regulatory system that can better serve American consumers, grow the economy, and support communities. His concern is that most states have an outdated utility regulatory system that is not prepared to tackle modern energy challenges. He also claims that there are 200 commissioners controlling the monopolistic utilities at the heart of America’s electricity system, with over 200 billion dollars in utility spending.
By engaging with the people, policies, and processes needed to deliver on this agenda, PowerLines approach is to pull together a big tent coalition of people interested in public utility commission (PUC) reform, including PUC staffers themselves, state legislators, clean energy providers and customers, academics and researchers, as well as grassroots groups. They’ll serve as a hub for modernizing utility regulation by bringing together these diverse stakeholders to share ideas, resources, and solutions on a path forward to effective utility regulation.
Charles and Ted dig into the problems with PUCs, discussing the unrestrained, unregulated authority over the U.S. electricity system. With the immense power and significance on the country’s clean energy future, Charles highlights opportunities for reform, including the revision of statutes, the effectiveness of integrated resource plans, decarbonization, equity, and creating more latitude or space for regulators to embrace a more forward-thinking, innovation-oriented mindset.