Ari Peskoe – Page 40 – 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
Utility Dive

Are utilities legally required to plan for climate change? ‘The devil is in the details.’

The use of tort law, which covers harm related to civil claims, could provide “another legal mechanism for reforming local electricity distribution,” according to Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard University’s Electricity Law Initiative. But he said “the best approach” remains using the utility regulatory commissions to ensure utilities are prepared for climate change.

December 9, 2020

In the Media
E&E News

What to expect from Danly’s term as FERC chairman

“Danly has said he’s not going to be a proactive regulator,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program. “I would be surprised if FERC comes out with anything it doesn’t have to do in the next few months.”

December 2, 2020

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw: The Politics of Carbon Pricing with Matto Mildenberger and Ari Peskoe

Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing.

December 1, 2020

In the Media
Green Tech Media

FERC Dissents Reveal Continued Political Tension on Clean Energy Policy

Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard University, noted that FERC’s subsequent actions to impose even more problematic restrictions on state-subsidized resources in the capacity market of mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM may strengthen legal challenges to ISO-NE’s CASPR construct.

November 24, 2020

In the Media
S&P Global

Demoted FERC chair sees himself, agency playing big post-election role

In the meantime, observers should not expect Danly to initiate proactive rulemakings in the same way FERC did for energy storage and distributed energy resources following the 2016 election, said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.

November 9, 2020

In the Media
Utility Dive

Election 2020: Trump’s FERC may need to shift course on clean energy, though Biden’s road will not be easy

“FERC’s role could really hinge on whether Congress does enact any clean energy legislation, even if that energy legislation doesn’t specifically task FERC with anything,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School’s Environmental and Energy Law Program. For example, if Congress were to pass any sort of clean energy standard, FERC would be beholden to that law, regardless of who was in charge of the commission.

October 28, 2020

In the Media
RTO Insider

Governors’ Call for ISO-NE Reforms Draws Support

Ari Peskoe, director of the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative, said the statement was “a long time coming.”

October 19, 2020

In the Media
Utility Dive

Gas generators ask FERC to apply PJM MOPR logic to NYISO

Expanding the MOPR within a single-state ISO is even more of an overreach by FERC than it was in the multi-state PJM, according to Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative.

October 16, 2020

In the Media
E&E News

FERC urged to make way for carbon pricing

Carbon pricing in regional wholesale power markets is a good if not necessary step to combat climate change and ensure reasonable rates for electricity customers. That was the consensus yesterday among 30 energy sector panelists who discussed the pricing mechanism before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In an all-day, long-anticipated virtual conference, an array of academics, grid operators and utility executives discussed FERC’s legal authority, various designs for adding a carbon price in regional markets — and potential pitfalls… That could send a signal to states that they can develop carbon pricing programs without fear that FERC would reject those proposals, Dennis said…Experts on the first panel yesterday focused on FERC’s legal authority to implement carbon pricing in wholesale markets. Kate Konschnik, the director of climate and energy programs at Duke University, and Ari Peskoe, the director of the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative, agreed that such a policy is within the agency’s purview. “The Federal Power Act poses no fundamental obstacle to markets incorporating state carbon pricing,” Konschnik said. Peskoe said pricing carbon is not merely an environmental issue, noting financial regulators have warned about potential costs from failing to put a price on emissions. “No serious conversation about the future direction of the power industry ignores carbon emissions,” he said. “The commission has a duty to encourage the industry’s orderly development. It should not dismiss carbon pricing as someone else’s job.”

October 6, 2020