In April 2017, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio kicked off PowerForward, an initiative designed to consider the best ways to modernize the grid and identify the regulatory and technology changes necessary to prepare the state’s energy infrastructure for the future.
It includes a series of public discussions on specific aspects of this transition, the latest of which was March 6-8 in Columbus, and continuing March 20-22.
This is a critical conversation.
As Ohio and the nation prepare to navigate the coming energy transition, it is essential that we pursue strategies that put power where it belongs: in the hands of customers. By helping them to make better, smarter decisions about consumption, we can ensure a more resilient, more reliable system that delivers customers the electricity they need, when they need it, without interruption, at a predictable and affordable price.
A first step in this is to recognize that our thinking must change. The traditional power system has been built around three pillars: generation, transmission and distribution. While this has served Ohio reasonably well in the past, it has ignored a vital fourth pillar, customers, and how they can help manage the issues on the energy horizon.
The fact is, customers can play that role now. We just need to give them the tools, technologies, resources and insight to do it. That will require us to stop limiting the conversation to price (and stop referring to customers as “ratepayers”), and shift it to price and quantity – not simply what they pay for power, but how and when they use that power.
Customers will benefit from our ability to digitize key customer data; that is, to convert, access and share relevant information at a speed that is commensurate with what today’s technologies are capable of delivering. Currently, however, that data cannot be captured in real-time. It can be days old when finally made available.
But consider the customer-centric benefits of digitizing information and sharing it. We could examine the individual customer’s usage patterns, and then develop cost- and energy-savings products and services specific to their habits. We could help them avoid the higher prices that accompany peak demand. We could give them the option to automatically raise the thermostat one degree in the summer or drop it one degree in the winter, not only lowering their bills but also lessening the need for generation.
Technologies such as battery storage and solar panels also give customers the option to optimize their behavior by generating their own power at the fringe of the grid. By decentralizing production, we can:
- Ease demands on the regional grid system, reducing the potential that customers will face shortages or blackouts.
- Minimize the need to develop additional infrastructure, thus holding down the rate impacts on customers who ultimately bear the financial burden of such improvements.
- Enable greater integration of cost-effective renewables onto the grid, fostering a cleaner-energy future.
- Better ensure needed supply without resorting to disruptive changes in the market.
There is one other significant challenge we must confront: managing the environmental impact of power production. If we can curtail the need for more generation, encourage customers to use less power at certain high-cost times, and create more opportunities for renewable resources, we will contribute to a cleaner, more decarbonized future.
It is important to underscore, and for the industry to acknowledge, that customers are the common denominator at the core of our efforts to decentralize, digitize and decarbonize.
Digitizing data provides customers with the power to see when and what they pay for electricity, and make better decisions about energy. Decentralization makes customers a critical asset in the production equation. And by promoting smarter, more environmentally responsible consumption, we can give customers the opportunity to take an active role in the effort to preserve and protect the planet.
That’s why the PUCO’s PowerForward initiative is so important to Ohio’s energy future. As its name suggests, this is the time to promote customer-centric energy policies that move the state forward rather than falling back on strategies that have defined the past. The commission is to be commended for fostering this dialogue and inviting all stakeholders to participate.
J.D. Burrows is vice president with Engie Resources, a retail electricity provider offering plans and related services to industrial and commercial customers in Ohio and across the United States.