A survey of customers by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) dubbed CenterPoint Energy the energy utility with the nation’s highest residential customer satisfaction last week. The ACSI’s Energy Utilities report noted that CenterPoint remained at the top of the category despite nearly every investor-owned utility company experiencing stumbles in customer satisfaction since last year. The average score hovered around 73 out of 100, but CenterPoint managed to hold at an 80.

For the tenth year in a row, ComEd has been recognized with an ENERGY STAR Award by the U.S. EPA and U.S. DOE. In 2018, the company’s energy-saving offerings helped more than 324,000 residential and business customers save approximately $200 million on their electric bills. This is also the seventh straight year ComEd has received the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition offered by the EPA.

PNM recently announced it would aim eliminate carbon emissions from its power generation by 2040, following a commitment from Washington utility Avista last week to produce 100 percent carbon neutral electricity by 2027 and carbon-free power by 2045. Both utilities' main service areas passed 100-percent clean energy mandates this year.

As electric utilities increasingly embrace broad changes to the U.S. energy industry, they work to overcome cost concerns, skeptical environmentalists and regulatory hurdles. “Some folks call our industry a dinosaur. And we can be that dinosaur... or we can not only survive, but thrive,” Adrian Rodriguez, senior vice president and general counsel at El Paso Electric Co., said recently at the Energy Thought Summit in Austin, Texas.

Gasoline-fueled vehicles would not get far without easy-to-access gas stations and, for the same reason, electric vehicles will need easy-to-access charging stations for the U.S to transform its transportation system. Transportation electrification is widely seen as crucial to decarbonizing the U.S. economy. But charging vendors say avoiding utility interconnection delays is necessary to maximize EV deployment. Such delays remain common, they add, but best interconnection practices are emerging.

Washington state’s Senate recently gave the final vote of approval to a law requiring 100 percent clean energy by 2045, joining three other states with similar legislation on the books. Governor Jay Inslee (D), who is running for president on a climate change platform, has championed the bill. It now goes to his desk for signature. Like other states, Washington’s legislation leaves technologies such as nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration on the table.