Financial
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Utility's smart meter learnings inspire new approach
PG&E is applying hard-won lessons in customer engagement to ensure that small- and medium-sized business customers are prepared for state-mandated dynamic pricing progams taking effect this November. The utility used interval meter data to identify which customers would be adversely affected and ensured they had full information on the program and guidance on how to mitigate impacts.
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What we should be talking about, now
Utilities are admirably going about the business of modernizing the grid, reaching out to customers and adapt their businesses to shifting paradigms. But five issues may present radical challenges and rarely get discussed. Buckle up.
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Readers react to notion of tying prices to costs
Perhaps reflective of our era, the debate over dynamic pricing appears to pit facts and data against anecdote and invective. Our readers comment on our series on dynamic pricing, the conversation of the month and the topic of the year. The topic isn't going away so alternative views backed by data are welcome and will be featured in a future column.
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Readers weigh in on why frustration continues
It seems many would like to move beyond talking about smart meters and the customer. But since the conversation moved from "ratepayers" to "customers," we've got a tiger by the tail.
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Leading utilities share thinking on their projects
Energy storage works, but the bigger question is whether there's a business case for it. Southern California Edison and Duke Energy both are implementing demo projects to test applications and value propositions to determine whether storage has an attractive cost-benefit ration versus alternatives. Here's a glimpse, ahead of our webcast this Wednesday.
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Several views on the moving pieces to come
PJM Interconnection has gotten federal regulatory approval for market rules that would allow its utility customers to offer dynamic pricing to their customers who have smart meters and smart thermostats. Finally, progress on the road to dynamic pricing.
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Business and technology issues rank high
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Five months into 2012, we pick five top issues for the power industry and provide links to our coverage this year. This is our list. What's on yours?
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Readers provide their antidotes to the hype
One recent smart grid project launched with newspaper fanfare about "shrinking bills" and fewer, shorter outages. Are those legitimate sales points? Could over-promising and under-delivering hurt the industry's credibility? Our readers offer perspective.
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Customers also consider alternatives, third parties
Utilities are moving quickly to secure a relationship with their customers before those customers develop a keen interest in alternatives to centralized power, perhaps aided by third parties. Utilities can lead change or fight it. In fact, they're doing both.
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Essayists, readers, on whether it's a panacea
Does energy effiicency have larger benefits than the actual practitioner derives? Does greater efficiency merely lead to greater exploitation of the energy resource? Is it chimera or solution? Read on.
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DP&L, without stimulus grant, has held back on smart meters
Dayton Power & Light had a grid modernization plan worked out with Ohio regulators, but missed out on a stimulus grant. So DP&L decided to hold back on its plans until the financial numbers worked for stakeholders. A local paper dinged them for not deploying smart meters.
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Essayists debate whether it helps decrease pollution
Are energy efficiency measures, for light bulbs, for cars, for applicances, barking up the wrong tree? There's evidence that efficiencies simply lead people to use more than they once did, erasing any benefits. There's also evidence that the slippage that does occur does not amount to the energy saved. Five ways to look at the subject.
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Executives will probe risks and opportunities
The disruptive forces now buffeting the utility sector are significant and unprecedented. The EnergyBiz Leadership Forum, running March 19-21 in Washington, D.C., will deeply consider the disruption through the eyes of talented, diverse executives to better understand what they understand -- and what they should know.
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New survey cites multiple drivers for consumer behavior
As utilities seek to engage their customers and drive participation in various programs, surveys reveal that customers have multiple motivations. That finding dispels the power industry's persistent notion that cost alone is the main driver. For more insights, read this column.
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Window opens in two to four years, claims vendor
The word "breakthrough" gets bandied about with alarming regularity. Anyone who performs science or covers it should know better than to use that phrase.
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GridWise Alliance heralds successes but calls for change
The GridWise Alliance seeks to assess the benefits of grid modernization and inject urgency into the process by which modernization gets done.
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IEEE PES pursues objectives to attract and retain talent
The IEEE Power & Energy Society has worked to offer scholarships, mentoring and career opportunities for engineering students to attract them to opportunities in Smart Grid work. An advocate argues that grid modernization is at risk if these efforts aren't widely supported.
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Critics point to pilots, advocate cautious steps
California regulators are determining how to move forward on energy storage, as mandated by legislation. How much time should it spend on analysis, on determining storage's cost effectiveness? And should it set procurement targets for investor-owned utilities in the state, possibly advancing the market for storage, possibly burdening ratepayers?
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Report: variables involved in motivating consumers
A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy draws some conclusions from recent pilots about presenting consumers with energy use feedback information. Hint: such feedback doesn't motivate everyone, nor would it be cost effective to enable everyone with such capabilities.
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Regulators find RE cheaper, positive for economy
The Michigan Public Service Commission reports that wind energy is cheaper than new coal-fired generation facilities, a conclusion that will reignite the debate over the direction of and investment in new generation.
