The Florida Public Service Commission on March 5 accepted Tampa Electric Company’s opt-out tariff for customers who wish to retain their existing analog meter instead of a smart meter. The company anticipates about 0.2 percent of customers to opt out of the initiative, after reviewing experiences with other utilities that have implemented advanced metering programs….
The Public Service Company of Oklahoma reached a proposed settlement seeking a revenue increase of $46 million, down from the originally requested $88 million, according to a Feb. 27 press release by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The settlement would raise monthly residential electric bills by about $2.38 compared to an increase of $7 that would…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb. 25 ended its investigation into allegations that Footprint Power LLC made false and misleading power supply commitments in the summer of 2013 for its natural gas-fired Salem Harbor Power Plant in Salem, Massachusetts. The move follows the Office of Enforcement’s recommendation that the commission vacate its order to…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb. 25 accepted ISO New England Inc.’s market rules to enable advanced storage technologies to be dispatched and priced in the real-time energy market in a manner that more fully recognizes their ability to transition rapidly between charging and discharging. The revisions allow batteries and emerging storage technologies to…
New England’s grid is undergoing a rapid change as nuclear, oil, and coal-fired power plants that operate with stored fuel are retiring in larger numbers, and are being replaced by natural-gas-fired plants and renewable generation. Natural gas accounted for 49 percent of the region’s power generation last year, up from just 15 percent in 2000….
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission on Feb. 20 approved rate reductions for Duke Energy’s electric customers to account for the federal tax law, which slashed the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Customers will see a $2.13 decrease in their monthly bills. The company will refund $8.1 million…
New England’s power system is strong, but the changing resource mix, driven by industry trends and state policies, is making operations more complex, according to a Feb. 20 briefing on the state of the region’s grid by Gordon van Welie, president and CEO of ISO New England Inc. Nuclear, oil, and coal-fired power plants that…
The California Energy Commission on Feb. 20 approved the installation of a battery storage system to the Russell City Energy Center, a 600-megawatt natural-gas fired power plant, to provide black start capability. The project consists of installing 6 to 10 megawatts of lithium-ion batteries, which would be used to start the gas turbines, in order…
The California Independent System Operator Corporation on Feb. 20 announced that its reliability coordinator service, named RC West, established an oversight committee to “provide guidance and foster consensus on reliability compliance.” RC West has completed 39 service agreements with balancing authorities and transmission operators across the west. The ISO announced last month that it is…
Policy changes are occurring faster than ever before, confounding efforts by utilities to plan for the future, causing a paralysis in decision making. The task of identifying all possible scenarios over a longer horizon is becoming more demanding as state renewable energy standards are changing more frequently. Utilities are grappling with the influx of distributed energy resources and new renewable generation under various state programs, coupled with the need to maintain fossil generation to manage the intermittency of these sources.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. estimates that benefits in the range of $3.2 billion to $3.9 billion were realized in its region last year, according to the results of its annual value proposition study released on Feb. 19. The study, which identifies several factors that drive positive value, found that footprint diversity, wind integration,…
National Grid plc asked the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission to approve rate adjustments stemming from reconciliations for various costs from January through December 2018, according to a Feb. 15 filing. The company said that the overall impact of the changes would result in a decrease of $3.07, from $118.51 to $115.44, in monthly residential…
