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Law & Lawyers

Energy People: Stan Garnett

We talked with Stan Garnett, former senior exec of two utilities, the day after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

The Brexit vote neatly frames a rather historic episode in the utility industry worldwide.
Byline: 

Stan Garnett, with Steve Mitnick

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Electric Comedians

Garrison Keillor, Meat Loaf, Bob and Ray, Jiminy Cricket, etc.

"I am an expert of electricity. My father occupied the chair of applied electricity at the state prison." -W.C. Fields

 

"We believe that electricity exists because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it. But we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires." -Dave Barry

 

"In the early 1980s, I got into a war with my management. They just kept on suing me and I lost everything. So I had to go out on tour to make sure the electricity stayed on." -Meat Loaf, musician

Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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Electricity Market Reform in Japan

Bumpy Road Ahead

This is the first in a series of three articles related to power market reform in Japan and its implications both for Japan and globally.
Byline: 

Glenn R. George, Hans-Martin Ihle, and Miura Wataru

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Unsung Role of Fossil Fuels in the Miracle of U.S. Growth

Past, Present, and Future, Part I

Robert Gordon’s seminal book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, has a pessimistic message with profound economic, social, and political implications. But nowhere in Gordon’s 762-page book does he give credit to fossil fuels for the economic miracle of the past two centuries. In this article, I focus on the critical historical role that fossil fuels played in creating the technological and economic miracles that Gordon articulates so well.
Byline: 

Roger H. Bezdek

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Preparing for the Inevitable

New Approach to Recovery from Catastrophic Losses of Grid Facilities

How to adequately prepare for recovery from catastrophic losses: Doing nothing may minimize cost in the short run, but it leaves electricity customers exposed to the risk of extended outages. At the other extreme, having each utility purchase its own dedicated inventory of critical equipment would be duplicative and prohibitively expensive for utility customers. A shared inventory model offers a sensible middle-ground approach.
Byline: 

Paul Afonso, Lauren Azar, Dian Grueneich and James Hoecker

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Good Ratemaking is Hard to Do

Especially in today’s politically charged environment

Trying to use ratemaking to address an increasing number of social issues intensifies the difficulty for regulators to reach a balanced outcome. Net metering stands out as economically inefficient, unfair and a regressive cross-subsidy, essentially an implicit tax on non-solar customers.
Byline: 

Kenneth W. Costello

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The Middle Way

A Narrative Addressing the Greatest Challenge of Our Time

The electricity sector is currently stuck in a false zero sum mentality between providers, technology companies, and policymakers. In this first article of a series, we explore an alternative narrative based on three core operating principles.
Byline: 

Matt Futch and Josh Freed

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Averting Disaster on the Grid

Strategy to Mitigate Risks of Catastrophic Events

Grid Assurance is a coalition of six major U.S. utilities dedicated to providing a cost-effective solution to address the increasing threats to the security of power supplies. Grid Assurance and its consultants created a first-of-a-kind framework to help reduce restoration times following a severe attack from months to weeks or days.
Byline: 

Harjeet Johal, Kenneth Collison, Elliot Roseman, Dan Rogier

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Essential Role of Fossil Fuels in Future Economic Growth

Essential in the 20th Century, and in the 21st

World economic growth over the past two centuries was powered largely by fossil fuels. More than 75 million people are being added to cities globally each year, driving greater energy and infrastructure needs. Fossil fuels will remain the essential global energy sources.
Byline: 

Roger H. Bezdek

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