DR & Conservation

Storage: Turning Disruptive Technology into Opportunity

Commercial Customer Case Study

Recent declines in energy storage costs have allowed businesses and homeowners to economically store electricity for a few hours. It is long enough to disrupt peak demand charges that many utilities rely on for their cash flows.

Byline:

Arun Mani

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Federal Versus State Jurisdiction in the Electricity Business

Two back-to-back decisions by the Supreme Court in 2016 will fundamentally redefine the jurisdictional split.

If the Supreme Court holds to the principles and logic of its ruling in EPSA, it will restore states’ traditional central role in resource planning.

Byline:

Craig Roach and Vincent Musco

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A Five-Point Plan For The Next Wave Of Electricity Restructuring

The monopoly utility model was once expansive and revolutionary. Now, it is contracting and preservationist.

A plan for restructuring: Delivery service pricing reform; devolution of generation and re-allocating risk; stranded cost recovery; distributed resources neutrality; optimization of service offerings.

Byline:

Philip O’Connor, Wayne Olson, and Robert Bussa

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Fate of Conservation Mandates

Many states allow private opt-outs, but Florida bucks the trend.

Should regulators allow customers opt-out, on the theory they know best? Or should all customers be made to participate?

Byline:

Phil Cross

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Demand Response: Getting the Prices Right

The rule works in the direction of more regulation to hamper innovation and counteracts incentives the rule creates.

FERC made a mistake in Order 745 and should change the pricing rule.

Byline:

William Hogan

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Life Without Building Block 4

Energy Efficiency under EPA’s Final Clean Power Plan.

Energy efficiency remains the most cost-effective route to compliance with the Clean Power Plan. In the final Clean Power Plan rule issued August 3, 2015, EPA did not include Energy Efficiency in the calculations used to develop state targets. However, EPA and the White House have made it abundantly clear that energy efficiency remains just as viable a compliance option as before.

Byline:

John Hargrove

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Understanding New York's 'Vision'

A roadmap to ‘REV’ and its plan for restructuring.

New York's far-reaching reform plan, called the Renewable Energy Vision, or “REV,” seeks to decentralize power supply by encouraging distributed resources, and a new regulatory entity will be created called a “Distributed System Platform,” or DSP.

Byline:

Merrill L. Kramer

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High Stakes at the High Court

U.S. Supreme Court to decide demand response case.

Cost-conscious commercial and industrial customers may be oblivious to the legal issues surrounding their energy choices, but their demand response providers are not. The U.S. Supreme Court will now decide whether those services will be regulated by the federal government or state utility commissions.

Byline:

Ken Silverstein and Bruce W. Radford

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The Paradox of Inclining Block Rates

What goes up doesn’t always come down.

Two California-based utilities are studied to determined if inclining block rates can be used to promote energy efficiency.

Byline:

Ahmad Faruqui, Ryan Hledik, and Wade Davis

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Finding Common Ground on Energy Efficiency

Policy recommendations for utilities and regulators.

It’s the downright cheapest way of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it’s mired from state to state in battles over definitions, principles, and parameters. Herein a collection of recommended policy positions to break the impasse over energy efficiency.

Byline:

M. Sami Khawaja, Hossein Haeri, and Brian Hedman

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DR & Conservation