Did you hear the one about the utility dispatcher who downed one too many and paid too much for power? He said his system was loaded.
But his customers weren't. To learn more, I refer you to Kati Sasseville, the recently, though only somewhat, retired general counsel of Otter Tail Power Co., who believes that she and other colleagues at her former company have discovered something that everyone else has overlooked. The story begins in 1924, when Allegheny Power and Philadelphia Electric became the first utilities in the country to interconnnect their lines.
"When more power was needed on one system," explains Sasseville, "every generator on both systems would contribute to meet the demand. Power flowed automatically. Literally, the workers would be shoveling more coal to increase the speed of the turbines. [But] if you're Philadelphia Electric, and you start shoveling, and it's [for] an Allegheny customer, then your costs go up."