Energy People: Bill Hederman

We talked with Bill Hederman, who has just left government service as senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Through early July, Bill Hederman was senior advisor to Dr. Ernie Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy, and counselor to the director of energy policy and systems analysis. Bill began his career as a systems integration engineer at Bell Labs in the directorate that later developed the cell phone system.

Response to Borlick Re: Order 745

A response to the article by Robert Borlick in our July 2016 Issue

Bob Borlick took to task FERC, Charlie Cicchetti and the Supreme Court in the context of FERC Order 745. Bob’s key point is his view that “Order 745 overcompensates demand response.” Bob’s argument starts from an implicit but false premise.

Response to Cicchetti Re: Net Metering

A response to the letter by Charles Cicchetti in our April 2016 issue, which was a response to the letter by Ashley Brown in our February 2016 issue.

As Ashley Brown correctly stated in his letter, large-scale solar projects produce electricity at roughly half the cost of that produced by rooftop solar. Charlie states that customers installing rooftop solar are: “… paying to reduce dependence on greenhouse gases and to expand societal benefits ....” Not exactly.

Response to Two Articles Re: Grid Resilience

A general response to the articles by Michael Deggendorf and by Paul Afonso, Lauren Azar, Dian Grueneich, James Hoecker in our August 2016 issue

Two articles in the August 2016 issue made the irrefutable case that we need to shore up grid resilience. I can’t argue with those measures. But I’m not sure that they are getting to the root of the problem. Perhaps we need to spend more time asking whether small decentralized systems can accomplish the same end as the large systems.

PPI for Generation Lowest Since 2004

Electric generation prices in August were at their lowest point since August 2004, twelve years ago

Electric generation prices are down 15.7 percent since 2011. Prices are down 19.7 percent since 2008.

PPI for Generation, Transmission, Distribution Lowest in 3 Years

Electricity’s Producer Price Index up just 3.7% from August 2004, while overall Consumer Price Index up 9.9%

Late last week, the feds dumped a wealth of August electric price data on our desk. This week, we’re filling you in, on what it all means for utility policy and regulation.

There’s too much to fit in a single column. See yesterday’s column for Consumer Price Index trends in residential electric rates, by region. Here today is another taste. To get the full story, catch all the columns this week.

New Electric Price Data, But First, Thanks!

Overwhelmed with CPI and PPI data on electric prices, and with your PUF site license commitments

Late last week, the feds dumped a wealth of August electric price data on our desk. This week, we’ll fill you in, on what it all means for utility policy and regulation.

But first, thanks! Two months ago, on July 14, 2016, this column announced the new biz model for Public Utilities Fortnightly.