Rebuilding Grid Governance

As climate change sharpens the focus on our electricity systems, there is widespread agreement that the institutions that govern our electric grid must change to realize a clean energy future in the timescale necessary. Scholars are actively debating how grid governance needs to change, but in this Article we demonstrate that current proposals are insufficient because they do not contemplate “rebuilding.” The Article defines “rebuilding” as ending entities tasked with grid governance and creating new ones to take their place. We propose what no one else has: an overarching framework for rebuilding any grid governance institutions. The Article first discusses when rebuilding is necessary, arguing that incrementalism has slowed progress toward more clean energy and that much bolder solutions are imperative. Policy proposals to date have been accommodative, tending to lead to slower progress toward clean energy goals than necessary. A further challenge is that utility dominance in regulatory conversations has led to inefficient and unjust outcomes, and would not be addressed sufficiently by current reform proposals. To address these challenges, the Article identifies three criteria for deciding when specific grid governance institutions should end, terming these administrative dysfunction (continued dithering over a subject without making sufficient progress), utility indifference to the common good, and incapacity of the current governance structure to achieve positive outcomes.When looking to rebuild grid governance, the Article details three overriding principles for new entities, which are resource agnosticism, broad-based participation, and a lack of self-centricity. The Article applies these principles to a specific setting: the “Minimum Offer Price Rule” prevalent in wholesale electricity markets that hampers clean energy development.The Article concludes that considering rebuilding in grid governance conversations is essential to ensure grid governance will not only be effective at mitigating climate change but also address the shortcomings of our current grid governance structures