2026 Event Schedule

As utilities and regulators face mounting pressure to modernize the grid, improve resilience, and unlock demand-side flexibility, performance-based ratemaking (PBR) is gaining traction as a powerful regulatory tool. Multi-year rate plans with PBR incentives offer an alternative to traditional cost-of-service regulation, reducing the frequency of costly rate cases while enabling utilities to align performance with evolving public policy goals.

But what gets measured gets managed, so well-designed performance metrics as well as a robust process for creating, evaluating, and updating these metrics, are a linchpin of successful PBR implementation. PBR metrics shape utility behavior, drive investment decisions, and incentivize improved service reliability, grid resilience, and flexible load integration. When metrics are clear and aligned with policy goals, they catalyze positive change and ensure accountability. When they’re ambiguous or misaligned, they can stall progress or lead to unintended consequences.

This panel brings together experts from three jurisdictions – Hawaii, Illinois, and Connecticut – where multi-year PBR is actively shaping grid modernization. Panelists will share how performance metrics were selected, refined, and deployed in their states, and the lessons learned from applying them in practice. Attendees will walk away with:

• A grounded understanding of how PBR metrics are designed to drive grid flexibility and resilience.
• Real-world examples of metric design tradeoffs and unintended consequences.
• Insights into how PBR compares to other mechanisms in achieving key policy goals.
• Ideas for how regulators, advocates, and utilities can collaborate to refine and evolve PBR over time.

This session will benefit utilities, regulators, and DER providers and will enable them learn how well-designed metrics can unlock new revenue opportunities, reduce regulatory friction, and accelerate investments in grid modernization and flexibility. Utilities will learn about real-world examples of PBR success stories and commonly encountered pitfalls to avoid in metric design. Regulators will gain practical insights into metric design, oversight strategies, and how to align utility incentives with public interest outcomes like resilience, load flexibility, and service reliability. DER providers and private-sector innovators will better understand how PBR can create market signals, open up new value streams, and support broader integration of flexible, distributed energy resources into the grid.