Development of new transmission is essential to prepare for the deployment of large amounts of clean energy resources onto the grid. State and federal utility regulators are tasked with addressing issues on how to plan and pay for new transmission development and navigating related jurisdictional issues. For this reason, NARUC is preparing increased opportunities for collaboration and cooperation between state utility commissions, subject matter experts, impacted stakeholders, and federal regulators to identify barriers to and opportunities for transmission expansion.
NARUC facilitates the Transmission State Working Group to support commissioners and commission staff in exploring state commission role and influence on transmission development and evaluation. The working group is open to all NARUC members. For more information, or to join the working group, contact Elliott Nethercutt.
In June 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) established the Joint Federal State Task Force on Electric Transmission with NARUC to facilitate cooperation and the exchange of perspectives with states on transmission-related issues. The first meeting was held in November 2021; the last meeting was held in February 2024. Members of the Task Force consist of all five FERC commissioners and ten state commissioners, with two state task force members representing each NARUC region.
NARUC is grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office for funding to support state utility regulators in these efforts.