Reshaping Energy

Transition to Renewables Minimizing Societal Cost

Implementation of renewables is much more complex than simply replacing fossil fuel plants with renewables. We must transition to renewables. But let's make sure we transition to the package that minimizes total societal cost.

Competing Perspectives on Demand Charges

Survey of consumer advocates identifies areas of agreement and disagreement

This article summarizes perspectives on both sides of the demand charge issue. Based on this review, it proposes practical initiatives to address key concerns about residential demand charges.

Energy People: Bob Catell

We talked with Bob Catell, former deputy chairman of National Grid plc.

Bob Catell was formerly chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation, the former Brooklyn Union Gas. He’s presently chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University, and of the New York State Smart Grid Consortium.

Lessons for Tomorrow's Deals

Many Deals Completed, What Have We Learned?

Almost half of the last 20 non-financial buyer transactions have been companies more than 500 miles away from one another. The value of scale lies in enhanced flexibility rather than size for its own sake. Finishing the job of integration is fundamental to success.

Legacy and Generations

We’ll Soon Hand You the Baton

The pasts and futures of automobiles and electricity are remarkably similar. They first inspired a generation. That generation’s grandchildren associate these venerable industries with environmental despoilment and technological obsolescence.

How Electric/Gas Utility Expenses Vary by Age

As households age, they spend less on electricity in dollars, but more as a percent of all their expenditures

The Labor Department has published Consumer Expenditure Survey data on how Americans of different ages spend differently. The survey shows how age affects expenses for electric and natural gas utility service. 

Twenty-two percent of households were classified as the youngest. Those surveyed averaged twenty-seven years old. 

These households spent $1,125 on electric service, on average, during the twelve months through June 2015. 

Second Winner of PUF Cross-Examination Award

We have our second winner of the PUF Cross-Examination Award. The award goes to media and other statements that are so misleading they compel us to cross-examine.

Readers may recall the first winner. It was a July 5th article of the New York Times. The article, "Piles of Dirty Secrets Behind a Model 'Clean Coal' Project," implied a utility project in Mississippi has driven electric rates to unbearable levels.

Mamie Eaton, First Woman Commissioner

Commissioner Eaton appointed in 1927, elected to her own term in 1928

Mamie Eaton was celebrated in the lead article of the December 13, 1928 issue of Public Utilities Reports Fortnightly. She was the first woman to serve as a member of any railroad or public service commission.

Mamie was appointed by Florida's Governor in March 1927, after the death of Commissioner R.L. Eaton, her husband. She was elected to her own term in November 1928.

When she wasn't deciding rate cases? She owned and ran one of the largest growers of watermelon seeds in the world.

Utility Service Prices Continue to Drop

Overall prices 0.8% higher, while electric prices 1% lower

The Consumer Price Index for July was published Tuesday, August 16. The CPI for all goods and services rose eight tenths of a percent (compared to a year ago). 

But the CPI for electric utility service fell one percent. And the CPI for gas utility service fell four tenths of a percent.