Letters to the Editor / Corrections, Clarifications
Corrections, Clarifications
To the Editor:
I read your May 15, 2003, "Frontlines" column ("Grid Glut?") and have to respectfully take issue with a couple of your thoughts.
People
New Hires:
New Hires:
Progress Energy shareholders re-elected Edwin B. Borden, James E. Bostic Jr., David L. Burner, Richard L. Daugherty, and Richard A. Nunis as Class II directors of the company. They will serve three-year terms.
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Erlich Jr. named state delegate Kenneth D. Schisler chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission. Schisler succeeds Catherine I. Riley.
Frontlines
The United States must turn overseas for natural gas supplies, in spite of worries about energy independence.
California Experiment: Dynamic Pricing for the Mass Market
Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?
Will the state launch a full-scale rollout of dynamic tariffs?
A pilot program in California is putting dynamic pricing and advanced metering to the test.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a Statewide Pricing Pilot (SPP) in March,1 at a cost of approximately $10 million, including metering, project planning, management, evaluation, and concurrent market research on non-pilot participants focused on customer preferences for rate options.2
The SPP has the following objectives:
Predicting California Deman Response
How do customers react to hourly prices?
How do customers react to hourly prices?
As California embarks on a Statewide Pricing Pilot (SPP) for residential and small commercial (200 kW) customers, policymakers and participants in the proceedings are asking several questions:
Fueling the Hydrogen Economy: Energy Independence Now
Environmentally benign technologies can meet the president's hydrogen plan.
Will the Hydrogen Economy Take Off?
Hydrogen is hot, but whether it really will fly is another story.
Off Peak
School plays teach efficiency, creativity, and self-confidence.
School plays teach efficiency, creativity, and self-confidence.
Bumbling Melvin Markham is a hero. He just doesn't know it. As the central character in an innovative school play, Melvin learns that everyone can save energy and the environment.
Technology Corridor
Tidal energy technology improves, but is it enough?
Tidal energy technology improves, but is it enough?
Could ocean energy be the next big thing in renewables?
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors in early May approved a pilot project, estimated at $2 million, to test technology that produces electricity from the tides in the San Francisco Bay.
The city hopes to produce 1 MW with the project and add it to the San Francisco grid by Jan. 1, 2006.
Business & Money
Will dividends become the sole focus for investor valuations of utilities?
Will dividends become the sole focus for investor valuations of utilities?
With last month's favorable Senate vote to repeal the tax on dividends from 2004-2006 and reduce it 50 percent this year, and the high-profile conference committee meetings between the House and the Senate at press time, many are asking if investors are, or should be, beginning to evaluate utility companies solely on the basis of the dividend.