Commissioners from Iowa, Commissioners from Canada and CEOs from across the country said this in August's Public Utilities Fortnightly:
Iowa Utilities Board Chair Geri Huser: "One of the goals that we had was to increase public participation in the system. I don't think we've had to do anything to get additional public participation. Social media and technology have changed that. It's brought an awareness to Iowans that they can participate in this regulatory process."
Iowa Utilities Board Member Richard Lozier, Jr.: "But now as wind is getting more fully developed, some people find there are adverse consequences to wind, in terms of intrusion onto the landscape, and the potential noise. Those are issues we're going to have to deal with in some way."
Iowa Utilities Board Member Nick Wagner (and NARUC President): "In Iowa, our rates are relatively low, so it might be difficult to do a solar system and make it economically feasible here more than in other states."
New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board Member Patrick Ervin: "New Brunswick Power is seeking to achieve a debt-to-equity ratio of eighty to twenty over time. Getting to that ratio is an ongoing challenge for the utility, especially since many of their costs are outside of their direct control, such as fuel costs for generation."
Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board Chair Peter Gurnham: "I'd like to see us successfully, but also not at an inordinate cost, achieve these renewable targets. We've done a reasonable job to date, but it hasn't been an easy climb, and the yard stick is going to keep moving."
Ontario Energy Board Registrar Christine Long: "Because we often have as many as ten Board Members, we have various Members that will sit on different cases. You're never going to have the same three people sitting on all the cases the OEB has before it, and that's why it's so important to have the policy approach so that all the Board Members are aware of the OEB policy."
AEP CEO Nick Akins: "A lot of our current emphasis is on determining how we take our interactions with our customers - what they are telling us they want, need and expect - and use them to shape our conversations with regulators so that we have the regulatory structure and support that allows us to meet our customer's needs and desires, particularly related to new technologies and the adoption of those technologies."
Entergy CEO Leo Denault: "We need to continue to align our technological improvements with our regulatory constructs. We've become more efficient in having the benefits we desire to provide our customers covered in the regulatory world."
See August's table of contents for more.