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Law & Lawyers

NARUC's Existential Threat Defeated in 1931, and PUF

The character of NARUC Annual Meetings was disputed and settled at the 1931 Meeting, including NARUC’s strong relationship with PUF

This year’s NARUC Annual Meeting starts in two and a half weeks, in La Quinta, California. Few of those planning to attend know that the character of the Annual Meetings was disputed and settled at the 1931 Meeting in Richmond, Virginia.

David Lilienthal of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission already had a national reputation. He would later help found and lead the Tennessee Valley Authority and then the Atomic Energy Commission. But in October 1931, the regulatory reformer upset and clashed with his fellow regulators in Richmond.

Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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New House Sales Drive Electric Sales

The recent housing surge, in the South particularly, could drive up the growth of electricity sales.

The federal government reported last week that new single-family house sales were up 17.8 percent in October, compared with October 2015. 

Trends in sales of new single-family houses drive trends in sales of electricity. 

For every new single-family house, in the South especially, monthly electricity sales increase almost two thousand kilowatts-hours on average. 

This is a large increment. It would net out, for example, energy efficiency improvements of twenty existing houses of a hundred kilowatts-hours monthly. 

Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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Why Electric Service is This Low

Why electric service is at the all-time low, 1.30%, as a share of consumer expenditures

We've been writing this week about how electric service has never been cheaper for the American consumer than in November. 

Never, ever, over the last 695 months, since January 1959. 

The Commerce Department publishes each month an extraordinarily detailed table on Americans' personal consumer expenditures. Its latest release shows that the share of consumer expenditures spent on electric service was an all-time low, 1.30 percent. 

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People (January 2016)

OGE Energy appointed Sean Trauschke as chairman of the board. CenterPoint Energy named Brad Tutunjian as v.p. of gas operations. NRG announced that Mauricio Gutierrez will become president and CEO. GridWise Alliance named Steve Hauser as CEO. And others ...
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A Holistic Cyber Strategy

Security must be organizational – simply complying will leave you vulnerable.

Workforce Management: Because standards are aimed only at critical assets, cyber security must be holistic – with all employees involved.
Byline: 

Chip Scott, Justin Lowe, and Amanda Levin

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Nuclear Life Extension

Deciding whether to go forward with a second license renewal.

A majority of nuclear power plant operators already have received operating license renewals – to operate their plants for 20 years beyond the 40 years outlined in their initial operating licenses. As utilities decide whether or not to invest in license renewal, they must consider three key questions.
Byline: 

Lee Williams

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Going Smart at Scale

Your smart grid rollout should go live everywhere, right from the start.

Distribution Management: Any smart grid rollout will gain the greatest benefits if applied at scale right from the start, to the maximum number of feeders, if not all of them.
Byline: 

Gary Ockwell

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Parsing Poles and Towers

Customer cost allocations using the Minimum Distribution System method.

Accounting and Rate Design: How to use the Minimum Distribution Method to allocate local grid costs to end-use customers.
Byline: 

Michael T. O’Sheasy and Joshua Rogers

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We, the Regulators

The way forward, amidst new markets, technologies, and environmental imperatives.

NARUC’s incoming President – from the Montana PSC – shares his vision on how utility regulators should navigate today’s industry disruptions.
Byline: 

Travis Kavulla

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