Weekly UTC Clean Energy Bulletin

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Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission

– Dec. 7, 2021 –

UTC Clean Energy Bulletin

Upcoming workshops, rulemakings, and other dates

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC or commission) invites the public to participate in its work to implement Washington’s clean energy legislation.  

The 2019 Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) requires electric utilities to transition to a carbon-neutral supply of electricity by 2030 and source 100% of their electricity from renewable or non-carbon-emitting sources by 2045.  

In the 2021-23 Omnibus Operating Appropriations Act, the commission received funding to “examine feasible and practical pathways for investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities to contribute their share to greenhouse gas emissions reductions as described in RCW 70A.45.020 [state law].” 

The commission is conducting numerous rulemakings, workgroups, and other proceedings to implement in support of these bills and other recently enacted energy legislation. 

 

New announcements 

  • Commission headquarters remain closed to the public. Our staff are following Gov. Inslee’s phased reopening plan by teleworking. Open meetings and other official business will continue remotely through 2022. Please see the commission’s COVID-19 response page for more information on impacts to our operations and regulated industries. 
  • On Friday, Nov. 19, the commission issued a policy statement detailing its expectations for funding agreements between utilities and participants in commission regulatory proceedings. 
  • On Dec. 16 the commission will host a workshop on supplier diversity in electric utility service as a continuation of stakeholder supplier diversity conversations in last year’s Purchase of Electricity rulemaking (Docket UE-190837). In this previous rulemaking, stakeholders filed comments requesting the commission create rules that require utilities to meet goals or targets for contracting with women-, minority-, disabled-, and veteran-owned businesses. The commission committed in to hold a stakeholder workshop to address supplier diversity in 2021. For more information on the Dec. 16 workshop (Docket UE-210837), please see the commission notice. 

 

Upcoming events and deadlines  

Date  

Item  

Description 

Dec. 14 

Development of a commission jurisdictional specific cost-effectiveness test for distributed energy resources incorporating CETA (Docket UE-210804) 

On Nov. 4, the commission filed a notice for comment on the start of a staff investigation to develop a jurisdictional specific cost-effectiveness test for distributed energy resources.  

 

Interested persons should file comments by Dec. 14. 

Dec. 14 

Markets and CETA Compliance Rulemaking with Department of Commerce (Docket UE-210183) 

The commission and the Department of Commerce will jointly host a workshop to discuss draft rules related to double counting and energy storage. This workshop will take place on Dec. 14, starting at 1 p.m. 

 

Details and workshop participation information can be found in the notice of joint workshops filed on Nov. 10. The UTC will file an agenda to the docket prior to the workshop. 

Dec. 16 

Supplier Diversity Workshop (Docket UE-210837) 

The commission will hold a virtual workshop on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, at 9:30 a.m. to discuss issues related to diversity in supplier contracting. 

 

A workshop agenda will be issued in Docket UE-210837 prior to the meeting date and distributed to interested persons. 

 

To inform the discussion, stakeholders should come prepared to address topics listed in the workshop notice. 

 

Interested persons may participate virtually via Zoom  or by calling (253) 215-8782.  

 

Meeting ID 991 8605 9936# 

Passcode 481156#  

 

Tell us what you think 

Voice your opinion on Washington state’s transition to 100% clean energy by participating in the proceedings above. You can also file a comment in UTC rulemakings electronically. 

The commission is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to participants with disabilities at its facilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for these workshops or meetings, please contact the commission at least one business day prior to the event by calling 1-360-664-1132 or by sending an email to human_resources@utc.wa.gov. For TTY service, please call the Washington Relay Service at 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6384. 

For more information on the UTC’s implementation of the Clean Energy Transformation Act, visit www.utc.wa.gov/CETA. 

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