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Energy Policy & Legislation

Capitalism Debates Socialism in Honolulu

Hawaii Considering Alternatives to Private Sector Ownership

Lawmakers in Hawaii are really asking three interconnected questions. Do we need stockholders or shareholders to finance our electric utility? Are we comfortable with private sector management setting goals for the local electricity business? If the electric business is run publicly as a not-for-profit, how will we set rates?
Byline: 

Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

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Effective Rate Design

Two by Four, not a Nudge

Some might think that tweaking rates is all that is needed. This is false. Effective rate design must get customers’ attention. It is not a precise science that should be constrained by gradualism.
Byline: 

David Boonin

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Residential Demand Charges: Bad Choice

Time-of-Use is a Better Reform

Utilities go too far in their proposals to recover capacity costs from rooftop solar customers who self-generate. The affirmative case for Time-of-Use tariffs that reflect marginal costs is strong for all customers.
Byline: 

Charles Cicchetti

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Facilitating Innovation

Making Regulation a Better Surrogate for Competition

There are some ways, though perhaps modest, for regulators to move their utilities along and encourage appropriate risk taking.
Byline: 

Jeffrey Goltz

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Energy People: Clint Vince

We talked with Clint Vince, chair of the Dentons LLP Energy sector

Clint Vince has directed the expansion of the U.S. energy team to more than 1,000 professionals in 58 countries. His experience involves major project development, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and litigation and appellate cases, including U.S. Supreme Court advocacy.
Byline: 

Clint Vince, with Pat McMurray

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Energy People: Chair Audrey Zibelman

We talked with Audrey Zibelman, Chair of the New York Public Service Commission

Chair Zibelman has been responsible for designing and leading the regulatory market changes of the electric industry under Gov. Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision, a comprehensive plan to modernize and transform New York’s electric industry. Previously she served as COO of PJM.
Byline: 

Chair Audrey Zibelman, with PUF’s Pat McMurray

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Refocusing Rate Design Debates

Public Interest before Special Interest

We must get back to pricing fundamentals. The goals of performance and or incentive-based regulation apply to consumers and not just producers. Here are three questions that every rate design investigation should consider.
Byline: 

David Boonin

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Rethinking Rate Design

Berkeley Lab’s Discussion with Five Experts

Five of our industry's top thought leaders weigh in on the white-hot controversy of rate design as utilities and regulators plot a course for electricity's future.
Byline: 

Lisa Wood, Ross Hemphill, John Howat, Ralph Cavanagh and Severin Borenstein

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