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Law & Lawyers

Refocusing Rate Design Debates

Public Interest before Special Interest

We must get back to pricing fundamentals. The goals of performance and or incentive-based regulation apply to consumers and not just producers. Here are three questions that every rate design investigation should consider.
Byline: 

David Boonin

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2016 Annual Rate Case Survey

It is often said that ratemaking is as much art as science.

It is the process of setting a return on equity that is fair to both shareholders and consumers that demonstrates the art and science practiced by regulators. One case reported here provides a good glimpse at the entire range of issues put before regulators: a decision by the Michigan Public Service Commission setting electric rates for Consumers Energy Company.

Byline: 

Phillip Cross

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Electric Utility History in History

George Bernard Shaw, President McKinley, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Al Capone

George Bernard Shaw got his start with Edison and Insull; President McKinley collapsed in his arms, later he founded EEI; Dr. Spock’s child care book, and Reddy Kilowatt; Scarface Al Capone thwarted by utilities’ Sam Insull
Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

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AMI to IoT

Lesson in Change

In today’s Internet of Things, businesses face a strikingly similar picture to what utilities saw in the early days of the smart grid. Consider what those lessons have in store for us today.
Byline: 

Darren Highfill and Brad Bauch

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Facilitating Innovation

Making Regulation a Better Surrogate for Competition

There are some ways, though perhaps modest, for regulators to move their utilities along and encourage appropriate risk taking.
Byline: 

Jeffrey Goltz

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Energy Future in Ohio Corn Fields

Village of Minster, Ohio

The real significance and impact of the Minster project lies in the story behind it. It’s the town’s remarkable ability to complete a privately financed solar-plus-storage installation. The leaders have flown under the radar in a state known as one of the least friendly to renewable energy in the nation.
Byline: 

K Kaufmann

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Residential Demand Charges: Bad Choice

Time-of-Use is a Better Reform

Utilities go too far in their proposals to recover capacity costs from rooftop solar customers who self-generate. The affirmative case for Time-of-Use tariffs that reflect marginal costs is strong for all customers.
Byline: 

Charles Cicchetti

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Grand Theft with Capital Recovery

Western utility economics puzzle former Communists

I am not sure how many older generation post-communist managers stayed in such positions after the introduction of capitalism and national programs of commercialization and privatization. Under the communist system, the public utility services bill was based on pricing principles far removed from any notion of the cost of the services.
Byline: 

Branko Terzic

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