39 Miss. Code. R. 1-29- 100
The Integrated Resource Planning and Reporting ("IRP") Rules set forth in Sections 104 through 106, infra, shall be used by jurisdictional investor-owned electric utilities regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission ("Commission") in the development and reporting of long-term resource plans. The Rules set forth in Sections 107 through 109 shall apply to both electric and natural gas utilities as defined herein.
The IRP reporting requirements established in Section 102 and Sections 104 through 106 herein are intended to allow jurisdictional, investor-owned electric utilities the necessary flexibility to formulate plans that reflect their specific circumstances and best meet the needs of their customers, while providing a level of transparency that furthers the public policy goals of this Commission and the State of Mississippi. A comprehensive IRP should include an analysis of supply and demand-side resources, and consider transmission needs, in order to satisfy the utility's load requirements while balancing costs, energy reliability and efficiency, environmental responsibility, risk mitigation and reasonably priced service for customers. Yet the process should remain flexible to account for changing conditions that affect the planning process.
An efficient delivery system is also integral to overall energy efficiency. For electric utilities, the energy grid is moving from what has historically involved primarily unidirectional energy flows into a more fully integrated energy network, where energy flows bi-directionally between retail customers and utilities. Delivery efficiency and maintaining adequate reliability potentially become more challenging and increasingly important as the system becomes more complex. For jurisdictional, investor-owned natural gas utilities, technology is also advancing in areas such as system integrity and energy efficiency. Consequently, all jurisdictional, rate-regulated gas and electric utilities shall report to the Commission annually, as described in Section 107 of this Rule, on their efforts to improve energy delivery, through modernization of existing infrastructure, improvements to lower energy delivery costs ( e.g., by expanding access to supply alternatives or relieving congestion in the delivery system), and/or through the expansion of energy delivery to additional customers.
39 Miss. Code. R. 1-29- 100