NRDC is seeking a Schneider Summer Fellow to work with the Climate and Clean Energy Team in the SF office. This will be a 2019 summer internship.
NRDC's Western Energy team advocates for policies to promote beneficial electrification as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the building and transportation sectors. To inform that work, we are seeking a fellow to analyze the impact of various policies on the cost of electricity in California. While California has some of the highest electricity rates in the country, it has lower than average residential bills thanks to a variety of factors, including demand-side management initiatives and a relatively mild climate. The viability of switching to electricity as a heating and transportation fuel, however, will depend in part on keeping the price of electricity affordable for Californians in absolute terms and relative to future gasoline and natural gas prices.
To better understand the main drivers of electricity prices in California, the fellow will:
- Conduct a thorough literature review
- Unpack the revenue requirements of the state’s large electric utilities into their component parts (generation, distribution, transmission, DSM programs, etc.) and chart their relative contribution over time
- Assess the impact of various policies on utilities’ revenue requirement components and the corresponding impact on residential customers’ electricity rates and bills
- Compare California’s performance in energy affordability against other states by analyzing electric bills and rates
- Present the information in an accessible format for a lay audience
The outcome of this project would be a report and presentation to inform NRDC’s advocacy in California on electricity rate design and energy affordability.
In addition to the above task, the fellow will further NRDC’s advocacy in Resource Adequacy in the west with a focus on California. Resource Adequacy, ensuring availability and reliability of low cost power, is a growing area of interest and there are concerns in California depending on how policies are redefined. Our fellow will help sort out the various efforts and help create strategies to effectively promote NRDC goals. They will also participate in advocacy forms to ensure our that state greenhouse gas reduction and equity goals are not adversely impacted by existing reliability standards that were crafted in response to the California energy crisis.