Coalition proposes two grid utilization metrics before Virginia deadline
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readAn industry coalition has proposed how US regulators should measure how much of the existing grid is actually used, in an opinion piece for Utility Dive by Ian Magruder, executive director of Utilize Coalition. Its members are Carrier, Google, LineVision, Renew Home, Sparkfund, SPAN, Tesla and Verrus.
The question is about to become practical. Virginia passed what the article calls the first legislation of its kind in April, and by 15 October Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power must submit proposed utilisation metrics to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the first US utilities to do so. Other states are advancing similar policies.
The coalition's white paper defines grid utilisation as the share of deliverable energy that is actually delivered over a given period. It recommends reporting two complementary views: nominal utilisation, measured against a fixed reference rating, and operational utilisation, measured against the capacity that is usable under defined operating and reliability conditions. Reporting both, it argues, gives a transparent benchmark plus the context needed for planning and investment.
The case for the exercise is cost. By various measures, the article says, the US uses roughly half of its grid's total capacity, and research it cites suggests that a 10% increase in utilisation could save Americans more than $100 billion over a decade. Magruder notes that both the current and the previous Secretary of Energy have backed the idea.
The piece is advocacy from companies that sell tools to raise utilisation, from line sensors to home energy management, and should be read that way; the definitions themselves are what regulators in Virginia will now have to choose between.
Why it matters
Utilities are paid mainly for building, not for squeezing more out of what exists. A required utilisation metric gives regulators a number to hold them to. Which definition wins decides whether the headline figure looks like spare capacity or a system already near its limits.