New York’s recent Con Edison rate case has brought an opportunity for clean, distributed energy. A rate case is a process utilities use to adjust policies and set rates charged to customers. They typically occur once every few years and provide an opportunity for state and local governments, along with consumer and environmental advocacy groups, to seek cleaner, cheaper, and more customer-friendly electricity.

Prior to the rate case, New York had a standby tariff in place. The standby tariff is a special rate charged to commercial and industrial customers who produce some of their own electricity, but remain connected to the grid. The Environmental Defense Fund called the tariff  “a significant roadblock to widespread deployment of distributed generation, such as combined heat and power (CHP) systems, because it imposes burdensome costs and complex regulations on businesses and institutions that produce some of their own electricity independently from the utility.” The proposal filed by Con Edison and 20 other parties called for changes to the tariff that will make it easier for people, businesses, and institutions to invest in clean, distributed energy resources.

EDF and the Pace Center also proposed a standby tariff exemption for energy storage technology, specifically batteries. Energy storage is a vital part of clean, distributed energy systems.

Efficiency and energy storage are incredibly important to the industry and to ClearWorld. The InterGrid integrates energy storage, photovoltaic panels and an electric vehicle recharging station to optimize energy flows with an information technology platform to improve communication with generators and promote grid efficiency, as well as a forecasting system for distributed generation.