New Federal guidance significantly narrows 5% safe harbor rule for vanishing tax credits. The safe harbor rule allowed new, qualifying wind and solar projects to receive the full 30% clean electricity production tax credit (PTC) or investment tax credit (ITC) if at least 5% of total facility costs were incurred by the end of the year. At that point, the PTC will end, and ITC will be reduced to 6%, per the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” However, updated guidance issued by the IRS last Friday further restricted the safe harbor by also requiring projects to have begun construction by September 2, except for low-output (1.5MW or less) solar projects, which have until July 4, 2026.
New Jersey enacts legislation to increase scrutiny of PJM. Last Friday, New Jersey Gov. Murphy signed into law SR154 and AB5463. The latter requires BPU’s annual report to the governor and legislature to include all utility reports, not just a summary of them, on PJM meetings and how the utilities voted at them. The former directs BPU to investigate PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model and to work with neighboring states to promote market reforms and speedier interconnection review at PJM.
Notice of appeal filed in New York broker registration case. On July 29, a group of retail suppliers in New York including the New York Retail Choice Coalition, M&R Energy Resources Corp., Diversegy, and Citizens Choice Energy, filed an appeal of a state Supreme Court decision in June, which had partially granted their request for the courts to modify the New York’s PSC implementation of a new broker licensing and compliance regime. While the supplier petitioners were successful in getting the courts to reverse the decision of the NYPSC to disallow surety bonds from being used to meet the financial requirements for broker applications, the petitioners are seeking a judicial determination “to permanently enjoin the Commission from arbitrarily and unfairly discriminating against 1099 workers and declare that both W-2 and 1099 workers who work for registered brokers or ESCOs are covered by their employers’ registrations.”
States attempting to manage rising electricity bills for consumers. As directed by a new state law, the Maryland PSC will oversee the provision to customers of a one-time electric bill refund, with funds expected to be disbursed this month and in the winter of 2026. Refund amounts are based on a customer’s annual usage and are expected to amount to $80 on average per customer…Maryland has also launched a $19 million Customer Relief Fund to help low- and middle-income customers, distributed by the utilities in conjunction with local non-profits…in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont has announced the State Bond Commission is moving to release $155 million in state bond funding “that will be used to offset certain public benefits charges on electric bills, delivering consumers some relief on these costs.” Effectively, the bond proceeds will be used to reduce the amount of money charged to ratepayers to recover utility costs for low-income customers and electric vehicle charging programs…a July 25 press release from the Pennsylvania PUC encourages customers to practice energy efficiency, take advantage of existing customer assistance programs, and to visit PAPowerSwitch.com, the state’s retail shopping website.
Pennsylvania rejects aggregation effort by municipalities. On August 14, the Pennsylvania PUC adopted as final the March 28 initial decision by an ALJ on the petition of the Boroughs of Camp Hill, Carlisle, Hatboro, Lansdowne, Media, Narberth, State College and Swarthmore seeking a declaratory order to “remove uncertainty concerning the lawfulness under Pennsylvania law and Commission precedent of the establishment by each Borough of a Community Choice Aggregation.” The PAPUC denied the municipal petitions saying, they have “failed to show cause why the petition for declaratory judgment should not be dismissed" as the boroughs are seeking municipal aggregation under a normal circumstance, rather than in an energy emergency. As a result, the PAPUC said there is not a need for an exception to the current rules that prevent the boroughs from establishing an opt-out aggregation program. In a statement on the decision, PAPUC Chairman DeFrank reiterated that the boroughs’ request was outside the scope of PAPUC jurisdiction, and it would be up to the legislature to permit opt-out municipal aggregation. In this statement, he said that the PAPUC “cannot provide relief or facilitate policies that are misaligned with the Public Utility Code.”
State Solar for All (SFA) programs’ future in jeopardy. In an August 5 social media post, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator said that the elimination of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund by the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” removed the EPA’s authority to administer the $7 billion program. Statements from Maine’s Governor’s Energy Office and Michigan’sDepartment of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy indicate they are considering next steps, which may include fighting the cancellation as critics argue that the move is illegal. However, the New Hampshire Department of Energy removed its SFA site andMassachusetts’ program has reportedly been cut in the wake of the announcement. In Illinois, whose SFA program predates the federal funding, there are calls to modify the Illinois Power Association’s 2024 Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan in the wake of the decision.
Arizona Corporation Commission has voted to repeal renewable energy mandates. At an August 14 open meeting, at the motion of Vice Chairman Nick Myers, the AZCC voted unanimously to direct Staff to file a notice of proposed rulemaking to repeal the regulator’s 2006 Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) rules. In a press release announcing the decision, Vice Chairman Myers called the mandates “outdated” and said that the lack of flexibility they have imposed on utilities has “unnecessarily driven up costs for consumers.”
Legislative Update: House Bill HB 116 was signed into law by Delaware Gov. Meyer, which authorizes the DEPSC to approve a discounted gas or electric rate for qualified low-income residential customers, provided the discount is 20% of standard residential distribution rates.
Commission Comings-and-Goings: President Trump has named sitting commissioner David Rosner as the new interim chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, following the resignation of previous Chairman Christie on August 8. Rosner was a staff analyst, Senate committee staffer, and Department of Energy advisor prior to joining the FERC bench – and perhaps most surprisingly, he is a Democrat. ERCOT in Texas announced the selection of William “Bill” Mohl to serve on the RTO’s Board of Directors, effective July 28. Mohl has decades of experience in the power and gas sectors, including with Shermco Industries and Entergy.
In Brief: New Jersey will issue a universal bill credit of $100 to all residential ratepayers. BPU announced in a press release last week that it approved the credit, to which Gov. Murphy had committed,. The credit will be split evenly between September and October bills...Massachusetts' Department of Energy Resources said that it does not expect a new draft offshore wind (83C) RFP this year, given federal funding uncertainty and ongoing negotiations from the previous RFP...New Jersey has kicked its annual RPS compliance process into high gear, providing suppliers with supporting materials on August 18, including RPS Retail Sales Adjustment Process document, Retail Sales Adjustment Reporting Sample Form, RPS Reporting Instructions, ACP/SACP Payment Instructions, NJ Class I & II RPS Compliance Certification Affidavit Instructions, and apresentation and webinar recording from the July 16 EY25 compliance coordination meeting...the Pennsylvania PUC issued the latest Electric Service Reliability Report on August 21, finding that in 2024, “Pennsylvania experienced 71 ‘reportable outage events’ – the highest number recorded in more than 30 years…” This compared to just 49 events in 2023, and the number of affected customers also increased from 1.67 to 2.8 million...the Michigan PSC on August 21 accepted Staff’s capacity demonstration results report for the 2028-2029 planning year. The state reliability mechanism capacity demonstration requirement applies to all load-serving entities, including retail electric suppliers...a resolution introduced by Pennsylvania PUC Chairman Stephen M. DeFrank, urging the nationwide adoption of natural gas energy efficiency programs for C&I customers, has been adopted by the Board of Directors of NARUC at its summer meetings...Aftab Khan executive vice president of operations, planning and security at PJM, penned an op-ed in Utility Dive on August 6, defending the RTO which has come under fire for rising electricity prices in the Mid-Atlantic region…the July episode of the Michigan PSC’s Behind the Meter podcast looks at utility scams, including how to recognize and avoid them...Pennsylvania utility PECO filed a letter with the Pennsylvania PUC on July 25, providing an update on its long-term solar procurement. Notably, the most recent procurement did not yield any contracted capacity. As a result, PECO plans to conduct a second procurement the second quarter of 2026…on July 17, the New York PSC issued an order approving the Staff’s Enhanced Energy Affordability Policy White Paper, originally filed on March 18. In this order, the NYPSC adopts a program design that extends benefits to ESCO customers, ensuring they receive the same level of discount as comparable utility customers. The approved discounts will apply to the entire bill.
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