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As competition between gas and electric utilities heats up due to clean energy-promoting policies that emphasize replacing gas with electricity, state regulators need to overhaul their approach to regulation, argue scholars at Stanford and the University of Notre Dame.

A new white paper led by the Climate and Energy Policy Program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment lays out a case for unifying electric and gas utilities and instituting coordinated planning to make the transition to zero-carbon buildings more efficient and cost-effective. A related webinar on Oct. 2 will present the white paper's results and feature a discussion among energy experts about efforts to address the newly competitive landscape and advance the energy transition.

"Utility regulators are facing a uniquely difficult combination of climate, safety, and equity concerns as they contemplate how to decarbonize gas networks," said paper co-author Joshua Lappen, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Notre Dame and fellow at the Future of Heat Institute. "By recognizing the competition taking place between gas and electricity, regulators can find new opportunities to proactively manage the building-energy transition."

The white paper, "The Unseen Competition in the Energy Transition: Acknowledging and Addressing Inter-Utility Competition to Achieve Managed Decarbonization," calls for state public utility commissions (PUCs) to formally plan around a unified energy sector. The report warns that continued competition between gas and electric utilities could delay decarbonization, saddle ratepayers with higher costs, lock in unnecessary investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, and disproportionately burden low-income energy users.

Competition or unification

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