The plan would have allowed PacifiCorp, a utility that operates in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and parts of Northern California, to merge with California’s electricity grid. Regulators argue that a regional approach would make it easier to import and export clean energy. Jerry Brown’s plan for a regional electricity grid is being put on hold this year, and lawmakers are no longer expected to consider a measure that would allow California to partner with five other states. But there have been persistent concerns about whether the plan would undermine California’s environmental efforts or reduce its control over the grid, a residual worry a little more than a decade since the state’s energy crisis. The integration would have saved customers $1.5 billion a year by 2030, according to the California Independent System Operator, or Cal-ISO, a Folsom-based nonprofit that manages the state’s grid.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 08, 2016 16:52 UTC