Michael Giberson Not all of the news this week is about Nobel prize surprises. The Los Angeles Times reports that California is adopting feed-in tariffs for distributed renewable power production: Under AB 920, the state Public Utilities Commission will set a rate for utilities to compensate customers whose solar or wind systems produce more power …
Lynne Kiesling This story will have you shaking your head in disbelief in multiple dimensions. The electricity industry in Mexico is government-owned but decentralized, with multiple public distribution utility companies. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, over the weekend the Mexican government took over the second-largest of these government-run distribution companies, Luz y Fuerza …
High Costs Drive Government to Take over Government-Owned Electric Utility in Mexico Read More »
Lynne Kiesling This week’s Economist has an outstanding and thorough article on the current status of smart grid investments in the electricity industry. It surveys recent developments from a international perspective as well as focusing on some of the specific developments in the U.S. It highlights the peak demand reduction and renewables integration benefits that …
Michael Giberson John Petersen has written a four-part series of articles on “Battery Investing for Beginners” at AltEnergyStocks (and mirrored at SeekingAlpha). Link to an index for the “Battery Investing for Beginners” series. More battery related posts at AltEnergyStocks. About John Petersen. All John Petersen posts at SeekingAlpha. Don’t miss Petersen’s “How PHEVs and EVs …
Lynne Kiesling Google is ringing both of my dominant bells today. Today they announced their first official device partner for the Power Meter — TED 5000 (TED = The Energy Detective). Power Meter + TED = ability for homeowners to monitor their own electricity consumption, regardless of whether they have a digital meter, retail product …
Michael Giberson Does the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) asserted authority over the Installed Capacity Requirement, on the ground that it is “a practice affecting rates,” contravene the Federal Power Act’s specific limits on FERC’s authority, and express preservation of State authority over generation facilities and system adequacy? That is the question for the U.S. …
Michael Giberson The Dallas Morning News is back with the second half of its investigative report into consumer protection problems in the Texas retail power market. In this article the DMN focuses on the owner of Freedom Power, one company serving the prepaid power segment of the Texas retail market. (Yesterday I commented on part …
Consumer Protection in the Texas Retail Power Market, Part 2 Read More »
Michael Giberson The Dallas Morning News has published an in-depth story detailing the apparent lack of effort put into consumer protection issues in the restructured retail power market in Texas. The story focuses on the prepaid end of the business, which mostly services customers lacking established credit and unable to post a deposit. Rates tend …
Is Consumer Protection Lacking in Texas Retail Electric Power Market? Read More »
Michael Giberson Research by Ian Ayres, Sophie Raseman, and Alice Shih indicates that providing energy consumers with information on energy consumption relative to a peer group tends to reduce energy use. Here is their abstract: By providing feedback to customers on home electricity and natural gas usage with a focus on peer comparisons, utilities can …
Peer-based Comparisons Can Induce Consumers to Reduce Energy Use Read More »
Michael Giberson From a reliability perspective, the crucial aspect of the real-time wholesale prices is that they result from the security-constrained economic dispatch, which is based on a real-time assessment of grid capabilities. Experience has shown that market prices work best to support reliability when prices are locational, because locational prices that are consistent with …
Power Prices Work Best to Support Reliability when Prices Are Locational Read More »
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