This provision, had it been enacted, would have made the acquisition of electric utility facilities cost-prohibitive. Distributed resources can help meet the needs that exist in the electricity industry today, and provide many benefits to municipal utilities, electricity consumers and their communities throughout the country. In addition, DR can enhance local control and decision making by reducing our dependence on external sources of power supply, allowing for increased reliance on fuel sources that are available locally, providing benefits to local economies. However, with all the benefits DR offers, challenges and practical problems must also be considered. For example, with a multitude of distributed generation facilities connected to the grid, smaller generators connected at distribution voltage, and existing hazards of routine line maintenance, restoration activities have to be taken into account.
Power quality is another important factor.
Any federal policy governing interconnection standards for distributed resources must provide municipal utilities with the ability to exercise their discretion to account for such matters with local impacts. An industry with a 120-year history of monopoly control does not succumb to competition overnight. A transition is needed to create an open and competitive marketplace. When it comes to managing the interstate market, targeted federal authority is needed to prevent those that control the industry s critical resources today from undermining competitors through anti-competitive behavior. Q. Private power companies argue that municipal electric systems have lower electric rates because they pay no taxes and are unfairly subsidized by the federal government.