Roller Coaster

In Q2 2022, 1.34 percent of consumer expenditures were on electricity. That’s one and a third percent.

How about we express this as a fraction? One-seventy-fifth of what consumers spent was for electricity.

Historically, 1.34 percent is fairly moderate. Over the last ten years, electricity’s percentage of Q2 consumer expenditures was 1.40 percent or more from the year 2013 through 2016. In 2017 and 2018 it dipped to 1.36 percent and 1.34 percent respectively.

Second Quarter GDP data

On July 28, the Commerce Department published the Gross Domestic Product data for the second quarter. This key economic indicator tells us, among other things, where we are with respect to utility expenditures.

Overall consumer expenditures, nationwide, were up 8.4 percent year-over-year in Q2. Expenditures on consumer goods were up 6.4 percent. But on consumer services they were up 9.5 percent.

Federal vs. State Regulation in 1930

PUF in History

In a 1930 edition of PUF, Senator James Couzens defended his Senate Bill 3869, which would regulate the interstate transmission of power, and stated emphatically that it would not interfere with state commission regulation. Harold E. West, Chairman, Public Service Commission of Maryland, offered a rebuttal.

M&A in Uncertain Times

PwC

“We’re targeting carbon reduction and that could incent deals. The other side of that is, it seems the bar continues to get raised in how deals will be evaluated and the scrutiny they’ll be under given ESG goals.”

POV on Cloud Computing for Utilities

Accenture

Cloud computing has tremendous value propositions in driving safe, clean, and affordable utility services and infrastructure, which are the very premises the regulatory bodies want to ascertain. Utilities lag significantly behind other industries in adopting cloud computing, primarily because of the disincentives imposed by traditional regulatory accounting. This article discusses the urgency for utilities and regulators to accelerate their journey to the cloud and the steps to be taken to embark on that journey.