ENERGY EXACTIONS

摘要

At bottom, energy exactions present land use regulators with an important opportunity to capture a portion of the rents that traditional state utility regulation bestows upon a private investor-owned utility. Local energy exactions can produce valuable information about customer energy demand and its alternatives, diversify risks in energy infrastructure investment, and promote intergovernmental competition for the provision of underfunded public goods related to a community's energy future.The conventional state utility-planning and rate-setting process is often said to produce concentrated benefits for the few at the expense of the many. It has done a poor job of encouraging demand reduction, distributed energy supply, and a resilient energy grid. Energy law should encourage every locality to focus on how its own management and uses of land impact the energy system, not leave municipal governments as bystanders in policy decisions related to energy infrastructure. Energy exactions provide a unique, pragmatic, and valuable opportunity to integrate local community values into planning discussions concerning the energy grid, promoting demand reduction and inviting new investments in low-carbon energy infrastructure.