Overview
Bates White has unmatched experience as a Procurement Monitor for state public utility commissions across the country. We understand that procurement monitoring work differs greatly among states and demands a unique set of skills, and we offer industry-leading capabilities to address the range of work.
Bates White’s experts have helped commissions across the country design robust supply portfolios and monitor procurements of all types, from descending clock multiproduct auctions to timed reverse auctions to sealed-bid RFPs. Our experts have overseen the successful procurement of billions of dollars’ worth of energy, capacity, and environmental products in a wide variety of market environments, from traditionally regulated states to deregulated markets to traditional vertically integrated utilities to advanced wholesale markets.
Through this work, Bates White has developed a deep understanding of a wide range of generation technologies. We have experience in working with traditional coal and natural gas-fired generation, on- and offshore wind, solar PV, geothermal, biomass, integrated gasification combined cycle, energy storage, and distributed energy resources.
Our knowledge of the costs, risks, and benefits of these technologies helps us provide effective advice to decision makers regarding portfolio construction and procurement design. Our work gives clients confidence in their procurements, which have delivered ratepayer savings, reduced ratepayer exposure to volatile wholesale power market prices, and helped transform states’ generation mix economically and efficiently.
Selected Work
- Serving the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission as Independent Observer for two procurements by two Hawaiian utilities for new variable, dispatchable renewable generation on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii.
- Also on behalf of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, acting as Independent Observer for procurements by the Hawaiian Electric Companies for renewable energy generation and energy on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii, as well as for grid services from distributed energy resources on Oahu, Hawaii, and Maui.
- Serving the Illinois Commerce Commission as the procurement monitor for multiple RFPs from the Illinois utilities to procure a variety of products, including energy, capacity, Renewable Energy Credits (both solar PV and wind), community solar and non-solar projects, and Distributed Generation RECs.
- Serving as the Board Advisor for the annual New Jersey Basic Generation Service Auction since 2006.
- On behalf of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, reviewed Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s application to construct the Wind Catcher Energy Facility.
- Reviewing the design, bid evaluation, and contract negotiation for the Oregon Commission as Independent Evaluator for several unit-contingent all-source and renewable RFPs from PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric.
- Evaluating transactions from Pacific Gas & Electric for the California Public Utilities Commission.
- Assisted the Board of Directors of the Southwest Power Pool in the design, implementation, monitoring, and troubleshooting of their real-time energy market and serving as the independent market monitor, producing several State of the Market Reports.
- Serving State Commissions in Maryland, Pennsylvania, DC, Delaware, and Ohio for many years as independent monitors for dozens of procurements to acquire full requirements supply for non-shopping ratepayers.