Calendar of Events

2013 Deloitte Energy Conference
May 21, 2013 to May 22, 2013 | Washington, DC
Distribution Automation & Grid Modernization
May 21, 2013 to May 22, 2013 | Charlotte, North Carolina
5th Annual Managing Regulatory Compliance for Electric Utilities
May 21, 2013 to May 23, 2013 | Atlanta, GA
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Public Utilities Reports

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Frontlines & Op-Ed

Letters to the Editor

Jay Kumar, President, Economic & Technical Consultants Inc.: Could Hind Farag and Gary L. Hunt point out any winner whose power costs have decreased after the implementation of LMP? I can bet they won’t find even one single (real) entity. ... I am glad that MISO is sticking to the original basis of a supposedly competitive market.

Diane Moody, Director, Statistical Analysis, American Public Power Association: “The Fallacy of High Prices” purports to show that restructuring of wholesale power markets has resulted in significant benefits. However, the analysis it offers in support of this proposition is not credible.

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Casino Royale?

Utilities place billion-dollar bets on infrastructure, but the deck may be stacked against them.

Richard Stavros, Executive Editor

Something seems deeply disturbing about the utility industry these days. An almost palpable tension rises whenever the utility CEO is asked how he will build enough power plants to meet the skyrocketing demand for power. Some consultants predict that sometime after this decade the time will come when utilities won’t be able to build enough to meet demand, no matter what they try.

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Letters to the Editor

(December 2006) Charles A. King, California ISO: “Kicked Off and On Schedule” reasonably captures many of the implementation issues and stakeholder concerns surrounding the California Independent System Operator Market Redesign and Technology Upgrade program. However, I was somewhat disappointed that the article offered few details about the benefits MRTU will provide.

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An Unacceptable Outcome

Mixed signals leave developers wary of building new infrastructure.

Richard Stavros, Executive Editor

FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher gives mixed signals that leave developers wary of committing to investments in new infrastructure, given his clear desire to affect positive change, while appearing to argue for policy decisions that are politically safe but arguably inconsistent.

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Letters to the Editor

Ken Glozer, President, OMB Professionals Inc.: “The Geopolitics of the Grid” was well done. I enjoyed reading it. Regarding the paragraph raising questions about why there are major disparities in retail electric rates from one region of the country to another, one major contributing reason is archaic and unfair federal subsidies.

Anonymous: “Gravy Train” articulately summarized the emerging tension between utility executive compensation and “return to basics” corporate strategies.

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A National Meltdown

Discordant global-warming solutions may end up burning utilities.

Richard Stavros, Executive Editor

How will utilities in the next 10 years manage a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure buildout, higher interest rates/cost of capital, diminishing free cash flows, state renewable mandates, and political pressures to keep rates or power prices low, all while complying with carbon emissions programs that emphasize higher-cost fuels? Meeting the challenges may depend on whether a national carbon program that regulates carbon emissions is established.

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Letters to the Editor

Robert Garvin, MAJ, TC, 3RD Corps Support Command: Serving here and seeing how poor the people of Iraq are after 30 years of a dictatorship is truly life changing. You would not believe the electricity challenges they face here. In a country of over 25 million people, Iraq has only about 5,000 MW of electricity at any given time.

Daniel Simon decided to investigate how much the extra heat of incandescent light bulbs over CFLs might cost a customer in air-conditioning cooling costs, compared to an analysis in “Squeezing BTUs From Light Bulbs.”

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The Geopolitics of the Grid

Is it really so important to preserve regional differences?

Richard Stavros, Executive Editor

The July 11, 2006, edition of the Wall Street Journal contained an excellent opinion piece which posed the question: “What does ‘energy security’ really mean?” What is so striking about his article is that his analysis easily could describe power industry politics between low-cost states (suppliers) and high-cost states (consumers).

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Letters to the Editor

David Powell, Southeast Lineman Training Center: I enjoyed reading “Baby Boom Blues”. What amazes me is although there is a great need it seems the only people who see the need are the utility companies themselves.

David Sumner, CEO, ARRL: Even the “cloudy” outlook for BPL reported in your article &ldquoA Hard Look at BPL: Utilities Speak Out” is overly optimistic.

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Mirror, Mirror

A rash of rate hikes around the country could have utilities facing a public-relations disaster.

Richard Stavros, Executive Editor

Constellation Energy CEO Mayo Shattuck has complained that he and the utility have unfairly been demonized in the public and in the press. In one interview with a Maryland paper, Shattuck showed distress over the verbal abuse his executives had received from angry ratepayers. And who can blame him?

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