Start the Conversation
The regulator’s role in a world divided by distributed generation.
A state utility commissioner urges her colleagues to begin planning now for distributed generation – before it’s too late.
Customer Engagement
Unwinding the Death Spiral
Rooftop solar, net metering, and the perils of utilityspeak.
The Sierra Club accuses utilities of trying to snuff out rooftop solar. Attorney Donald Sipe recommends RTO/ISO markets for natural gas.
The End of an Age
Survival in the new market requires embracing new technologies and practices.
New technologies are opening the utility domain to innovation and competition. Traditional utilities will shrink as outsourcing providers and competitors grow. Survival in this new market requires embracing new technologies and practices.
Social Intelligence
Harnessing the true power of social media.
Customers expect their utilities to communicate as well as other service providers. This shouldn’t be considered a burden, but an opportunity.
Customer First
Is the current regulatory compact in anyone’s best interests?
Serving customers’ needs should be a top priority for power companies, irrespective of the regulatory construct and business model. Transformation doesn’t change this basic fact, but how do we break the model without breaking the system?
Results-Based Regulation
A more dynamic approach to grid modernization.
The utility’s role is changing, and regulation must change along with it – to spur innovation and respond to evolving customer needs. Modernizing the industry will require a dynamic approach.
Reinventing the Grid
How to find a future that works.
The traditional central-station grid is evolving toward a more distributed architecture, accommodating a variety of resources spread out across the network. An open and thoughtful planning approach will allow an orderly transition to an integrated system – while fostering innovation among a wider range of industry players.
Don't Get Netflixed
The tide is turning. Are we planning for it – or hoping to stop it?
The central station system is the most cost-effective way to provide utility service, but that's beside the point. Customers don't care about 'utility service.'
The Innovator's Dilemma
Assessing the risks and rewards of distributed energy strategies.
To embrace change or fight it? The choice to either act or wait and see is fraught with complexity.
Beyond the Meter
Protecting your base – while keeping options open.
The coming years will bring policy wrangling over distributed resources – what’s economic and what’s not.