Statement From Electric Power Supply Association President and CEO Todd Snitchler on NERC Long Term Reliability Assessment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | December 17, 2024
CONTACT: Christina Nyquist | 603.930.8818 | cnyquist@epsa.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Policymakers should embrace competition to meet the rising demand for electric power resources projected by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s latest 10-year outlook, while prioritizing critical dispatchable resources, said the head of the trade group representing competitive power suppliers. Accelerated by data center growth to power U.S. leadership in AI, the trendline for U.S. energy demand is only continuing to point upward over the next decade, indicating an increased need for electric power resources of all kinds to support a reliable grid, according to NERC’s 2024 Long Term Reliability Assessment.
Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents competitive power suppliers providing more than 175,000 MW of capacity nationwide, issued the following statement urging decisionmakers to choose competitive approaches to build power generation resources.
“The current moment in our nation’s energy story requires speed, innovation, efficiency, and a new way of thinking – all of which competitive power markets and independent power producers are uniquely designed to deliver. EPSA’s member companies have deep experience in developing and building new resources and technologies, doing so at their own risk without putting customers on the hook for the costs of new generation resources.
As NERC’s report makes clear, demand for electricity is expected to continue to surge, requiring extensive investments in new resources and slowing the trend of dispatchable resource retirements. Competitive markets remain the best vehicle to ensure reliability during this transformational period, while delivering lower emissions and cost-effective reliability. Relying on the integrated resource planning used by utilities and the business model of the last century is no way to meet the moment. Doing so has historically been shown to result in higher costs, longer building times, and inefficient outcomes – leaving customers to pay for development costs via utility bill increases.
NERC also continues to correctly highlight the importance of dispatchable resources like natural gas generation to support grid reliability and ensure that appropriate methods are used to determine the contributions that all resources make to preserve reliability. NERC echoes EPSA’s recommendation that grid operators should incorporate extreme conditions in integrated resource planning and wholesale market designs.
While past policy and regulatory approaches have put pressure on markets and power developers, resulting in supply imbalances, higher prices, and reliability concerns, now is the time for all stakeholders, decisionmakers, and market participants to come to the table and find collaborative approaches to meet the urgent need at hand.
EPSA continues to highlight the importance of policies and market decisions that support Americans’ access to the dispatchable resources needed for reliability.”
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The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) is the national trade association representing America’s competitive power suppliers. EPSA members provide about 175,000 MW of reliable and competitively priced electricity from environmentally responsible facilities using a diverse mix of fuels and technologies including natural gas, wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, storage, biomass, and coal. EPSA seeks to bring the benefits of competition to all power customers. Learn more at www.epsa.org and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter @EPSAnews.
