Your point is well taken. An objective that involves prices not going up is completely inappropriate. The objective should be to ensure that prices reflect genuine total costs, capital and operating, for the marginal generation or load management needed to supply the load. Prices that are kept artificially low just encourage more consumption and make it much more difficult To reduce greenhouse gases. Prices that are artificially high encourage excess construction of resources.

There is no unique answer to the extent that the load is price-sensitive. So, the objective has to be supplying the price-sensitive load In such a way that the benefits to society are maximized and everybody is compensated or charged fairly. Having an objective to keep prices low does not necessarily achieve that objective. It starts with a vision followed by the objective. In my mind the vision should be the maximum benefit to society over the long term. The objective flows from that.