In PUF in 1932

Nobody ever saw a kilowatt hour … I have had a standing order for our art department … to draw a picture of one for me … but they haven’t filled my order yet

"Those who are attacking public service regulation frequently introduce what they have to say by a preliminary observation, to the effect that 'there is a widespread belief that regulation has broken down.'  A few local instances of dissatisfaction over the outcome of rate cases are multiplied into 'widespread dissatisfaction.'  An undersized bass is converted into a fish of enormous size and weight."  Henry Spurr, July 7, 1932

Natural Gas Falls

$1 out of every $250 of expenditures is spent on natural gas

Natural gas bills were 0.40 percent of Americans' consumption expenditures in 2015. 

In other words, one dollar out of every two hundred and fifty dollars of expenditures is spent on gas. Not that much.

Indeed, this percentage in 2015 was the lowest in any year since the Commerce Department started tracking expenditures in 1959. 

Only 2012 had a percentage as low as 0.40. Natural gas bills were 0.45 percent of expenditures in 2013, and 0.47 percent in 2014.

Crossword Puzzle answers, July 2016

Spoiler alert! Here are answers to the crossword puzzle, State PUCs, in the July 2016 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly:

Across

1. Typical no. of commissioners in states: five

3. Very common in commission names: service

5. In Iowa, New Jersey, Vermont's names: board

7. Commissions' association: naruc

9. Smaller no. of commissioners in states: three

11. Commissioners' research arm: nrri

12. ___ discrimination: undue

13. Acronym for commission: psc

19. Commissions' judges: alj

Electric Comedians

Garrison Keillor, Meat Loaf, Bob and Ray, Jiminy Cricket, etc.

"I am an expert of electricity. My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at the state prison." -W.C. Fields

 

"We believe that electricity exists because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it. But we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires." -Dave Barry

 

"In the early 1980s, I got into a war with my management. They just kept on suing me and I lost everything. So I had to go out on tour to make sure the electricity stayed on." -Meat Loaf, musician

Otto Blathy, Bern Dibner, Rene Thury, Philip Torchio, Travis Kavulla

August Birthdays

On August 11, 1860, Otto Blathy was born in Tata, Hungary. He was the co-inventor of the transformer at age twenty-five.

Indeed, Otto literally came up with the name transformer. Not only did the term transformer stick in our industry...

Transformers ultimately became the name of Hasbro's robots in disguise, Bumblebee and his team of heroic autobots, on the hunt for the evil Decepticons loose on earth. Their motto, "Rev up and roll out."

Response to Mitnick Re: What Consumers Want

A response to the Editor-in-Chief column by Steve Mitnick in our May 2016 issue

Unless and until we have access to economic bulk storage, substitution of carbon-free sources for fossil fuels will increase cost significantly. The cost must be borne by some combination of taxpayers and ratepayers.

Need for New Regulatory/Business Models

How to Help Them Understand the New Competitive Marketplace

Understand the mindset of legislators and regulators: constituent satisfaction is key for both. State legislators are the folks who can change the regulatory model.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Rate of Return for Fun and Profit

If you want actionable intelligence up front, here it is: invest in regulated utilities. There is mounting evidence that investment in utility stocks has outperformed the broader market in the past, and will continue to do so.