Industry Structure

In March, the Utility Analytics Institute will host the Utility Analytics Summit in Napa, California that will feature insider insights into analytics and utility planning. As we countdown to that event, next week we’re chatting with some of the experts set to attend that Summit, picking their brains for details on how analytics will change the very essence of the power industry. Today, we talk with various executives at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), one of the founding members of the Utility Analytics Institute.  

Principles and best practices from "Moneyball," as well as other books such as "Competing on Analytics," are well suited for decision makers in unregulated utilities. SDG&E's Lee Krevat, along with Tim Fairchild from SAS, reveal the lessons available to electricity insiders.

The argument that public-private partnerships helps innovation, the economy and our global competitiveness is poppycock. Not a dime of taxpayer money should ever be used to encourage, coordinate or facilitate research into market-ready technologies, argues our columnist.  

Wild fires in the West, derechos in the East and a massive hurricane crashing into New York City brought renewed attention to grid modernization and questions on whether public investment has paid off. The results of investigations into those questions will resonate throughout the coming year. 

The year past began with the evolving issue of customer engagement, data analytics and smart meter opt-out policies. If the third issue has been largely resolved by very low opt-out rates, the first two remain front and center for the power industry.

Utilities that engage customers over the purchase of an electric vehicle have higher than average ratings for customer satisfaction, according to Brian Wynne, president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, and J.D. Power and Associates. 

Massoud Amin, an IEEE senior member and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota, has been working on smart grid concepts for decades. In a Q&A session, Amin discusses the lessons of Hurricane Sandy and calls for infrastructure investments.

Boulder, Colo. continues to offer ideas on how it could work with its spurned power provider, Xcel Energy, in a scenario short of forming its own municipal utility. Meanwhile, it is moving ahead on concrete steps to articulate alternative strategies and develop a financial model to evaluate them. 

A new paper that argues against stimulus funding for smart meters and calls for reforms that allow communities to pursue municipalization is "a day late and a dollar short." Especially as it links arms with an anti-meter effort undercut by minimal (and shrinking) opt-out rates. Good ideas, late to the party, odd company.