Susan E. Bruce
Advises businesses and institutions in energy regulation. Supports complex transactions, renewable energy, regulatory compliance, and market strategies.
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Energy costs and utility terms can shape business and institutional operations for years. We advise large energy users and energy companies on rates, procurement, contracts, on-site generation, renewables, and energy transactions.
Our focus
Energy counsel who can advise on regulatory issues that impact cost, reliability, and deliverability of service.
Energy is an operating issue before it becomes a legal one. For manufacturers, hospitals, universities, and other large users, utility rates and service terms can affect cost, reliability, and long-term investment. We help clients understand those obligations and develop energy strategies around the needs of the business.
We advise customers regarding electricity, natural gas, water, and wastewater services on rate proceedings, contract terms, and service disputes. Our work also includes energy procurement and demand response. When tariffs or market rules affect a client’s position, we represent its interests before state utility commissions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and appellate courts.
Energy strategy increasingly extends beyond traditional utility service. We advise on on-site generation, microgrids, and behind-the-meter projects. We also negotiate physical and virtual power purchase agreements and support renewable energy and sustainability initiatives. In mergers, acquisitions, and real estate transactions, we work with deal teams to identify utility obligations and energy issues that may affect value or timing.
Our practice is built around the needs of large energy users. We also apply our regulatory and transactional experience to work with other energy clients, including municipalities and select utilities. We serve clients across the country, partnering with local counsel when state-specific issues require it. This allows us to remain focused on the client’s operational and commercial objectives while addressing the market’s regulatory requirements.
We help large energy users evaluate and negotiate electricity and natural gas supply arrangements. Our work includes standardized contracts, pricing structures, demand response, and risk allocation. We also advise on physical and virtual power purchase agreements.
We represent customers in rate cases, service disputes, and proceedings involving the terms and conditions of utility service. We also advise select utilities and municipalities on rate design, regulatory compliance, and contested matters.
We advocate for industrial and institutional customers when proposed tariffs, regulations, or market rules could affect cost or reliability. Our attorneys participate in state commissions and FERC proceedings and help clients understand how policy developments may affect their operations.
We work with corporate and real estate teams on acquisitions, divestitures, and property transactions involving significant energy or utility issues. We assess contracts, service obligations, regulatory approvals, and infrastructure needs, often coordinating with national deal counsel or local counsel.
We advise on combined heat and power, microgrids, behind-the-meter generation, and related vendor and interconnection agreements. Our work helps clients evaluate how a project fits their operating, financial, and reliability objectives.
We advise clients seeking to redevelop and repurpose old industrial and brownfield sites for new industrial and institutional uses, including energy and utility infrastructure.
We advise developers and energy users on renewable projects, energy storage, interconnection, and sustainability initiatives. Our work includes physical and virtual power purchase agreements, as well as other structures for procuring renewable energy.
We advise customers, municipal utilities, and system operators on rates, service terms, and regulatory proceedings. We also represent investor-owned utilities in transactional matters, including asset transactions involving water and wastewater systems.
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Energy regulatory attorney Susan Bruce, co-chair of McNees’ Energy & Environmental Law Group, has been named president of the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association (CFEBA). The foundation is a non-profit that supports energy-related charitable projects, with a mission to improve people’s lives, both domestically and globally. Bruce has been an active member of […]
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