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Technology

Metering and Billing: Building a Better Pricing System

Two-part real-time pricing reflects the two-part pricing found in other business sectors.

Georgia Power Co., Duke Power Co., and their customers have reaped the benefits of two-part real-time pricing (RTP) for nearly 10 years. This structure has been a perfectly acceptable and efficient means to price electricity, but a second structure for pricing electricity can now be introduced. Either structure is sound and efficacious. Each methodology has its advantages, and utilities should consider which method best serves their needs.

Byline: 

Michael O'Sheasy

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Technology Corridor

Smaller systems aren't cost-effective.

It's time for a reality check on the commercial viability of wind farms. Are large wind systems more economical than small wind systems?
Byline: 

Gary C. Young, Ph.D., P.E.

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The Case Against Gas Dependence

Greater reliance on gas-fired power implies serious economic, technological, and national security risks.

Over the past two decades, the United States has, by default, come to rely on an "In Gas We Trust" energy policy. Is such a dramatic increase in the use of natural gas to generate electricity feasible without straining gas supply and infrastructure?
Byline: 

Roger H. Bezdek and Robert M. Wendling

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Technology Corridor: Bridging the Transmission Gap

A digital grid to the home, secured via a local fiber-optic network, could position utilities to fix power and telecom together.

Before billions are spent building new transmission lines to ensure reliable electric service, North American electric utilities should evaluate whether the alternatives — controlling demand and fostering distributed generation — might be more cost-effective and broadly beneficial.
Byline: 

Steven R. Rivkin

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Payable on Demand

Utilities are finding strategic benefits in demand-based metering technologies.

New metering dramatically expands utilities’ data-handling requirements. Stepping up internal facilities for analyzing this data lets utilities experiment with different price signals and incentives. By gauging the effect on overall load and on grid constraints, utilities can maximize the return on existing transmission assets and reduce the need for new investment. Just as important, utilities can use the new data to develop regulated and competitive products for specific customer niches. This is more than a profit opportunity. It is also part of a utility’s public obligation.
Byline: 

Guerry Waters

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Power Outages: A Tale of Two CIS Systems

What made BG&E's system more reliable than Pepco's?

Reliability and customer information systems (CIS) are rarely mentioned in the same breath. But in the wake of Hurricane Isabel last fall, the CIS at Baltimore Gas and Electric gets kudos for helping the utility keep on top of a widespread outage.
Byline: 

Jennifer Alvey

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Mercury Rising

How will the EPA's rulemaking affect U.S. energy markets?

EPA proposes a cap-and-trade program. How does that compare with a Maximum Achievable Control Technology standard?
Byline: 

Stephen Becker and Craig Hart

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Technology Corridor

Experts say utilities are pushing transmission systems to unsafe limits.

Experts say utilities are pushing transmission systems to unsafe limits. Does the Aug. 14 blackout support that argument?
Byline: 

Tapani O. Seppa

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New Nuclear Construction: Still on Hold

A number of factors point to expanded nuclear generation. But when?

Skeptics believe investors will continue to shy away from nuclear in the coming decades, but conditions are changing, with several factors pointing to expanded nuclear generation.
Byline: 

Neil J. Numark and Micheal O. Terry

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