Change can only come when we stand together as one.
Author Bio:
Steve Mitnick, the president of Lines Up, Inc. and executive editor of Public Utilities Fortnightly, is the author of “Women Leading Utilities, the Pioneers and Path to Today and Tomorrow” to be published this June, “Lewis Latimer, the First Hidden Figure,” and “Lines Down, How We Pay, Use, Value Grid Electricity Amid the Storm.” Mitnick was formerly an expert witness testifying before the utility regulatory commissions of six states, District of Columbia, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and in Canada, and a faculty member at Georgetown University teaching microeconomics, macroeconomics and statistics.
Will lighting drop to a tenth of residential consumption, then below? Every use of a machine, appliance, device shrunk in its significance to the household budget.
Author Bio:
Steve Mitnick is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly and author of the book “Lines Down: How We Pay, Use, Value Grid Electricity Amid the Storm.”
Since Obama won reelection, we must ask whether we’d rather have EPA cracking down on carbon emissions, or whether a legislated framework would be better for everyone.
Category:
Frontlines
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
PUCs are concerned that a rapid shutdown of coal-fired plants will start a full-tilt dash to gas—similar to the one that caused bankruptcies among independent power producers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But this time around, ratepayers and not IPP investors will be stuck with the risk, if utilities rush to add all that new gas-fired capacity to rate base.
Category:
Frontlines
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
Congress again is embroiled in another hyper-partisan food fight that threatens to blow up into a fiscal crisis. And once again dividend-paying companies like utilities are caught in the crossfire.
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
The Republican nominee’s energy plan doesn’t say much about electricity or natural gas. But what it does say should sound familiar to anyone who’s followed energy policy for more than four years.
Category:
Frontlines
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
Yet another sweltering summer is causing its share of outages and supply problems, with predictable backlash from customers and policy makers. And with the advances we’ve seen in recent years, perhaps again we should be asking whether we’re adequately focused on our most critical mission: keeping the power on.
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com.
A growing wave of rooftop PV projects is starting to look ominous to some utilities. Will lawmakers accept utilities’ warnings at face value—or will they suspect they’re crying wolf?
Category:
Frontlines
Sidebar:
Sidebar Title:
Transition to a PV World
Sidebar Body:
Keeping the lights on in a world of mushrooming solar rooftops requires several key technology and policy developments. During the 2012 EEI Annual Convention, panelists on a session titled “Distribution 2020: Implications of a Rapidly Evolving Distribution Grid,” offered several suggestions for managing the transition.
Technology requirements:
• Bi-directional smart grid
• New safety protocols
• Uniform interconnection standards
• Integrated distribution management systems (DMS)
Policy requirements:
• Focus incentives on installations in preferred locations
• Push the limits of demand response with direct load control
• Plan holistically—account for the total costs of distributed generation
• Apply formula rates to keep utilities whole
• Accelerate depreciation appropriately
Author Bio:
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
