Health Benefits of Energy Efficiency
A No-Brainer
We can make the standard arguments about why energy efficiency makes sense. But there is also another benefit: Improved energy efficiency provides direct health benefits to low-income households.
Monetizing Energy Storage
Massachusetts Case Study
Currently, California and Oregon are the only states to issue an energy storage mandate. Massachusetts is considering whether to establish such a mandate and if procurement targets are warranted, the amount of additional energy storage to procure.
Effective Rate Design
Two by Four, not a Nudge
Some might think that tweaking rates is all that is needed. This is false. Effective rate design must get customers’ attention. It is not a precise science that should be constrained by gradualism.
Ultimate Triumph of Standard Market Design
Chairman Wood, Commissioners Brownell, Massey, Breathitt, take a bow
Standard Market Design was demonized on the Hill, declared dead by FERC in 2005, and remains a political third rail. But what really became of SMD?
Watch Your Language
Beware of Utility Lingo in Customer-centric World
To be heard, utilities must change the habit of relying on rate case jargon for customer communications.
Grand Theft with Capital Recovery
Western utility economics puzzle former Communists
I am not sure how many older generation post-communist managers stayed in such positions after the introduction of capitalism and national programs of commercialization and privatization. Under the communist system, the public utility services bill was based on pricing principles far removed from any notion of the cost of the services.
Challenge of Commercialization
Turning Ideas into Value
Utilities will need to master, on their way to successful innovation commercialization, the ability to think like their future competitors.
Residential Demand Charges: Bad Choice
Time-of-Use is a Better Reform
Utilities go too far in their proposals to recover capacity costs from rooftop solar customers who self-generate. The affirmative case for Time-of-Use tariffs that reflect marginal costs is strong for all customers.
Energy Future in Ohio Corn Fields
Village of Minster, Ohio
The real significance and impact of the Minster project lies in the story behind it. It’s the town’s remarkable ability to complete a privately financed solar-plus-storage installation. The leaders have flown under the radar in a state known as one of the least friendly to renewable energy in the nation.
Facilitating Innovation
Making Regulation a Better Surrogate for Competition
There are some ways, though perhaps modest, for regulators to move their utilities along and encourage appropriate risk taking.