Responding to Prof. Hogan
APPA questions the benefits attributed to organized power markets.
Unless the regulatory paradigm fairly balances the interests of both load and generation, the utility industry will be condemned to continued upheaval.
Frontlines & Op-Ed
Partnering on Pipeline Safety
The state regulator’s perspective on gas infrastructure inspections and investments.
As aging pipelines bring safety concerns, regulators and utilities must cooperate to ensure investments deliver the greatest value for customers.
Franchise Fracas
Will Boulder be the last city to go muni? Don’t bet on it.
When the goals of a utility and its host community aren’t in sync, breakups happen.
Islands in the Storm
Microgrids begin to make economic sense.
With microgrids in place, doomsday preppers wouldn't need to worry so much about a zombie plague.
Perfect Superstorm
Could carbon taxes emerge in the election aftermath?
Since Obama won reelection, we must ask whether we’d rather have EPA cracking down on carbon emissions, or whether a legislated framework would be better for everyone.
Maximum Burden
The electricity price increases from the proposed EPA Utility MACT will act as a regressive tax on the elderly.
Although EPA claims its tough new clean air regulations will improve public health, in fact they’ll measurably degrade the health of Florida seniors.
The Old Drawing Board
Portfolio planning in the age of gas.
PUCs are concerned that a rapid shutdown of coal-fired plants will start a full-tilt dash to gas—similar to the one that caused bankruptcies among independent power producers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But this time around, ratepayers and not IPP investors will be stuck with the risk, if utilities rush to add all that new gas-fired capacity to rate base.
Cleanup Time
Retrofitting early protected North Carolina ratepayers.
Ongoing litigation over EPA rules raises compliance risks and costs. North Carolina utilities, however, benefited from the state’s forward thinking.
Dividend Double-Take
What happens when the Bush tax cuts expire?
Congress again is embroiled in another hyper-partisan food fight that threatens to blow up into a fiscal crisis. And once again dividend-paying companies like utilities are caught in the crossfire.
Views from the Bond Side
How fixed income investors view the utility sector.
Bond investors are keen for signs of a legitimate recovery, and will be looking to move into holdco bonds.