Resource planning is a utility planning process which requires consideration of all reasonable resources for meeting the demand for a utility's product, including those which focus on traditional supply sources and those which focus on conservation and the management of demand. The process results in the selection of that portfolio of resources which best meets the identified objectives while balancing the outcome of expected impacts and risks for society over the long run. The resource planning process should define and assess costs and benefits as they appear in the market, including known and identifiable social and environmental costs. Significant non-monetized social and environmental effects should be identified. They need not be monetized as a future risk factor, but they may. The resource planning process should be associated with efforts to augment traditional regulatory review with both regional planning information and cooperative stakeholder consensus building in the preparation of utility plans.