Calendar of Events

Jun 17, 2013 to Jun 19, 2013 | Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland
Jun 19, 2013 to Jun 21, 2013 | Munich, Germany
Jun 19, 2013 to Jun 20, 2013 | Las Vegas, Nevada

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Public Utilities Reports

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Smart grid

Colorado Denies SmartGridCity Cost Recovery

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) upheld an initial decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) issued in January, which had recommended that Xcel Energy subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCC) be denied any further rate recovery of SmartGridCity costs. The commission said the utility had been given ample opportunity to prove the prudence of the rising costs of the project but that the company had failed to do so.

Sandy and the Smart Grid

Disaster shows the need for grid modernization. Is technology up to the challenge?

John D. McDonald

With a road map for planning, utilities can realign organizations, integrate systems, and satisfy stakeholders. The destination: a more resilient grid

South Carolina Munis Select Tantalus for Smart Grid

Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) selected Tantalus to provide the communications network for its smart grid system. PMPA is a joint agency formed by 10 municipal utilities in northwestern South Carolina.

SCE and GE to Upgrade UC-Irvine Campus Grid

Southern California Edison (SCE) and GE are collaborating to put the smart grid to work by upgrading and modernizing the utility’s infrastructure. The project will include electric-distribution infrastructure, substations, residential homes, cyber security systems, battery energy storage, and EV charging stations at the University of California-Irvine, and other products that affect the reliability of a modernized grid.

Echelon selected for Swedish smart grid

Echelon was selected to provide smart grid systems for the Smart Grid Gotland project, a large-scale, technology demonstration on the island of Gotland, Sweden. The project is sponsored by a joint venture between Vattenfall, Gotland Energy, ABB, Swedish National Grid, Schneider Electric, and the Royal Institute of Technology, and and is partly financed by the Swedish Energy Agency.

Franchise Fracas

Will Boulder be the last city to go muni? Don’t bet on it.

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

When the goals of a utility and its host community aren’t in sync, breakups happen.

Smart Grid at a Crossroads

Refining the business case for advanced  distribution investments.

Michael T. Burr

As utilities plan their capital budgets for the next few years, investments in advanced distribution systems face an uncertain future. Customers question the value—and propriety—of some programs, while long-term strategic goals depend on seamless integration. What will be the path forward for smart grid technology?

Preventing Tomorrow's Blackout

Recent outages show the importance of proper transmission system design. As the grid becomes more complex, meeting NERC reliability standards and proper assessment of power grid reliability will require closer coordination between system planners and protection engineers.

Recent outages show the importance of proper transmission system design. As the grid becomes more complex, meeting NERC reliability standards and proper assessment of power grid reliability will require closer coordination between system planners and protection engineers.

Vendor Neutral

(December2012) KC Electric Association expects soon to finalize installing a Sensus FlexNet network and iCon A electric meters to serve about 4,000 residential and small commercial members across a 5,000-square-mile territory in rural Colorado. Itron and C3 Energy formed an alliance to integrate and jointly market an energy management solution to North American utilities. And others...

The Social Utility

Mastering multi-channel communications for customer service success.

Paul Woods

Utilities across the country are experimenting with various new ways to communicate with customers—from Twitter feeds to text alerts. But few utilities have figured out how to integrate new media channels into a coherent customer engagement approach. A multi-tiered strategy will best serve the needs of customers—and the utility.

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