Ari Peskoe – Page 37 – Environmental and Energy Law Program

Research Areas

Bio

Ari has written extensively about electricity regulation, on issues ranging from rooftop solar to constitutional challenges to states’ energy laws. Prior to the Electricity Law Initiative, he was an associate at a law firm in Washington, D.C., where he litigated before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the Western Energy Crisis. Before that, Ari was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana and spent two years trying to bring the 2012 Olympics to New York. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in electrical engineering and business.

Electricity Law Initiative

State Power Project

Featured

Research Paper Electricity Law

Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech’s Power

New paper from the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative uncovers how utilities are forcing ratepayers to fund discounted rates for data centers.

Latest

In the Media
Wall Street Journal

The Texas Freeze: Why the Power Grid Failed

“With everything there is a trade-off,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. “More resilience is potentially more expensive, but electricity is an essential service. These are hard decisions.”

February 22, 2021

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw: Electric Utility Mergers and Consolidation – Scott Hempling and Ari Peskoe

Ari speaks with Scott Hempling about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication.

February 17, 2021

In the Media
Bloomberg

Biden’s Secret Weapon to Cleaning Up Energy Is Spelled FERC

Enter FERC, which can accomplish many of the same goals, said Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative.

January 29, 2021

In the Media
E&E News

Contested market rule at issue as Danly’s chairmanship ends

“FERC opened up this can of worms and it’s just endless,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program.

January 26, 2021

In the Media
S&P Global

After Trump no-show, Supreme Court fight over Wash. coal exports left to Biden

The legal arguments could be dividing conservative justices on the court, making it difficult to proceed to oral arguments, according to Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program. Following the lead of former Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has rarely been willing to recognize the legitimacy of the Dormant Commerce Clause, and newly confirmed Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett may feel similarly.

January 25, 2021

In the Media
S&P Global

Democrat-controlled Senate sets stage for new FERC majority, policy direction

While FERC controls its own agenda, it also has to respond to filings made by regulated parties like utilities and other key players such as environmental organizations, said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.

January 8, 2021

In the Media
Utility Dive

Democrats to take Senate majority after Georgia victories. Here’s how it could impact the power sector.

Part of FERC’s priorities under a Democrat-run government will depend on what passes Congress. If a clean energy standard is implemented, for example, that will require FERC to ensure transmission providers are developing infrastructure in line with those policies, as well as modify market structures accordingly, Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School wrote in a November paper.

January 8, 2021

In the Media
Bloomberg

Biden’s Climate Goals Get Greener Path as Democrats Take Senate

“FERC will become a Democrat-majority body and there won’t have to be any horse trading with the Republicans to make that happen,” said Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative. “McConnell was not shy about holding up Obama’s nominees, so there was precedent for sitting on the nominee forever.”

January 8, 2021

In the Media
S&P Global

Commodities 2021: FERC seen as major player in clean energy transition going into 2021

Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative, said that “regardless of whether Congress passes clean energy legislation, the Democratic-led FERC should choose to wield its authority to support a clean energy agenda.” He asserted that FERC had broad discretion to do so given that it operates under flexible legal standards and already has transmission oversight and market regulation authorities.

January 4, 2021