Washington’s 2019 SB 5116 grants the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) the authority to shift utilities from a return-on-capital business model to a performance-based model. Rather than profit (and returns to shareholders) coming purely from investments in capital projects, utilities’ returns would be determined based on their performance against metrics determined by the UTC, which may include carbon reduction, or even distributed renewables penetration.
The Utilities and Transportation Commission launched various dockets to deal with implementation of SB 5116, including dockets related to integrated resource plans (UE 190698), purchase of electricity (UE 190837), and clean energy implementation plans (UE 191023).