It may be weeks until spring in much of the U.S., but ideas for fixing broken electricity markets are beginning to bud across the country. And while you wouldn’t know it if you only read current events through a Washington, DC lens, it has long been true that the frontlines of energy policy are in the states. With legislatures now in full swing throughout the country, it’s a good time to highlight some of the more interesting matters taking shape in the states.
Read MoreAs January turns to February, there is still time for one last New Year’s Resolution, so let’s start by offering a resolution to FERC Chairman Phillips: Emphasize the need for FERC to get back to basics.
Read MoreThe new year is a time for resolutions, both attainable and unattainable. In the state regulatory space, however, particularly in a time of rapid transition and challenging markets economics, it is important to develop a resolution with a clear and focused goal. For state regulators, regardless of political stripe or policy bent, the recent State of the State by new Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo is worthy of review and reflection.
Read MoreThe new year arrived with some bad press for the small but vocal group of electricity deregulation advocates that continues to peddle its preferred policy prescriptions. It came in the form of a New York Times article highlighting the failure of electricity deregulation to deliver on its promises of lower energy costs for consumers.
Read MoreOver the next several weeks, this blog will propose New Year’s Resolutions for those in and around the electricity policy arena. We will start with one that should always be first in the minds of anyone with responsibility for oversight of the electric grid: shore up reliability and resource adequacy.
Read MoreLast month, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released its 2022-2023 Winter Reliability Assessment, and it should serve as a wake-up call for those still arguing that the deregulated electricity model is a beacon for the nation to follow.
The fact is, it is a failed experiment, and one no other state should adopt.
Read MoreThe anti-consumer effects of deregulation become more evident every day as the energy inflation crisis continues. It should serve as a wake-up call for those willing to study the outcomes being produced in our nation’s state policy incubators.
Read MoreAny way you slice it, the coming legal battle over the alleged market manipulation is a bad look for the nation’s organized wholesale markets.
Read MoreIt is time to start encouraging creativity in business model development, then building a regulatory structure around the business model to ensure appropriate oversight and transparency. We can start with a signal from regulators, state and federal, and federal agencies charged with deploying IRA funding that this type of creativity will be rewarded in terms of regulatory support and even federal dollars. Otherwise, our transmission future is doomed to be a REPEAT of our transmission past, full of “just in time” transmission solutions or, even worse, no transmission at all.
Read MoreSix Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park in San Antonio debuted a new roller coaster this past summer. The world’s steepest dive coaster, dubbed “Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger,” promises patrons that, “Once you are exposed to this menacing machine, you shall live forever…IN FEAR!”
It sounds not entirely unlike the deregulated Texas electricity market, another machine that has been delivering white-knuckled rides to the state’s residents.
Read MoreSo say a prayer for all those in Florida that have lost property – and far more important things – to Hurricane Ian. But don’t forget to remember the front-line utility workers too, while considering the legal, regulatory and financial mechanisms that make a functioning critical infrastructure network possible.
Read MoreBy now it’s no secret that this winter’s energy bills are forecast to rise just about everywhere. But it is well established that if you live in a deregulated state, that increase will, unfortunately, be faster and higher.
Read MoreNew England’s electricity rates have long been among the highest in the nation. To a certain degree, it is the result of geography. The region is not home to strong wind resources like the Great Plains, ample solar resources like the Southwest, or plentiful shale gas like the Marcellus. But in other respects, the region’s chronically high electricity rates are the result of public policy choices. Among those choices is the fact that 5 of the 6 New England states deregulated their utilities and have now exposed their residents to the vicissitudes of electricity markets that aren’t working for the benefit of consumers.
Read MoreAs California prepared for an epic Labor Day weekend heatwave and a round of potential rolling power outages, lawmakers were busy crafting a last-ditch effort to save the state’s single remaining nuclear power plant from retirement.
Read MoreIt goes without saying that the nation’s politics are bitterly divided. The recent straight party-line vote on the Inflation Reduction Act is proof of that. But now that the IRA is law, here is an idea that both Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to embrace: whatever one thinks of the legislation, the financial support contained in it should, at the very least, be directed to help consumers. It may seem an obvious thing to note, but the complex way utilities are regulated makes it less clear than Americans might imagine.
Read MoreThe next few years will be an example of “what goes down must come up.” To be sure, electricity prices are going to rise for all customers – whether in a deregulated state or not – but really hold on to your wallets if you’re in a deregulated state. Just as prices, as a percentage, dropped in an era of declining natural gas costs, the next few years will see the gap between deregulated and regulated markets widen once again.
Read MoreSupporters of Texas-style utility restructuring wrap themselves in the rhetoric of “competition.” They want you to know that if there is one thing they support– it is competition. Here at Power for Tomorrow, we support competitive forces too, we just believe that competition and regulation must be appropriately structured to benefit consumers. And importantly, decisions about how to regulate the utility industry, should be grounded in reality.
Read MoreWith Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the way out, it is an appropriate time to take a different tact and pose this question. It is an odd question, to be sure, but one with a clear answer: both Australia and Boris Johnson have a current problem – namely, there is not enough current at reasonable cost on their respective electric grids. Australia and the UK have both seen soaring electric costs for customers, meaning political trouble is not far behind.
Read MoreHere we sit less than 18 months later, and Texas is again teetering on the brink of blackouts. But now it is hot weather that is the culprit. Since we have established that both winter and summer are too much for the Texas market to bear – it is fair to ask, which weeks of the year is ERCOT prepared to handle? Better yet, perhaps it is time to admit that the Texas electricity story is a lot bigger than just cold weather.
Read MoreA group called Power for Tomorrow should probably have a take on West Virginia v EPA, the Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. Here it is.
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