Background Report: Evaluation of Connecticut Medical Protections

Client: Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority

Authors: Tanya Stasio, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD, Jordan Burt, PhD, Joshua R. Castigliego, and Bryndis Woods, PhD 

March 2026

On behalf of Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Senior Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, Researcher Sagal Alisalad, Principal Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, and AEC staff prepared a background report that evaluates Connecticut's electric and gas utility shutoff policies for medically protected customers. Most of Connecticut's medically protected customers have year-round shutoff protection and, as a result, maintain average arrearages that are thousands of dollars more than customers without medical protections. While limiting shutoff protections may increase utility revenues and reduce ratepayer costs, AEC finds that introducing payment or financial hardship requirements to Connecticut shutoff protections for medically protected customers could cost the State of Connecticut millions by way of increased need for social services. 

This report was included as an Appendix to Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority's Report to the General Assembly Regarding the Evaluation of Medical Protection available here.

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Assessing Ratepayer Risks of the Proposed Edisto Gas Plant in South Carolina

Client: Conservation Voters of South Carolina (CVSC)

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Elisabeth Seliga, Jordan Burt, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, and Bryndis Woods, PhD

March 2026

On behalf of the Conservation Voters of South Carolina (CVSC), Senior Researcher Joshua R. Castigliego, Assistant Researcher Elisabeth Seliga, Researchers Jordan Burt, PhD and Sagal Alisalad, and Principal Analyst Bryndis Woods, PhD prepared a report that evaluates Santee Cooper and Dominion Energy South Carolina’s December 2025 Joint Application to build a new jointly owned, 2,180-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle generating facility—the proposed “Edisto Gas Plant” or Canadys Joint Resource—on the banks of the Edisto River. The report examines the risks that the project could pose to South Carolina ratepayers if approved by the South Carolina Public Service Commission.

In the report, AEC identifies three primary risks to ratepayers (i.e. the potential for electric customers to face higher costs) as a result of new gas-fired capacity like the proposed Edisto Gas Plant to meet increasing electric demand: (1) uncertain forecasts of customer demand, which could leave ratepayers paying for unused capacity; (2) higher-than-expected capital costs, including from construction delays and cost overruns; and (3) fuel price uncertainty, which can increase operating expenses and, ultimately, electric rates and customer bills. AEC's review of the Companies’ Joint Application reveals several significant concerns related to these risks.

Understanding risks to South Carolina ratepayers, individually and collectively, underscores the importance of prudent utility planning and the need for the Commission to carefully consider whether approving the Companies’ Joint Application for the proposed Edisto Gas Plant would expose ratepayers to unnecessary risk, particularly when alternative, lower-risk pathways may exist that the Companies have not fully evaluated.

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Lower Heating Costs with Thermal Networks

Client: Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA) and Black Swan Lab

Authors: Sagal Alisalad and Joshua R. Castigliego

December 2025

On behalf of Green Energy Consumers Alliance (GECA) and Black Swan Lab, Researcher Sagal Alisalad and Senior Researcher Joshua R. Castigliego prepared a white paper analyzing the near-term operational costs of heating for an average Massachusetts household using thermal energy networks compared to gas furnaces. AEC examined two seasonal heat pump rate scenarios for thermal energy networks with a range of efficiency levels from a coefficient of performance (COP) between 6 and 8: (1) HP 1.0: Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU)-approved seasonal heat pump rates, and (2) HP 2.0: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER)-proposed seasonal heat pump rates. The analysis highlights thermal energy networks as the far more cost-effective and energy-efficient choice for an average-sized, average-energy-use household.

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GreenRoots’ Pathway to Interconnection

Client: GreenRoots

Authors: Sagal Alisalad and Bryndís Woods, PhD

November 2025

On behalf of GreenRoots, Researcher Sagal Alisalad and Principal Analyst Bryndís Woods, PhD, prepared a report summarizing GreenRoots’ experience applying to interconnect three behind-the-meter (BTM) projects to the electric grid: 1) Chelsea City Hall (solar and storage), 2) Chelsea Police Department (solar and storage), and 3) Municipal Public Works Yard (rooftop solar). AEC examined the obstacles and complexities of the interconnection process for small- and medium-sized customers like GreenRoots. This analysis highlights how these barriers hinder a community’s ability to develop community-owned BTM resources.

AEC recommends that decision-makers, utilities, and communities collaborate to address barriers to interconnection in order to boost community resiliency, support the clean energy transition, help the Commonwealth reach its clean energy and emission reduction goals, and ensure energy systems in the Commonwealth benefit everyone.

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Equity Advisory Working Group Recommendations: Equity Metrics for the District of Columbia's Benefit-Cost Analysis Model and Stakeholder Engagement for Utility Planning

Client: Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DC PSC)

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, Alicia Zhang, Jordan Burt, PhD, and Elisabeth Seliga

July 2025

On behalf of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DC PSC), AEC—together with our partner Visionary Leadership Group—convened and facilitated a seventeen-member Equity Advisory Working Group (EAWG) to recommend: 1) Criteria for designating Priority Populations in the District; 2) Racial equity, energy burden, and low- and moderate-income metrics for inclusion in the District’s evaluation framework for utility proposals; and 3) A stakeholder accountability process to facilitate local resident engagement and representation in utility proposal decision-making processes. EAWG members attended 10 meetings between January and May 2025. At each meeting, EAWG members were given presentations and supporting materials developed by AEC to ensure that all EAWG members had the information they required to make their recommendations, such as how BCAs work for proposed utility programs, or examples of  equity metrics from the publicly available literature. AEC was also responsive to requests from EAWG members, such as by designing and modifying priority population definitions, providing equity metric methods and data, and presenting map visualizations of how different priority population definitions capture different District communities. The report presents the EAWG’s 29 recommendations which—if adopted—will help ensure that social and racial equity are included in electric and gas utility planning processes and that the disproportionate and systemic harms related to the current energy system, climate change, and environmental injustice are considered and addressed for all District communities.

Errata: On page 55 of the report, it states that "15 percent of DC households are classified as low income." This should read "19 percent of DC households are classified as low income." On page 57 of the report, it state that "The District’s moderate-income households make more than $32,000 but less than $88,000—a group that includes 25 percent of households District-wide." This should read "The District’s moderate-income households make more than $32,000 but less than $88,000—a group that includes 32 percent of households District-wide."

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Assessing U.S. Electric Grid Operators' Governance: Transparency, Accessibility, Accountability

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Deja Garraway, Alicia Zhang, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, Sumera Patel

Client: Slingshot

May 2025

On behalf of Slingshot (and their participation in the broader, grassroots Fix the Grid campaign in New England), this AEC report card utilized approximately 250 sources—including grid operator documents, research reports, and expert testimony—to develop and assign points across 34 metrics among three categories: 1) transparency is making information and materials publicly available; 2) accessibility is facilitating public awareness and involvement in grid operator processes; and 3) accountability is structuring governance and decision-making processes to incorporate viewpoints reflective of the diversity of the communities in each grid operator's territory. 

The primary finding of the report card is that none of the seven U.S. grid operators perform particularly well in any assessment category and there is considerable room for improvement across grid operators in terms of transparency, accessibility, and accountability. The highest overall grade was a C+ earned by CAISO due to its strong performance in the accountability category. The lowest overall grade was an F earned by ISO-NE due to its receiving a failing grade in the accessibility and accountability categories. The five remaining grid operators (PJM, MISO, SPP, ERCOT and NYISO) each received an overall grade ranging from C- to D-.

Link to Report

Link to Workbook

News: Consumer Liaison Group Discusses ISO-NE’s Failing Accessibility Grade, June 4, 2025

News: ISO-NE should make its governance transparent, accessible and accountable, August 13, 2025

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Best Practices in Electric Sector Load Forecasting

Authors: Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD, Alicia Zhang, Sagal Alisalad, Bryndis Woods, PhD

November 2024

This Applied Economics Clinic (AEC) white paper examines best practices of annual and peak electric demand forecasting and provides additional examples for South Carolina. AEC asserts that conventional load forecasting methods must be updated to reflect the rapid transformation of demand trends and real-word conditions. To address these concerns, AEC recommends eight best practices to ensure thorough, transparent, and accurate load forecasts: model and data transparency; emerging policies and technologies; large industrial loads; non-energy constraints; forecasting innovation; uncertainty analysis and multiple future scenarios; post-modeling adjustments; and stakeholder review. Adopting contemporary best practices in load forecasting benefits consumers, utilities and regulators with lower costs, increased reliability, and improved facilitation of state-mandated decarbonization plans.

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Link to Slides

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Bringing Equity into Energy Reliability Decisions

Client: Environmental Defense Fund

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Sachin Peddada, Sagal Alisalad, Jordan Burt, Elisabeth Seliga, Tanya Stasio, PhD, Eliandro Tavares, Grace Wu, Elizabeth A. Stanton, PhD

AEC staff prepared a report on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund that analyzes the connection between issues of energy system reliability and equity. This data-driven report utilizes case studies of advocates’ for more equitable energy systems real-world experiences to assess how decision-makers should account for equity when making decisions regarding system reliability. The report concludes with recommendations for future decision-making in energy system reliability, including strengthening consumer and community representation. A common theme across the real-world experiences of the advocates discussed in this report is the ways in which community engagement efforts in energy system decision-making often fall short of creating real change in energy sector decisions, and environmental justice and other under-resourced and underserved communities are often left out and left behind in decisions that directly disproportionately harm the health and wealth of their communities.

Link to Full Report

Link to Press Release

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Overburdened Communities and Power Plants in New Jersey

Authors: Sagal Alisalad, Tanya Stasio, PhD, Elisabeth Seliga, and Sachin Peddada, and Jordan Burt

Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, Researcher Tanya Stasio, PhD, Assistant Researchers Elisabeth Seliga, and Sachin Peddada, and Research Assistant Jordan Burt prepared a policy brief on how New Jersey power plants disproportionately affect overburdened communities.

New Jersey environmental justice law defines overburdened communities as census blocks where at least a third of the household is low income, 40 percent of residents identify as racial-ethnic minorities, or 40 percent have low English proficiency. These communities are disproportionately affected by the pollutants emitted by power plants. AEC researchers explain that environmental justice initiatives will require full understanding of the impacts on vulnerable communities.

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Economic Impacts of a Clean Energy Transition in New Jersey

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Sagal Alisalad, Sachin Peddada, Liz Stanton, PhD

June 2022

Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Assistant Researchers Sagal Alisalad and Sachin Peddada, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report on the economic impacts associated with a clean energy transition in New Jersey that aims to achieve the State’s climate and energy goals in the coming decades. AEC staff find that adding in-state renewables and storage, and electrifying transportation and buildings creates additional job opportunities, while also bolstering the state’s economy. From 2025 to 2050, AEC estimates that New Jersey’s clean energy transition will result in almost 300,000 more “job-years” (an average of about 11,000 jobs per year) than would be created without it. AEC also identifies a variety of additional benefits of a clean energy transition, including several benefits that are conditional on the design and implementation of the transition.

In a companion publication to this report—Barriers and Opportunities for Green Jobs in New Jersey—AEC discusses equity, diversity and inclusion in New Jersey’s clean energy sector along with barriers that impede equitable representation in New Jersey’s green jobs.

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Link to Presentation

Link to Press Release

Media Coverage - NJBiz - June 9, 2022

Media Coverage - NJ Spotlight News - June 8, 2022

Media Coverage - Asbury Park Press - June 8, 2022

Media Coverage - NJ101.5 - June 7, 2022

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Decarbonizing Building Heat in Massachusetts

Client: HEET

Authors: Tanya Stasio, Joshua Castigliego, Sagal Alisalad, and Liz Stanton, PhD.

March 2022

On behalf of the HEET, Researchers Tanya Stasio and Joshua Castigliego, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD explored the feasibility of injecting green hydrogen and/or upgraded biogas (also known as “renewable” natural gas) into Massachusetts’ existing gas supply as a building decarbonization strategy. AEC compared these alternatives to gas heating and modern electric heat pumps in terms of price, feasibility, supply, and safety, and found that upgraded biogas and green hydrogen are infeasible, expensive, and unsafe strategies for decarbonization of building heating. Moreover, a green hydrogen/fossil gas blend is not feasible before 2040; For a green hydrogen/fossil gas blend to be a viable heating fuel, gas utilities would need to replace all of Massachusetts’ leaky-prone pipes.

AEC also estimated annual home heating costs for an average Massachusetts home using different heating options and found that by the mid-2030’s heating with air-source heat pumps, ground-source heat pumps, and/or networked geothermal systems will be more affordable than heating with fossil gas.

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Equity Measurement and Targeting Underserved Communities in Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan

Client: Green Justice Coalition

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, Eliandro Tavares, Myisha Majumder, and Liz Stanton, PhD

December 2021

On behalf of the Green Justice Coalition, AEC staff developed three white papers on equity measurement and how underserved communities will be served in the implementation of Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan. The first paper, Equity Measurement for Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan, builds on the equity recommendations of the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council’s (EEAC) Equity Working Group (EWG) and the Green Justice Coalition by describing metrics needed to evaluate progress towards equity goals. The second paper, Energy Efficiency and Equity Efforts Nationwide, provides examples from other jurisdictions around the nation on the state of equity programming in energy efficiency policies. The third AEC white paper, Targeting Underserved Communities in Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan, is a detailed review of Massachusetts towns identified as underserved by the energy efficiency program administrators and their partners.

Link to White Paper 1: Equity Measurement for Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan

Link to White Paper 2: Energy Efficiency and Equity Efforts Nationwide

Link to White Paper 3: Targeting Underserved Communities in Massachusetts’ 2022-2024 Energy Efficiency Plan

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Energy Storage for Winter Grid Reliability: How Batteries Became the Low-Cost Solution for Power Assurance in Massachusetts

Client: Clean Energy Group

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Liz Stanton, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, and Eliandro Tavares

December 2021

On behalf of the Clean Energy Group, Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, and Assistant Researchers Sagal Alisalad and Eliandro Tavares evaluated the value of winter reliability services and the opportunity to provide these services economically in New England using distributed battery storage. AEC finds that the value of winter peaking capacity services from distributed (customer-sited) resources is incorrectly assumed to be $0 in the battery program cost-benefit analyses that determine performance payments to battery storage owners.

The value of winter electric capacity is treated by electric distributors as distinct from that same value in summer, and it has been dubbed “winter reliability” to distinguish it from “summer capacity.” When calculating customer performance payments, summer capacity services are valued, but winter reliability services are not. In this report, AEC introduces a winter reliability metric defined as the assurance of adequate electric capacity during periods of critical need, called—following ISO-New England’s convention—capacity scarcity condition (CSC) events. AEC calculated a “winter reliability value” measured as the net dollar value to supply any given peak supply technology (i.e., gas peaker or large-scale battery storage) on a per kilowatt-hour (kWh) basis during a CSC period.

Link to Report

Link to Presentation

Media Coverage

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PJM's Capacity Market: Clearing Prices, Power Plants, and Environmental Justice

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Liz Stanton, PhD, Sagal Alisalad, Tanya Stasio, Eliandro Tavares

October 2021 (Updated November 2021)

Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, Researcher Tanya Stasio, and Assistant Researcher Eliandro Tavares prepared a report reviewing the economics of power plants in the PJM region, focusing on the "capacity payments" given to owners of generating units that promise to be available if needed to generate power at times of peak customer demand. AEC finds that PJM has consistently overestimated its peak demand and as a result spent too much money on capacity payments, and generating units—including many in or near Environmental Justice (EJ) communities—are kept online despite being uneconomic and unnecessary to provide reliable electric service.

AEC adjusted PJM’s forecasts and market design to better represent customer demand and other market conditions, and estimated the prices that individual generating units bid into the 2021/22 capacity auction, which took place in 2018. The actual bids by power plant owners are not made public, so we model them based on available cost and revenue data. PJM’s overestimate of customer demand and costs of new generating units raises market clearing prices and capacity payments to power plant owners, resulting in what we call a “fat market” with payments made to unnecessary power plants and higher costs to customers. In place of PJM’s $140 per megawatt-day (MW-day) fat market clearing price, we estimate a clearing price of $100 to $104 per MW-day to serve customer needs without adding unnecessary costs. Our leaner, adjusted clearing price would lower customer bills without sacrificing reliable electric service and put an end to capacity payments propping up the bottom lines of uneconomic power plants, many of them in or near EJ communities.

Link to Report (Updated 11/30/2021)

Link to Presentation for PJM Cities & Communities Coalition

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Recommendations for Cities and States to Improve Equity Evaluation and Reporting in Energy Efficiency Programming

Client: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Liz Stanton, PhD, and Sagal Alisalad

October 2021

On behalf of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), this Applied Economics Clinic white paper recommends measures that cities and states can undertake to facilitate equitable energy efficiency evaluation and reporting of energy efficiency efforts, based on the results of our review of low-income energy efficiency efforts in ACEEE’s top-scoring cities and states in their 2020 City and State energy efficiency scorecards.

We find that the cities and states most highly-rated for energy efficiency offer programs for low-income community members, but fail to take critical actions necessary for equitable evaluation and reporting to facilitate equitable outcomes. Based on our review of these programs, we find that—while these programs have made important progress on addressing equity concerns by offering efficiency programming specifically to low-income households—more robust energy efficiency evaluation and reporting are needed to shine a light on city and state equity-focused energy efficiency programming and ensure that efficiency benefits are equitably distributed. We recommend three main improvements that would drastically enhance the ability to evaluate these programs for their equity-related impacts:

• Mandate disaggregated efficiency program performance reporting;
• Identify, track, and target vulnerable populations; and
• Integrate energy efficiency, climate, and equity planning and reporting.

Link to Report

Link to ACEEE's Leading with Equity Initiative White Paper

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ConnectedSolutions: A Program Assessment for Massachusetts

Client: Clean Energy Group

Authors: Bryndis Woods, PhD, Liz Stanton, PhD, Eliandro Tavares and Sagal Alisalad

September 2021

On behalf of the Clean Energy Group, this Applied Economics Clinic report assesses the design and performance of the Massachusetts ConnectedSolutions program. Massachusetts’ ConnectedSolutions program offers incentives to customers in exchange for allowing their electric supplier to draw on the energy stored in their grid-connected batteries and/or to curtail energy use via smart thermostats or electric vehicle charging at times of peak electric demand. Launched as a full program offering in 2019, ConnectedSolutions had about 34,000 customer participants with 310 megawatts (MW) of capacity enrolled by the end of 2020.

This report compares the Massachusetts ConnectedSolutions program, as it has been administered in the first three-year program cycle, with related programs in other states across the country. In several important areas, the Massachusetts program administrators could benefit from best practices implemented elsewhere; chief among these is the treatment of income-eligible customers and those in historically underserved communities.

Link to Report

Link to Webinar

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Assessment of Backup Diesel Generators in Massachusetts and New York City

Client: Bloom Energy

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Tanya Stasio, Sagal Alisalad, Liz Stanton, PhD

August 2021

On behalf of Bloom Energy, Researchers Joshua Castigliego and Tanya Stasio, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared two reports assessing backup diesel generators in Massachusetts and New York City. AEC compiled inventories of backup diesel generators in each jurisdiction based on publicly available data and reviewed the quantity, combined capacity, proximity to environmental justice (EJ) communities, and emissions impact of backup diesel generators.

AEC found that there is an abundance of backup diesel generators throughout both areas that are commonly sited near EJ communities and represent a considerable—and largely avoidable—source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that threaten public health and the environment.

Link to Massachusetts Report

Link to New York City Report

Link to Download Shapefile for Massachusetts Environmental Justice Communities

Link to Download Shapefile for New York City Environmental Justice Communities

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Background Report: Benefits of Coal Ash Cleanup and Remediation

Client: Earthjustice

Authors: Joshua R. Castigliego, Tyler Comings, Sagal Alisalad, Liz Stanton, PhD

July 2021

On behalf of Earthjustice, Researcher Joshua Castigliego, Senior Researcher Tyler Comings, Assistant Researcher Sagal Alisalad, and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD prepared a report outlining the benefits of coal ash cleanup and remediation at three power plants: Montana’s Colstrip Steam Electricity Station, South Carolina’s Grainger Generating Station, and Indiana’s Michigan City Generating Station.

AEC staff found that the more complete and more effective cleanup scenarios with full excavation of coal ash in contact with groundwater and contaminated soils results in more than double the jobs compared to the less effective cleanup plans. In all three case studies, workers’ income and local economic activity follow this same pattern with more stringent clean up protocols resulting in greater benefits for both workers and the community.

Following release of this report, on August 6, 2021, Michigan City Council passed a unanimous resolution supporting the more stringent coal ash cleanup option. Read the resolution below.

Link to Report

Link to Earthjustice Publication

Link to Press Release

Link to Resolution

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“Measuring Climate Equity" at LIEN Annual Conference 2021

Event:
“Measuring Climate Equity" at the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) Annual Conference 2021

Speaker:
Sagal Alisalad

July 2021

AEC Assistant Researcher, Sagal Alisalad presented on “Measuring Climate Equity" at the Low-Income Energy Network (LIEN) Annual Conference 2021. Ms. Alisalad gave a primer on climate equity, described AEC’S climate and social equity framework, and introduced four types of metrics for climate equity: Outcome Metrics, Distributional Dimensions, Process Metrics, and Structural Metrics. This year’s LIEN conference focuses on Energy Equity: Using Energy Efficiency to Fight Energy Poverty in Canada.

Link to Presentation Slides

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Ameren MO IRP Comments

Authors: Tyler Comings, Joshua Castigliego, Sagal Alisalad, Eliandro Tavares, and Sierra Club

March 2021

AEC co-authored (with Sierra Club) comments on the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) from Ameren Missouri. The comments discuss Ameren's failure to: economically optimize coal unit retirements, adequately address substantial costs from pending litigation, and adequately consider low-cost solar and solar-battery hybrid resources.

Link to Comments

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