State Senator Eric Koch (R-Bedford) has been elected to the 12-member Executive Committee of the National Council on Electricity Policy (NCEP) based in Washington, DC.
NCEP is a platform for all state level electricity decision makers to share and learn from diverse perspectives on the evolving electricity sector. Its community includes over 200 representatives from public utility commissions, air and environmental regulatory agencies, governors’ staffs and state energy offices, legislatures, and consumer advocates. It is an affiliate of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Center for Partnerships and Innovation (CPI).
It serves as a forum for collaboration around grid-related topics at state, regional, and national levels, offering a unique opportunity for state electricity decision makers throughout the country to examine the ways new technologies, policies, regulations, and markets impact state resources and the bulk power system.
NCEP facilitates an annual meeting, connections to virtual resources, and ongoing learning opportunities for members to explore multiple perspectives on complex electricity system issues.
A set of Guiding Principles guide NCEP in its purpose, administration, mission, and values. NCEP’s Mission is to:
- Provide information and technical assistance to states, regions, and multiple stakeholders and policy-makers;
- Improve understanding of electricity technologies, markets, programs and policies;
- Support the deployment of reliable, clean, and reasonably-priced electricity;
- Improve interstate and intra-state coordination on electricity issues; and
- Undertake planning and coordination activities of the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC)
In addition, NCEP adheres to the following values when conducting activities and developing resources:
- Objectivity: ensuring all efforts are balanced, credible, and fact-based without a partisan, ideological, or business driven agenda.
- Diversity: maintaining organizational diversity in composition (e.g., state electricity office represented, political affiliation), professional background (e.g., law, economics, engineering), and geography.
- Collaboration: collaborating internally and externally in order to deeply explore topics.
- Engagement: engaging state decision-makers through a combination of in-person and virtual events.
NCEP address all aspects of electricity, primarily through five work areas:
- The Evolving Electricity Marketplace
- Resource Adequacy and Diversity
- Transmission
- Reliability, Resilience, and Recovery
- The Intersection of Energy and the Environment
Senator Koch is a member of the Indiana Senate Utilities Committee and served as Chairman of the Indiana House Utilities, Energy & Telecommunications Committee from 2012-2016. A nationally-recognized leader in energy policy, he serves a co-chairman of the Energy Supply Task Force of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and holds a graduate certificate in Energy Policy Planning from the University of Idaho. He focuses on energy, telecommunications, and water policy interactions in Indiana and nationally.
