Industry Sage David Owens Retires
Honoring Him with Our First PUF’s Owen Young Award
Owens has been the industry’s debater-in-chief. This month, uncharacteristically, he’s decided to put down the mic for good.
Frontlines
Cold Hard Truths
Who shall lay out those constraints, clearly, credibly?
What are the coldest hardest truths that a much more involved public must grasp?
'Markets' Test
We Called Them 'Markets.' Now We're Testing Them.
We're enamored of free markets, particularly in the nineties. But power markets cannot come close to emulating authentic competition. Why? They cannot satisfy the basic conditions of competition taught in microeconomics 101.
Why Innovation?
Also, What, Who, Where, When?
Why is innovation all the rage? Yes, continual improvement always makes sense. But the dramatic changes being talked about, are they that urgent? Let's recognize how much customers vary in their electricity wants and needs, within service territories, between territories, and between states.
To 2016's Authors, Interviewees Who Impacted the Debate
PUF 2016 Index of Articles, Interviews and Columns
From Paul Afonso to Audrey Zibelman, In 2016, 190 chief execs, commissioners and experts debated competition, cyber, climate change and more in PUF.
In Only the Second Period of Low Real Rates and Bills
How Should We Manage and Regulate Now?
Electric bills this March were just a tick off the pace of the all-time low. In this unique period, how should we regulate utilities? Should we correct course? Should we allow greater growth of non-fuel costs to – let’s say – buy some more reliability?
Hiding Electricity's Complexity
Should We Lift the Curtain?
Almost nobody realizes the most advanced technology helps us manage grids, operate plants, integrate renewables, route flows, limit peak demand, and restore service after storms. Should we lift the curtain covering the network’s complexity?
The Way We Live, and Renewables
When and Where DG Penetration is Miniscule, What Then?
As fast-growing as it is, rooftop solar will remain a rarity among large proportions of the American public. Which presents a real problem to utilities and utility regulators. Perhaps this is why utility-scale has such appeal.
Top 20, and Why Financial Strength Matters
The Return for Customers of the Return for Shareholders
The Top 20 ranking is limited to investor-owned electric utilities and combination electric and gas utilities with 2015 revenues of at least $1 billion.
Legacy and Generations
We’ll Soon Hand You the Baton
The pasts and futures of automobiles and electricity are remarkably similar. They first inspired a generation. That generation’s grandchildren associate these venerable industries with environmental despoilment and technological obsolescence.