Synapse critiqued industry claims that a small, sensible change in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations will add billions of dollars to the costs of prescription drugs. Currently, generic drug producers are required to use exactly the same label and warnings as the brand-name version of the same drug; the Supreme Court has held that, as a result, the generic producers cannot be held liable for failure to warn their customers of known drug hazards if the warnings do not appear on the brand-name label. Generic drugs account for most prescriptions filled in the U.S., and brand-name production often ceases when generics enter the market. This often means that the brand-name label, and hence the identical generic labels, are no longer updated when new information is discovered about drug hazards.

FDA proposes to change its rules to allow generic drug producers to update their own labels. The drug industry claims this will cause huge increases in the cost of generic drugs. At the request of the American Association for Justice (AAJ, formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association), Synapse evaluated the costs and benefits of generic drug regulation, and critiqued industry arguments against the FDA rule change.

Synapse assisted a coalition led by PennFuture with its participation in an initial stakeholder meeting designed to provide feedback to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the statewide evaluator regarding  a proposed design for a demand response program under PA Act 129.  Synapse reviewed the scope of the Total Resource Cost test to be used to evaluate the program upon its completion. Project completed August 2014.

As part of its plan to develop a 20 megawatt solar facility in Ludlow, Vermont, Ranger Solar commissioned Synapse to evaluate several aspects of the project’s impacts within the state of Vermont and the greater region. Synapse analyzed the energy and capacity needs of the state; the requirements of utilities in the region to obtain more renewable energy under state policies; and the extent to which the project meets those needs. Synapse also analyzed the project’s impact on economic activity in the state, wholesale markets, customer rates, and greenhouse gas emissions. In March 2017 Ranger Solar received regulatory approval to move forward with the project.

On behalf of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, Synapse reviewed the demand-side management plan filed by EfficiencyOne for 2016-2018. Tim Woolf submitted direct testimony to the Board on the appropriateness of the budget and savings levels, addressing affordability, cost-effectiveness screening, and bill impact analyses. Mr. Woolf’s testimony finds that EfficiencyOne’s plan is cost-effective and affordable, and could be expanded to reach higher energy savings levels without resulting in large or undue short-term rate increases.

A key benefit of renewable energy is that electricity generated from new renewable resources displaces electricity generated from other types of power plants. In doing so, renewables reduce the consumption of fossil fuel and production of fossil fuel-related carbon dioxide emissions. In the Clean Power Plan originally proposed by EPA in June 2014, this effect was ignored when setting emissions targets for states: EPA’s formula omitted this effect. In the final version of the rule, released August 3, states’ targets do account for emissions displaced by renewable generation.

As part of our ongoing series of webinars on EPA’s Clean Power Plan, Synapse hosted a webinar on how displacement occurs within the electric power system, and what this means for final targets set by EPA as well as states’ compliance with the rule. Panelists included authors of the Synapse report Air Emissions Displacement by Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, a survey of evidence that renewable resources and energy efficiency have indeed displaced fossil fuel resources connected to the grid. 

Synapse CEO and founder Bruce Biewald presented on energy efficiency as a resource for compliance with EPA’s Clean Power Plan at the 2015 NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference in Washington, DC on February 5. His presentation, part of a panel on privately delivered energy efficiency, included a discussion of how analysis using Synapse’s Clean Power Plan Planning Tool can help to understand and estimate the benefits of energy efficiency as an element of state CPP compliance plans. 

To assist Prince Edward Island Regulatory & Appeals Commission in reviewing Maritime Electric's five-year plan, Commission staff sought independent advice on various demand-side management program issues. For the Commission staff, Synapse prepared a comprehensive, best practice report that details key principles of various energy efficiency program and policy requirements, as well as key principles of rate design for encouraging energy efficiency and conservation. This report also provides examples from other jurisdictions and recommendations for how PEI should move forward. Specific topics included in this report are: (1) program planning and review processes, (2) program design, (3) cost-effectiveness screening, (4) multi-year planning and savings targets, (5) cost recovery, (6) shareholder incentives, (7) stakeholder input, (8) evaluation, measurement, and verification, and (9) electricity tariffs to encourage energy efficiency and conservation.

Tim Woolf presented "Energy Efficiency Valuation: Boogie Men, Time Warped, and Other Terrifying Pitfalls" at the ACEEE Conference on Energy Efficiency as a Resource in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 22, 2015.

In January 2015, EUCI hosted "Net Metering 2.0 and Utility Solar Rates," a conference with the goal of exploring rate structures that facilitate meeting solar development goals for consumer adoption, while striking an optimum balance among all solar development stakeholders. Synapse's Joseph Daniel presented on balancing policies to protect consumers in a session focused on integrating solar into the grid without losing assets.

Synapse helped the Maryland Office of Peoples Counsel evaluate five categories of metrics for smart grid initiatives proposed by BG&E and PEPCO: reductions in energy prices, avoided capacity costs and reductions in capacity prices as a result of reductions in energy use enabled by smart grid initiatives such as peak time rebates (PTR), and reports to customers on their energy usage, and Conservation Voltage Reduction.

Synapse assisted Sierra Club with its involvement in TVA’s 2015 IRP development process by reviewing and providing comments on TVA IRP materials, and conducting background research and analyses. Synapse  provided background research and analyses on the following issues: (a) energy efficiency program potential and assumptions; (b) energy efficiency resource screening methods; (c) public benefits of energy efficiency, including job impacts; (d) IRP best practices, (e) TVA’s scorecard methods, including renewable energy dispatchability and weighting issues with scorecard metrics; and (f) the economic merits of coal power plant retirements. Further, Synapse developed a report on the draft 2015 IRP based on our assessment of IRP assumptions, the draft IRP, and Synapse technical reports. 

On August 3, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the final version of its Clean Power Plan, the agency’s effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants built before 2012. Synapse hosted a webinar two days after the final plan was released to provide a first-cut look at how the final rule differs from the rule proposed in draft form a year earlier. Panelists discussed new timelines, targets, and compliance pathways available to states; and presented a primer on the legal framework for compliance plans. 

Recently, there has been a substantial increase in the number of utilities that propose to recover more of their costs through monthly fixed charges rather than through variable rates.  Synapse prepared a report for Consumers Union that documents the current trend toward utilities proposing substantial increases in fixed electricity charges, describes the theoretical flaws behind fixed charges, analyzes their impact on consumers, and proposes alternatives.

Synapse and Consumers Union held a webinar on February 10, 2016 based on the report: Caught in a Fix: The Problem with Fixed Charges for Electricity.

The widely cited FUND model of climate economics estimates that climate change will have less serious impacts, and that the optimal policy is to do less, than implied by many other analyses. Synapse's Frank Ackerman together with subcontractor Charles Munitz explored the FUND model, testing combinations of inputs that may illuminate the sources of FUND's distinct forecasts.