Good morning. This year, expiring tax credits have sapped US EV sales…but another chunk of the car market is revving up. Hybrid sales have jumped nearly 20% year-over-year (reaching a record market share of nearly 16%). For now, perhaps the bridge is the destination? 🚗
— Molly, Carrie, and the Energy Central editorial team
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Red tape is slowing utilities from preventing wildfires on federal land.
Just 3% of wildfires are caused by power grid equipment…but this minority has caused some major damage. Over the past decade, three fires linked to vegetation contact with power lines (the 2023 Lahaina Fire, the 2021 Marshall Fire, and the 2018 Camp Fire) together killed more than 185 people, destroyed over 20K structures, and caused more than $24B in damage.
To avoid tragedies like these, utilities work to prevent wildfires year-round—monitoring lines, burying wires, and replacing wooden poles with metal ones, among other projects. But on federal land, these life-saving measures often get put on hold.
The problem: Federally managed lands host more than 80K miles of power lines. There, utilities run into a web of permitting rules that can add months (or years) to urgent projects, Eric Grey, vice president of external and government affairs at Edison Electric Institute, told Energy Central.
The fix: Several policy shifts could speed up utilities’ crucial wildfire prevention work on federal lands, including:
The bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act: This could fast-track some forest management projects by exempting certain activities from review under the National Environmental Policy Act. It also proposes widening the required tree clearing areas along power line rights-of-way (ROWs) from 10 to 150 feet. The bill passed the House in Jan. 2025, and it’s now sitting in the Senate. “We urge the Senate to pass this bipartisan bill,” Grey said.
Standardizing regulations across agencies: This recommendation comes from a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. In 2025, 86% of vegetation-caused power outages reported to NERC occurred on lines “largely not subject” to the organization’s Transmission Vegetation Management standards.
Aligning federal approval processes: In January, the Interior Department launched the US Wildland Fire Service, which is “working to streamline permitting and coordination for utilities conducting vegetation management on federal lands,” USWFS told Energy Central in an email.
The stakes: “Every delay jeopardizes the affordability and reliability of the electric grid and increases wildfire risk to utility systems and the communities they serve,” Grey told us.
North Carolina officials want Duke to ‘put its money where its mouth is.’
The promise: Duke recently inked the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge (alongside over 200 utilities). Now, state politicians are directing the utility to turn that pledge into action. “A promise in Washington doesn’t lower a power bill in North Carolina,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in a statement.
The context: Last week, Duke, the North Carolina Public Staff, and the Environmental Defense Fund reached a settlement to slash the utility’s two-year rate increase request from 18% to 9.5% (which AG Jackson said was still too high). If greenlit by the NC Utilities Commission, the lower rate hike would take effect on Jan 1.
What’s next: This settlement isn’t enough for AG Jackson and NC Gov. Josh Stein, who have presented Duke and the NC Utilities Commission with a to-do list: 1) Create a separate rate class for large loads 2) make “realistic” projections about data center growth and 3) create a BYO generation program for large load customers.
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The president of PPL Electric Utilities says data centers can lower bills…but only if utilities get the rules right.
What’s raising bills: PPL has worked to keep distribution costs low for its 1.4M+ customers—it just added its first base rate increase in a decade, President Christine Martin told Energy Central. Why? Electricity demand keeps outpacing supply…especially in PJM.
How to lower them: Martin says utilities need tariffs and rate structures that ensure growth is “paying for growth," preventing new large customers from shifting infrastructure costs onto residential ratepayers.
Plus, a comms tip: She says utilities and developers should engage communities "early and often," and explain how projects actually benefit local residents.
New York might need up to 105 GW of new resources over the next two decades.
The outlook: Climate policy will dictate the near future of New York’s grid, according to NY-ISO. To meet strict zero-emissions targets under “higher demand conditions,” for example, the Empire State would need to add roughly 105 GW of generation by 2044. But under “less stringent decarbonization policies,” that figure falls to 30-60 GW, per the grid operator’s recent report.
The reality check: Even the moderate scenario would be tough to pull off. NY has added less than 15 GW of new resources over the past 25 years.
The gameplan: If ambitious zero-emissions rules arrive in the coming decades, NY-ISO sees nuclear as a prime source of “high firm capacity value.” And if they don’t? The grid operator would consider replacing aging fossil fuel plants with new, more efficient units (which it claims can curtail emissions). This scenario could prove more likely, given New York’s recent delay of its emissions reduction goals.
A Michigan coalition wants to stop DTE and Consumers Energy from spending on politics.
What happened: Michiganders for Money Out of Politics collected over 500K signatures on a petition to ban the state’s regulated utilities from “political spending in state elections,” Bridge Michigan reported. Lawmakers have 40 days to decide on the measure—or leave it up to voters in November.
The background: The ballot initiative has sparked backlash from a committee called Protect MI Free Speech (which has received $15K from Consumers Energy’s parent company).
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Thanks for reading. Bye for now!