A Survey of State PUC Activities to Incorporate Environmental Externalities into Electric Utility Planning and Regulation

Awareness of the environmental consequences of electricity production have led many state public utility commissions (PUC) to consider these externalities formally in their regulation of utilities. At the request of NARUC's Energy Conservation staff sub-committee, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) conducted a survey to identify the extent and range of PUC approaches to this issue; response were obtained from PUC staff 49 states and the District of Columbia. The study should be viewed as providing a "snapshot" of regulatory developments in the area that is evolving rapidly