...March 4, 2024 Historically, electric utility companies throughout the U.S. have used securitization as a means to recover various costs, including, but not limited to, those related to the following: - Stranded assets, defined as generating assets owned by a regulated utility that have become uneconomical to operate due to deregulation; - Storm damages; - Wildfire damages and related risk mitigation expenses; - Winterization/hardening of electrical grids; and - Extraordinarily high fuel costs. In certain U.S. states, the securitization of costs related to impactful events like those shown above has been made possible by state statute. In general, such statutes provide that said costs, along with debt service on the bonds and transaction fees and expenses, among others, will be paid through a surcharge appearing on the monthly bill of the utility's retail customers. The state statute and the related financing order, which is more prescriptive in nature than the statute, issued by the public...
