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.
AMI to IoT
Lesson in Change
In today’s Internet of Things, businesses face a strikingly similar picture to what utilities saw in the early days of the smart grid. Consider what those lessons have in store for us today.
Reflections from The Room Where It Happened
Leadership Lyceum Podcast Summary
Conversation on M&A: Former CEOs of PHI and NiSource/CPG, Joe Rigby and Bob Skaggs, and Director Les Silverman.
Energy People: Clint Vince
We talked with Clint Vince, chair of the Dentons LLP Energy sector
Clint Vince has directed the expansion of the U.S. energy team to more than 1,000 professionals in 58 countries. His experience involves major project development, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and litigation and appellate cases, including U.S. Supreme Court advocacy.
Energy People: Chair Audrey Zibelman
We talked with Audrey Zibelman, Chair of the New York Public Service Commission
Chair Zibelman has been responsible for designing and leading the regulatory market changes of the electric industry under Gov. Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision, a comprehensive plan to modernize and transform New York’s electric industry. Previously she served as COO of PJM.
Hiding Electricity's Complexity
Should We Lift the Curtain?
Almost nobody realizes the most advanced technology helps us manage grids, operate plants, integrate renewables, route flows, limit peak demand, and restore service after storms. Should we lift the curtain covering the network’s complexity?
A Tragedy, and New Coal Plants in China
In China, several tens of thousands of megawatts of new coal-fired capacity swamp trends in U.S.
Nov. 28, 2016: On Thanksgiving Day, the Wall Street Journal reported on the power plant construction accident in China that day. At least sixty-seven workers tragically died.
Per the WSJ article by Chun Han Wong, cooling tower scaffolding collapsed at the two-thousand megawatt expansion of the Ganneng Fengcheng coal power plant.
The article goes on to discuss, more generally, coal plant construction in China:
Feels Like Electric Service is Cheaper
Since 2014, or 2008, or 1984, or 1913, electricity prices have increased significantly less than the overall cost of living.
Nov. 22, 2016: It feels like electric utility service is less costly than it was. This feeling, a reality, is backed up by Consumer Price Index trends.
The Labor Department has been tracking the prices of the goods and services that consumers typically buy, including electric service, since 1913. It’s interesting, though not too relevant to today, that electric service costs 4.6 times what it did in 1913, while consumer goods and services overall cost 23.9 times what they did back then. Comparing 2015 to 1913 annualized.
Electricity is far cheaper now.
October's CPI: Electricity Still Lags Overall Cost of Living
As usual, the CPI for electric utility service lagged the overall CPI over the last 12 months.
Late last week, the Labor Department published October’s Consumer Price Index. The underlying detail shows consumer price trends for electric and natural gas utility service nationally and regionally.
Nationally, the overall CPI for all goods and services was up 1.6 percent over the last twelve months.
As is usual these days, the CPI for electric service lagged the overall CPI. CPI-Electricity was up 0.4 percent over the twelve months.