FTC Staff Comments on New York State Proposal to Transform Power Distribution

In April 2014, the New York Public Service Commission's (NY PSC) Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative "propose[d] a platform to transform New York's electric industry . . . with the objective of creating market-based, sustainable products and services that drive an increasingly efficient, clean, reliable, and customer-oriented industry."  In August 2014, the NY PSC staff submitted for public comment a straw proposal that built on the April proposal, "incorporating subsequent party working group efforts, party comments, and further deliberation by Staff."

The straw proposal authorizes the establishment of Distributed System Platform (DSP) operators that would be responsible for balancing electricity supply and demand on local, lower-voltage distribution lines.  The NY PSC expects this new structure to lead to innovations such as customer-owned solar arrays, energy storage units and demand reductions offered by customers.  "Distributed energy resources"