Regulatory & Policy

Policy Analysis and Development

Gabel Associates supports policy development and related analysis at the national, regional, and state levels. For over twenty-five years, the firm has been an important contributor to policy discussions related to wholesale and retail energy markets, renewable energy, industry restructuring, energy efficiency, and environmental issues.

Gabel Associates provides policy analysis services that leverage our extensive energy modeling capabilities and our comprehensive knowledge of existing and pending regulations that may affect our clients’ businesses. The firm has a long history of presenting ratemaking, regulatory, and policy analysis to regulatory agencies, legislators, and executive offices that is both clearly communicated and methodical.

Gabel Associates actively contributes in the analysis and development of energy policy related to:

Regional Policy

Starting in the 1990s, Gabel Associates participated in the development of PJM, the largest regional transmission organization (RTO) in the country, and is active in policy and tariff issues at PJM, MISO, other RTOs, and the FERC. The firm has been an active contributor in the development of capacity market structure, design, and interconnection processes.

Gabel Associates was also instrumental in structuring New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade program.

In addition, Gabel Associates has been exploring new approaches to energy and policy matters to help accelerate the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market. The firm has significant experience in providing services to advance regulatory strategies that address the infrastructure, economic, and environmental issues related to EVs.

State Policy

In the late 1990s Gabel Associates was influential in the development of New Jersey’s energy deregulation law (EDECA, enacted in 1999), its restructuring of energy taxes, and its development of energy aggregation policies. The firm has also been directly involved in the development of “utility default service” policy in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

The firm has helped shape New Jersey’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), one of the most progressive renewable policies in the country, since its inception in 1999 under EDECA. The firm has conducted in-depth analysis of RPS implications for wind, solar, biomass, and other technologies. Steven Gabel served on the Governor’s Renewable Energy Task Force, which is the basis for New Jersey’s RPS,  and the firm continues to participate in several related stakeholder processes that help determine the policy direction of the renewable energy market.

Gabel Associates has been instrumental in crafting legislation to advance the development of the renewable energy market. The firm was directly involved in developing and negotiating the Solar Energy Advancement and Fair Competition Act, signed into law in New Jersey in January 2010. This law placed the solar RPS obligations into law and substantially increased solar requirements. The firm provided comprehensive analytical support for the bill.

The firm was also an active participant in the development of New Jersey’s second major piece of solar legislation, S-1925, which was signed into law in July 2012. The law accelerated the RPS solar requirements in an effort to absorb the significant oversupply of solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) and help stabilize the market while reducing ratepayer cost exposure. Gabel Associates provided ongoing analytical support throughout legislation development and performed detailed ratepayer impact analysis which modeled cost implications.

We were also involved in the Clean Energy Act (A3723), which was signed into law by Governor Murphy on May 23, 2018.  This law is focused on expanding clean energy programs and makes several revisions to the RPS that will impact the SREC market.  The firm has also supported issues related to community solar.

Gabel Associates has worked on behalf of The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) and the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility as an energy expert in rate and merger cases, winning significant improvements to interconnection process and improved treatment of solar and storage in several Mid-Atlantic and Northeast jurisdictions.

Gabel Associates was active in the development of the New Jersey Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA). OWEDA, which became New Jersey law in August 2010, promotes the development of offshore wind projects by providing a fair and reasonable project development process. The firm facilitated discussions with the wind industry on the legislation in an effort to reach agreement on all important issues including regulatory requirements, approval standards, financing structure, and power marketing parameters.

Gabel Associates helped design the offshore wind renewable energy certificate (OREC) program, which established the purchase requirements for offshore wind energy. The firm also designed the first-of-its-kind pricing and financing structure for the development of an offshore wind project, the OREC Pricing Plan. Gabel Associates is one of the only firms to have presented expert testimony in the key areas of an offshore wind project including cost/benefit analysis, rate impact analysis, and merit order impacts.

The firm was also an active contributor in the formation of the Global Warming Response Act (GWRA), which was signed into law in New Jersey on July 6, 2007. This Act established a greenhouse gas reduction program with the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020, and by 80% below 2006 levels by 2050.

Gabel Associates led the development of energy policies that reduced stranded costs and provided more favorable utility long-term power purchase agreement terms for consumers. Gabel Associates participated in the renegotiation and regulatory approval for eleven of the thirteen long-term power purchase contracts between utilities and independent energy producers that were restructured after EDECA, saving New Jersey consumers $332 million.