Regulators and utilities have a choice: stick with expensive, outdated strategies, or take proven steps to protect families.

December 29, 2025
Phelps Turner


Phelps Turner is director of clean grid at Conservation Law Foundation.


Conservation Law Foundation, our partners and our allies have long been involved in exploring modern, more affordable ways to bolster our electricity grid, balancing the need to invest with the strain we’re all feeling on our wallets...........................

Additionally, we don’t always need new poles and miles of wires to improve our electricity grid. Traditional grid infrastructure, like poles and wires, is costly to install, maintain and repair after extreme storms. Smarter, cheaper solutions exist.

Utilities can make use of energy storage, energy efficiency, distributed generation and demand response programs to strengthen the grid, reduce costs, slash emissions and make it more resilient to storms and climate impacts. Energy that is generated or stored in locations at or near the point of electricity consumption — rather than at a central power plant — reduces the need for an expensive grid that delivers power over long distances.

New rate structures or incentives, including time-of-use rates and heat pump rates, help shift electricity demand from periods of higher consumption, like late afternoon/early evening, to periods of lower use, like early mornings. 


https://www.pressherald.com/2025/12/29/utility-reform-will-be-key-to-confronting-high-energy-bills-opinion/

 

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