Public Participation on Low-Wealth Solar Policy Roundup
Policymakers and local communities across the U.S. are redesigning the solar policy to incorporate low-wealth families as major stakeholders to help them benefit from local clean energy.
Each month, Emphasis Power initiates a Low-Income Policy Call, which is led by our Access & Equity team. During the call, we bring together policymakers from across the country to celebrate our wins, talk about best practices and advanced learning, and brainstorm ways to join forces to improve on the design of the low-income solar program.
We believe that by hosting this call, we will be able to address some of the greatest issues that lower-income communities face. We use it to share information on the best practices that are working and those that are not so as to ensure that affordable solar is easily accessible to everyone.
Congress Directs FERC to Form Office of Public Participation
The policy must not just be informed by regulatory and legislative action alone. Instead, the public must be encouraged to offer their input; otherwise, there will be knowledge gaps and goals will be misaligned.
Many people in the community wonder how they can participate in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, they are faced with various barriers. This has prompted the federal government and states to brainstorm effective ways to increase public participation.
Congress has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Office to establish an Office of Public Participation. FERC, which was formed in 1977, is an independent regulatory agency that is tasked with regulating the interstate transmission of electricity, oil, and natural gas.
FERC announced that there will be a workshop and a series of listening sessions to allow interested persons to offer input on the establishment of the Office of Public Participation (OPP).
The OPP, which will be within FERC, will offer assistance to interested parties of the public that want to participate in Commission proceedings. This will be done per the authorities that the Commission exercises.