Architecting the Future
Consumers now are setting the agenda.
Accenture lays out the map for navigating the utility landscape, where customer engagement is the name of the game, and digital makes the rules.
Environmental
The Fortnightly 40 Best Energy Companies
The industry’s transformation has begun. Should the F40 transform too?
(September 2014) Our annual ranking of shareholder performance tracks the long-term returns of leading utilities. But can it predict success in a transformed energy market?
Power Breakfast
Fortnightly’s Executive Roundtable considers industry options and risks.
Fortnightly recently convened a group of senior operations executives from a variety of companies to discuss current trends in the U.S. power industry. Their comments reflect a mixed outlook on the industry’s transitionary changes.
Game Changers
State regulators address transformative forces.
In Fortnightly’s Regulators’ Roundtable, commissioners from Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota consider transformative forces and the regulatory response.
All You Need to Know
Picturing utilities in a series of sobering snapshots.
Utilities are growing rate base despite static or declining demand: making customers pay more for a product they want less of.
America’s Energy Future: So Who Are the Good Guys?
Not just ‘all of the above,’ but ‘how much of each?’
For proponents of a clean energy economy, identifying the “good guys” is no easy task.
Reducing Rate Shocks
Original-cost ratemaking doesn’t suit the challenges facing utilities today.
Levelized rates can serve customers’ interests, while also accelerating capital investment and providing an economic stimulus to the economy.
Build to Order
Engineers and constructors adapt to serve an industry in transition.
From gas pipelines to PV arrays, the nation’s contractors are seeing growth in utility infrastructure. Fortnightly talks with executives at engineering and construction firms to learn what kinds of projects are moving forward, where they’re located, and what lies over the horizon.
Solution in Search of a Problem
Securitization fails the test for financing environmental capex.
Utilities seeking financing for environmental upgrades should look to the markets for debt and equity, rather than trying to securitize those costs.
Least-Risk Planning
The Homer City decision increases uncertainty—but rewards forward thinking.
The D.C. Circuit’s CSAPR ruling reinforces the benefits of planning ahead and keeping options open. A diverse portfolio strategy reduces risks and costs.