1 Some utilities may question this concept. San Diego Gas & Electric argued in California's DG investigation that distributed generation does not always lead to a reduction in distribution plant investment, and that any investment savings is not kilowatt for kilowatt. And the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has taken a more extreme position, allowing a utility to charge a fee for distributed generators delivering electricity into the distribution grid.

Frontlines

Meter Men?

 

 

Some thoughts on the battle to measure electricity consumption in real time.

How can something so simple as an electric meter bring governments, editors, and the utility industry to their knees?

 

San Diego Gas & Electric turns vendor heads with its plan to install real-time meters, but the company could face heat from regulators.

This is a landmark event," says Bill Rush, a physicist at the Gas Technology Institute, and a gas industry expert on electric utility metering systems.

Off Peak

September 1, 2000

Wakeup Call in San Diego?

By Regina R. Johnson

Frontlines

Prices Hit a Pique

California pays the bill, but who gets the blame- the feds or the fundamentals?

What did they know and when did they know it? That's what California consumers are asking utility regulators and system operators, now that the heat of summer has made a shambles of the state's vision of electricity competition.

 

How to replace the bundled utility tariff with a rational design for access, throughput, and congestion.

News Digest

News Digest

Mergers & Acquisitions

NSP + New Century. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission OK'd the merger of Northern States Power Co. (NSP) and New Century Energies Inc. (NCE), to form Xcel Energy Inc., on condition that the new company would join the Midwest Independent System Operator. FERC Docket No. EC99-101- 000, Jan. 12, 2000, 90 FERC ¶61,020.

* Rate Pancaking. The FERC found no problem with transmission rate pancaking with the MISO condition, even though NCE subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS) belongs to the rival Southwest Power Pool.

Some in California say they will pay double - once to the ISO, then again to the IOU.

What if power prices fall but the savings get eaten up by higher transmission rates? Let's say we unbundle the wires, but end up creating just another layer of costs? We pay the independent system operator (ISO) to run the grid, but the investor-owned utility (IOU) still owns the wires. It has its own costs to recover. So now we pay two bills, right?

The issue is troublesome for California's electric utilities and a quagmire for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. In a new tariff it filed on Nov.