Fri05182012
Last update09:49:33 PM
Major Articles
Additional Articles
A Day in the Life of the Grid: July 21, 2011
by Paul Feldman
This snapshot of the hour-by-hour operation of a large regional transmission organization on a hot summer day illustrates the benefits of greater regional oversight of the transmission system and points the way to even greater benefits, as end-use customers gain the ability to interact with the regional wholesale market.
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ISO ‒ the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator ‒ is an independent regional transmission organization that encompasses allor part of 11 states.
FERC, NERC Collide in Political Firestorm over Solar Flares and the Grid
by Kennedy Maize
A report issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. on dangers to the power grid posed by solar flares has been contradicted by other credible studies and caused consternation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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new North American Electric Reliability Corp. analysis of the threat that solar storms pose for the US electrical grid has left some experts scratching their heads in mystification.
Finding Common Ground Between Consumer and Environmental Advocates
by Ralph Cavanagh and John Howat
Despite their sometime differences, there is both incentive and logic for consumer and environmental representatives to find agreement in such areas as revenue decoupling, prepaid service, and low-income energy services.
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ver the years, environmental and consumer advocates have sometimes been at odds in state proceedings over policies designed to accelerate energy efficiency progress as well as promoting access to affordable utility service for all consumers.
Improving FERC's Penalty Guidelines: A Comparative Analysis
by Conrad Bolston
The Commission’s penalty guidelines must walk a narrow line between administrative efficiency, fairness, and its duties to the public to hold the regulated community to appropriate standards of conduct.
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his paper analyzes the civil enforcement program of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by assessing its recently promulgated Penalty Guidelines. The Commission has stated that its primary goal is compliance, not deterrence or penalty.
Mergers: Are the Promoters Ahead of the Regulators?
by Scott Hempling
In considering utility mergers, which are now unconstrained as to geography and the scope and effect of non-utility activities on utility service, regulators should develop tests that distinguish efficient from inefficient transactions, and that place less emphasis on short-term benefits and more on long-term accountability.
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ection 203 of the Federal Power Act requires certain mergers and acquisitions to be “consistent with the public interest.” Since its 1996 Merger Policy Statement, FERC has applied this standard by assessing a merger’s effect on competition, rates, and the effectiveness of regulation. Does its approach need updating?
News
PJM’s capacity auction to boost utility profits, spike customer prices by 2015
Residential electricity prices are expected to spike by more than 10 percent beginning in 2015, with consumers paying between $150 and $330 a year more than this year, as coal plants, the least expensive producers of electricity in many regions, continue to close.
Analysts who follow electricity pricing may have a firmer idea today of how much consumers' bills will go up, as the PJM Interconnection...
QFs are back, renewed by FERC rulings
Back in October 2011, when I released “ Reviving PURPA’s Purpose ,” commissioned by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, I was hard-pressed to find any scholarly works or FERC decisions discussing methodologies for setting avoided cost rates for qualifying facilities that had been published more recently than five years ago. And no wonder.
The avoided cost ratemaking process is nasty (as in freque...
Order 1000 good; not good enough
WIRES Counsel Jim Hoecker, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner, endorsed with reservations Thursday’s Commission announcement upholding its Order No. 1000 mandate to reform and open the nation’s electric transmission planning and cost allocation processes.
US firms' solar panel 'dumping’ claim against China may have a weak spot
Renewable energy companies around the world are awaiting a decision Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department on whether to impose anti-dumping tariffs on solar panels imported from China, as a little-noticed policy shift by the department last year has made the outcome of the case harder to predict than many expected.
Chinese companies grabbed nearly half the U.S. market for solar panels last year ...
FERC sets policy to advise EPA
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a policy statement Thursday outlining how it will advise the Environmental Protection Agency on requests for extra time for electric generators to comply with the new mercury and air toxics standards rule. The process addresses the need for timeliness, fairness and transparency while respecting FERC jurisdiction over reliability of the bulk power s...
ISO New England citing price drops, says its regional market is working
The average price of wholesale electric energy fell 6 percent in New England in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday by the Internal Market Monitor of ISO New England, operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity markets.
The 2011 Annual Markets Report assesses the state of competition in the region’s wholesale electricity markets and concludes that electric energy...
