WHAT IS DRIVING HIGHER ELECTRICITY PRICES?
In a regulated environment, electricity prices reflect both the cost of producing and delivering electricity as well as the amount of electricity sold. Changes in either costs or sales can affect price. The presentation provides important insights about the various cost and sales drivers that will lead to higher electricity prices.
INDIEC ENERGY WORKSHOP
Developed for regulatory personnel, the presentation defines cost causation as applied to class cost-of-service studies, rate design and the various “piecemeal” trackers. Trackers are especially problematic because they typically employ improper ratemaking practices to “justify” (inflated) rate increases outside of a general rate case.
ELECTRICITY 101
This primer was developed for regulators, regulatory staff, clients, and others who want to understand the relationship between a class cost-of-service study and rate design for electric utilities. In particular, the primer demonstrates why electricity rates differ on a per kWh basis between customer classes. It also explains the key terms used in cost studies, shows how costs are allocated to customer classes and derives specific rates that reflect the allocated costs.
STREAMLINED RATEMAKING: RECOGNIZING CHALLENGES FOR CONSUMERS PUBLISHED IN THE ELECTRICITY JOURNAL; NOVEMBER, 2010.
Streamlined ratemaking can be problematic if improper ratemaking practices are employed, consumers are forced to bear risks that have traditionally been born by utilities and their shareholders, and utilities are no longer strongly motivated to provide safe and reliable service at the lowest reasonable cost. Measures can be taken that help preserve the regulator’s role as a surrogate for competition, thereby ensuring that rates are both just and reasonable.
TAXING CARBON: ARE THE BENEFITS WORTH THE COSTS? – A 2010 UPDATE
Since publishing our Taxing Carbon White Paper and our analysis of H.R. 2454 (Waxman-Markey)1, which demonstrated the very real possibility that proposals to tax carbon could bankrupt us all and urged a more vigorous debate, the Senate passed S. 1733, known as the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act” (Kerry-Boxer). What follows is J.Pollock’s analysis of Kerry-Boxer, using a methodology similar to that employed in the White Paper and Waxman-Markey.
TAXING CARBON
An enormous balancing act is rapidly unfolding in our nation, with the very real possibility of bankrupting us all. The goal of this essay is to urge an immediate and active debate about proposals to tax carbon, in recognition of the costs involved, recent findings that significant reductions in carbon emissions will not dramatically impact global temperatures, and renewed concerns that the science of global warming has yet to be settled.