Advocating For
‍Public Power

Advocating for Public Power Communities

Our Work In Washington

LPPC is the voice of large public power in Washington, DC. We advocate for policy that enables our members to build critical energy infrastructure, power the growth of the economy, and provide affordable and reliable electric electricity to millions of Americans.

LPPC members collectively serve 30.5 million American consumers across 23 states and territories. Public power utilities are leaders in their communities focused on delivering reliable and affordable power to customers while also helping to shape our nation's future by innovating and investing billions in new critical infrastructure.

Federal decisions that impact our industry aren’t just felt by LPPC members; they also impact millions of public power customers. That’s why LPPC educates and works with federal policymakers to ensure our nation’s largest public power systems can continue to provide the service that keeps our economy and way of life thriving.

Our Policy Objectives

Key Issues

Powering America’s Future

As demand for energy surges across the nation, ensuring a reliable and affordable electric power supply is essential to enabling AI, advanced manufacturing, and economic growth. Public power utilities are stepping up to meet this challenge, but they need the right federal policies and resources to build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps America running.

The challenge is massive. The investment is critical.

58 GW

in generation LPPC members expect to add over the next ten years to meet growing demand for energy.

$140B

in infrastructure investments over the next ten years to support America’s energy future.

More Key Issues

Energy Infrastructure Financing

Affordable financing enables public power to build the energy infrastructure our communities need.

Environmental Regulations

Practical environmental rules help public power deliver reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.

Permitting Reform

Reforming federal and state licensing and permitting empowers public power to meet America’s growing energy needs by building critical energy infrastructure projects faster.

Advocacy

Policy Objectives

Advocating for policies to meet America’s energy needs.

Download Our Policy Objectives

PRESERVE CRITICAL TOOLS THAT PROVIDE AFFORDABLE FINANCING FOR ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE, ACCESS TO ESTABLISHED DEEP POOLS OF CAPITAL, AND EQUAL ACCESS TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Retain Current Law Treatment of Tax-Exempt Financing, Restore Advance Refunding, Provide Sequestration Protection for Build America Bonds, and Maintain Elective-Pay Tax Credits

Tax-exempt financing and direct-pay energy tax incentives support economic growth and affordable energy. Access to affordable financing is essential for the massive energy investments necessary to reliably and affordably meet our customers’ rapidly growing energy needs. LPPC’s priorities include:

Maintaining access to established deep pools of capital to meet investment needs at affordable rates. The exclusion of interest on municipal bonds from taxable income lowers electric rates for our customers and allows public power utilities to increase investment in the reliable, clean energy our customers use to grow their businesses and develop our communities. The tax-exempt bond market is over 100 years old and provides affordable financing. Changes to that market can upset demand for municipal bonds and in turn have unintended effects on our access to financing.
Restoring tax-exempt advance refundings that provide LPPC members with needed flexibility to manage interest rate cycles and the regular refinancings of their borrowings.
Providing sequestration protection for Build America Bonds, where the federal government reimburses the issuer for a portion of the interest. Sequestration changes borrowers financing costs after the fact based on unpredictable outcomes in Congress.‍
Maintaining equal access to new technologies. Most federal support for the energy sector is in the form of tax credits. Our members are eager to deploy innovative technologies to meet rising electricity demand, including advanced dispatchable resources, low carbon fuels, advanced nuclear, carbon capture, long-duration storage, and offshore wind. Elective pay tax credits provide not-for-profit public power utilities the same federal incentives for energy projects as for-profit developers, enabling them to own energy projects and save their customers money, while building the energy infrastructure their communities need.

MODERNIZE AND SIMPLIFY TREASURY REGULATIONS

Eliminate Outdated Restrictions and Undue Obstacles to Financing Energy Infrastructure Necessary to Meet Customers’ Energy Needs

The issuance of tax-exempt bonds provide affordable financing for LPPC members’ infrastructure projects but come with extensive compliance requirements. These requirements sometimes unnecessarily hinder the ability to build infrastructure for our customers. LPPC’s priorities include:

Updating private use rules for tax-exempt bonds. Restrictions in the Internal Revenue Code and regulations addressing private use of facilities financed with tax-exempt bonds no longer reflect today’s energy markets. These outdated rules add unnecessary complexity and prohibit the ability to enter into long-term contracts with customers to build the infrastructure necessary for large data centers and artificial intelligence loads and to purchase facilities from for-profit owners who wish to sell to serve customers’ energy needs.

SUPPORT ELECTRIFICATION AND USE OF HYDROGEN

Support Economic Growth Related to Advanced Manufacturing and Decarbonization of Transportation and Heating Through Electrification and Use of Hydrogen

Electrification of transportation and heating and the use of hydrogen in light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles benefit our communities by reducing emissions, improving air quality, onshoring a domestic supply chain, and encouraging advanced manufacturing. LPPC members are leaders in electricity-powered and hydrogen-fueled transportation. Charging infrastructure, metering, and auxiliary electric technologies are natural extensions of the distribution grid. Public power can play an essential role in deploying new technologies and supplying the energy to power these new end uses.

SUPPORT EFFICIENT LICENSING AND PERMITTING AND SENSIBLE TRANSMISSION PLANNING

Timely and Sensible Processes Maintain Reliability and Lower Costs for American Consumers

Timely action is needed at the state and federal level to permit and license critical infrastructure projects including transmission lines, zero- and low-carbon generation, and pipelines and storage facilities for natural gas, hydrogen, and CO2. These projects enhance reliability, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and lower air pollutants. Protracted processes lead to higher costs, delay investments, and threaten reliability. LPPC’s priorities include:

Permitting Reform. Federal interagency coordination, involvement by state regulatory bodies, and timely judicial review ensure thorough and prompt decisions for energy infrastructure projects. Timely permitting of pipelines and storage for natural gas, hydrogen, and CO2 are essential to meeting near-term energy demands and facilitating the clean energy transition.
Sensible Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation. LPPC supports sensible expansion of the transmission grid based on sound analysis. Public power utilities should have a voice in the planning process to ensure the right projects are built and to maintain affordability. Approval for new transmission projects must be premised on a showing of net benefits to consumers, demonstrated on a regional basis. Costs must be reasonable and allocated fairly to beneficiaries. Public power and federal power marketing administration participation in regional and interregional transmission planning should remain voluntary. Customers should be safeguarded from excessive transmission project costs by having the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) establish and enforce effective cost control measures.‍
Timely Licensing and Permitting of Modern Nuclear and Hydro Facilities. LPPC members have and continue to invest in nuclear and hydro projects, which are essential to a reliable clean energy grid. Current licensing and permitting timelines raise the cost and prohibit the use of these clean energy technologies to meet America’s growing energy needs. LPPC members support reforms at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and in Congress to advance these critical projects.

Additional Resources

ENHANCE GRID RESILIENCE, SECURITY, AND RECOVERY

Support for Partnerships That Allow the Grid to Withstand and Rapidly Recover from System Disruptions

The electric industry, government, and academia should continue to work together to enhance the ability of the electric grid to adapt to changing conditions and to withstand and rapidly recover from system disruptions, including:

Enhancing cyber and physical security. LPPC supports federal efforts to protect against cyber and physical security threats by encouraging alignment with a risk-based security framework and by building upon existing regulations and voluntary programs, with a focus on changing threats, technologies, sharing of best practices, and timely intelligence.
Supporting supply chain capacity and security. LPPC supports federal efforts to evaluate supply chain vulnerabilities and capacity constraints and actions that could spur domestic production for key components and equipment. LPPC members believe the energy supply chain should be secured from a cyber and sourcing perspective in the most efficient way, with suppliers subject to reasonable regulation enforced by the federal government rather than duplicative and ineffectual efforts applied at each individual utility.
Enhancing federal resiliency investment. LPPC advocates for additional federal investment to enhance the ability of the grid to withstand disruptions and extreme natural events, while maintaining affordability for customers.
Reducing unnecessary complexity and recognizing the value of pre-staging for disaster recovery. LPPC advocates for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reduce unnecessary complexity so as to allow public power utilities to obtain timely reimbursement for disaster recovery. LPPC also advocates for FEMA to reimburse an electric utility’s reasonable costs to pre-stage service restoration supplies and crews needed to shorten anticipated weather-caused service disruptions. Electric utilities are first responders providing an essential public service and undertake enormous expenses to prepare for events and restore electric service.

Reducing Wildfire Risk. LPPC supports improvements to current law to allow public power entities to reduce wildfire risks before disaster strikes through streamlined permitting and enhanced vegetation management.

SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE AND EFFECTIVE FEDERAL REGULATION OF THE BULK POWER SYSTEM

Foster Collaboration Between Regulators and Industry Participants to Address Emerging Risks and Ensure a Robust, Adaptable Regulatory Framework

LPPC supports responsible and effective federal regulation that maintains the reliability, resilience, and security of the bulk power system. Regulations and reliability standards should be developed with transparent stakeholder engagement and industry feedback mechanisms, as outlined in NERC’s standards development process. Additionally, regulations and standards should be risk-based, practical, enforceable, and achievable, enabling compliance without imposing undue burdens on the industry while maintaining standards of reliability and security for the grid. To support the regulatory model established by Section 215 of the Federal Power Act, LPPC members will nominate qualified subject-matter experts to the NERC Members Representatives Committee, standing committees, subcommittees, working groups, and task forces.

Additional Resources

ELECTRICITY MARKETS SHOULD ENCOURAGE EFFICIENCY AND RELIABILITY

Wholesale Electricity Markets Should Provide Economic Accountability and Reliability Benefits to Customers

LPPC members participate in both bilateral and organized wholesale electricity markets. Organized markets should:

Be voluntary, transparent, resource-neutral, and designed and operated to provide net benefits to customers.
Allow for different resource mixes based on local, state, and regional choices.
Provide for independent governance, include public power representation within the stakeholder processes, and enable input to decision-makers.
Base compensation on resource attributes, not resource types.

Where organized wholesale markets do not presently exist, the formation or expansion of an organized market should provide benefits to customers and preserve the local decision-making and flexibility of public power entities.

SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS THAT PROVIDE WORKABLE, DURABLE FRAMEWORKS FOR RELIABLE, AFFORDABLE, AND CLEAN ELECTRICITY

Revisions to the EPA’s Power Plant CO2 Rule Are Needed to Achieve a Reliable, Affordable Clean Energy Transition and Meet Record Electricity Demand

LPPC members support workable, durable federal environmental policies that responsibly advance clean energy. Our utilities have some of the cleanest generation portfolios in the industry and are leaders in investing in zero- and low-carbon resources and expanding the ways that electricity is used to power our nation. LPPC’s priorities include federal policies that:

Recognize the importance of maintaining reliability and affordability for consumers and enable flexible compliance that allows for regional resource differences.
Are well coordinated among federal agencies and between industry and government.
Rely on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to perform the necessary technical studies to ensure reliability can be maintained in the face of dramatic load growth and changes in the generation mix.
Demonstrate and support the deployment of innovative technologies, including advanced dispatchable renewables, low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas, advanced nuclear energy, carbon capture and storage, long-duration storage, advanced grid capabilities, and efficient demand side technologies.

The EPA’s Power Plant CO2 Rule was well intended but needs revisions to establish a workable, durable framework for clean energy that maintains reliability and meets growing electricity demand. In particular, LPPC’s priorities for the CO2 Rule include:

The ability to permit the most efficient plants, without unnecessarily raising cost. Utilities seeking air permits for new natural gas plants need to either meet a 90% carbon capture standard for the unit by 2032 (which is not technically achievable), or run below a 40% capacity factor (which is costly while not reducing carbon emissions). While LPPC members are pursuing carbon capture, the technology and supply chain for deployment are nascent and cannot meet electricity needs in this timeframe. Building and operating smaller, less efficient plants to comply with the Rule is costly to customers and increases CO2 emissions.
Recognizing supply chain challenges to meeting rapidly growing electricity demand. Lead times for new natural gas turbines extend to five years or more. The Rule exacerbates electric supply challenges by capping the run time of new natural gas plants needed for reliability, without reducing CO2 emissions. More plants are built to run less, producing similar amounts of CO2. Studies show that maintaining a sufficient supply of dispatchable natural gas generation as a backstop for intermittent generation sources is required to allow the electric sector to decarbonize while also reliably meeting the growing demand for electricity.
Acknowledging that additional large scale coal plant retirements by 2032 challenges reliability. The Rule mandates that existing coal plants co-fire with 40-percent natural gas by 2030, retire by 2032, or install carbon capture by 2032. Plants are challenged by a lack of pipeline and storage capacity and an inability to obtain timely permits for new pipelines and storage for both natural gas and carbon capture. Carbon capture technology and the supply chain that supports it are nascent. The Rule would trigger massive additional coal plant retirements by 2032 that threaten reliability and exacerbate America’s near-term electricity supply deficit.

Additional Resources

SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITIES THROUGH ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

Provide Ample Aid to Meet the Electricity Needs of Struggling Households and Small Businesses

Federal programs should ensure equitable access to energy across communities so that low-income consumers are able to pay for essential utility services. Programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) are proven and effective tools to address energy insecurity and should remain a priority for federal funding.

DEVELOPING OUR ESSENTIAL ENERGY WORKFORCE

Implement Programs to Develop and Train the Energy Sector Workforce, Including Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies

LPPC supports federal workforce development programs that enhance the pipeline of qualified and diverse employees in highly technical STEM-related fields, including cyber security and emerging technologies. The electric industry employs essential workers in highly technical fields who ensure the safety of our community and provide reliable power for essential service. Workforce development reduces the cost and delays of new projects, allows the United States to lead in emerging fields such as storage and advanced nuclear, and enhances the ability of the nation to respond to rapidly rising demand.

Additional Resources

Download Our Policy Objectives

Advocating For
‍Public Power