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Law & Lawyers

Legislative and Consumer Advocate Challenges

Reforming the Regulatory Advocacy Process

State legislators must be mindful that the customer base is evolving. We will need to reassess the enabling legislation that defines the consumer advocate’s roles in our various states. The consumer advocates, within the statutory authority granted, may have to choose which customers to represent before utility commissions.
Byline: 

Tom Sloan

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Marginal Utility

Way Forward for Electric Utilities
To address this brave new world facing the U.S.’s electric utility industry, we suggest an electric utility six-pack to facilitate the transition.
Byline: 

Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

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Governors' Advisors' Energy Policy Institute

June’s Meeting
Each year the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices convenes governors’ energy advisors. They share lessons learned on state policy and hear about the array of issues impacting the energy sector. In June 2016, takeaways included the need to understand more about equity issues surrounding emerging technologies for low-income populations, potential changes to utility business models, and the energy-water nexus.
Byline: 

Aliza Wasserman and Sam Cramer

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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.
Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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Helter Skelter

Closure of a Perfectly Decent Nuclear Power Plant

Prematurely closing a nuclear plant because of the inflexibility of solar and wind generation is like going after a fly with a sledgehammer.
Byline: 

Steve Huntoon

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Lessons for Tomorrow's Deals

Many Deals Completed, What Have We Learned?

Almost half of the last 20 non-financial buyer transactions have been companies more than 500 miles away from one another. The value of scale lies in enhanced flexibility rather than size for its own sake. Finishing the job of integration is fundamental to success.
Byline: 

Tom Flaherty

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Energy People: Bob Catell

We talked with Bob Catell, former deputy chairman of National Grid plc.

Bob Catell was formerly chairman and CEO of KeySpan Corporation, the former Brooklyn Union Gas. He’s presently chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University, and of the New York State Smart Grid Consortium.
Byline: 

Bob Catell, with Steve Mitnick

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Michael Faraday, Lewis Latimer, Pearl Street

September Birthdays
On September 22, 1791, one of the greatest scientists in history, Michael Faraday, was born in Newington Butts, England (now in London). James Clerk Maxwell extended Faraday’s work to develop our theories of electricity and magnetism.
Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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Competing Perspectives on Demand Charges

Survey of consumer advocates identifies areas of agreement and disagreement

This article summarizes perspectives on both sides of the demand charge issue. Based on this review, it proposes practical initiatives to address key concerns about residential demand charges.
Byline: 

Ryan Hledik and Ahmad Faruqui

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