Pathways to Greater Load Flexibility: Bridging International Experience to U.S. Implementation Pathways

A comparative study of how distribution-system load flexibility is designed, incentivized, and deployed in Great Britain, Australia, and continental Europe, benchmarked against the U.S., including eight individual states (CA, CO, HI, IL, MA, MI, NY, TX). It draws on interviews and feedback from 29 stakeholders and desk research across five dimensions: market context, aggregator access, policy and regulatory frameworks, flexibility mechanisms, and outcomes and performance. Written for regulators and policymakers, utilities, aggregators and technology providers, and advocates, the report sets out five pathways for scaling flexibility in the U.S.: target a clear, measurable benefit; follow the urgency; integrate market principles into program design; reform utility incentives; and focus more on transparent coordination, less on technology.