Of all the schemes developed to reduce our energy-use ‘carbon footprint’, the most critical step to take in the US is to get people looking at their ‘meters’.  You don’t have a long-term fixed contract for the gas in your car.  Your fuel gauge reminds you to fill up the tank when near empty.

Knowing your car’s fuel economy and the price of gas changes decisions you make.  You learned that ‘petal to the metal’ uses up more gas than cruise control.  You skip the small remote gas station so you can save at the gas stations where there is competitive pricing.  You look at the government gas ratings when you select your next vehicle.

The same is true for pre-paid phones.  Pre-paid phone and text users talk/text less than ‘unlimited package’ users.  Knowing evenings are cheaper (usually free) changes when you talk to your friend across the country.

So what is today’s price for electricity?  How much does it really cost to run your electric dryer in the day versus at night?  The more awareness and visibility you have of your usage patterns and the cost of the commodity, the more responsible your use.

Pre-paid energy plans give consumers visibility into their use and the cost of the commodity, much like our current car/gas consumption.  While many relate ‘pre-paid energy’ to poor credit customers, it really should be for everyone.  The days where the local utility hides your true energy costs and hides your usage patterns should be terminated.  You want to run that dryer when wholesale markets are at $130/MWh?  Watch that pre-paid amount spin down.  You need that house cooled to 68 degrees during peak periods of the day when most of you are in school or the office?  More spin down.  You have no clue what happens when your hot tub heats your water to 102 degrees every 2 hours?  You’ll find out!

When you attach dollars to each decision a consumer is making, then you will see progress on the ‘carbon footprint’/'need more power plants’ challenges of today.  Smart meters are happening across the nation.  The utilities that control their deployment often offer mediocre incremental schemes to take advantage of the information:  turning off your AC mid day, etc.

Innovation is where the entrepreneurs of the deregulated energy industry set the pace.  Open up the doors to companies offering pre-paid products to customers, and watch that carbon footprint shrink.  And the need for more power plants shrink.  And many more benefits!

Call your legislator now, and demand pre-paid energy products!

And call ESG to see how your energy company can benefit while saving the world!!

Provider of Last Resort (POLR) is the function a utility usually serves in markets that have opened energy supply to competition, serving customers who do not choose a competitive supplier.  What will the POLR of the future look like? Read the rest of this entry »

The acronym POR – Purchase of Receivables – has traveled around our industry for years.  In recent years POR has ramped up, with new POR programs available in IL and CT territories, not to mention existing ones in dozens of other territories.  What is POR and what does it mean to a Supplier? Read the rest of this entry »

When Texas opened its ERCOT marketplace to choice in 2001, they pushed all their chips into the middle of the table.  The ‘affiliated retail electric providers’ AREP were split from the existing utilities – renamed ‘Transmission and Distribution Service Providers [TDSP]  to reflect their new responsibilities – and these new AREP’s were given a period of time where they served as the default electric provider.  With default rates set high by the PUCT, energy consumers were incented to find a new electric retailer.  Eventually the burden of providing default power was spread across a broader group of REP’s.

When Pennsylvania opened its market in 1998, legislators were not so confident in the hand they were dealt.  They left the ‘default’ commodity providers as a part of the utility, and further hedged their bets with ‘caps’ that served as an ‘emergency valve’ in case energy choice did not work as designed.  After a flicker of hope for choice, higher wholesale costs essentially shut down the PA electric marketplaces.  PA residents benefited from artificially low rates set by these caps, which expire 2010 and 2011.

As these rate caps expire, consumers are getting a taste of what wholesale-market-driven prices are like.  In theory this is not much different from gas for our cars.  The market sets a wholesale price, and retailers offer products based on primarily those wholesale costs.  When prices go really high, people buy smaller cars or hybrids, or they drive less.

The same is true with electricity:  we need to consume less.  Demand continues to grow, and adding supply options in the northeast corridor is difficult , with ‘not-in-my-backyard’ [NIMBY] issues greater due primarily to population density.  Load control and other energy-saving products will grow once customers are more aware of the dynamics of the electricity wholesale markets.

Creativity in solving energy challenges is critical.  Imagine if Bill Gates stuck with his original statement that computers would never need more than 640kb of memory?!  Or if pre-1980 AT&T and Ma Bell’s were charged with deploying nationwide cellular coverage?  We most likely have no idea what the greatest energy saving invention will be in 10 years.   We are more likely to get that invention – and help solve our energy issues – with more cooks in the kitchen, not less.  Relying on a single regulated company – the incumbent default utility – to solve these problems is not the path with the most options.  Instead, let’s have a vibrant, alive, competitive marketplace of energy providers with access to the data and controls needed to offer products that give customers the incentives necessary to change their usage patterns.

Over the next few years we will see if PA’s hedged bet leaving the utility as the default energy provider was the right move.  The proof is in the pudding:  a wide variety of energy providers, products and services to help consumers manage their energy and energy costs, or most consumers on default service from the utility, with state- or utility-driven solutions to energy challenges?

I prefer my pudding with the flavor that comes with lots choices and options, please.

Starting 2/1/2010, Texas meters are moving to the head of the class.  Smart Meter Texas, a website/webservice collaborative of the big four TX TDSPs (AEP, Centerpoint, Oncor, TNMP), goes live that Monday providing energy consumers, REP’s, and other parties access to both data and features that raise the bar in smart grid world.  Where other states and markets are dipping their toes into these future capabilities, Texas is diving head first.

Read the rest of this entry »

I remember once reading an article in a major newspaper proclaiming that a good indicator of growth in the economy was the growth in number of packages delivered by FedEx and UPS. This obviously makes sense since consumer purchases represent approximately 70% of our GDP and a significant percentage of the goods purchased are delivered by overnight couriers. A similar analogy can be made for measuring growth in the retail energy industry. Read the rest of this entry »

ConEd hosted a ESCO meeting to announce some initiatives rolling out shortly.

Mandatory Hourly Pricing [MHP]

• MHP for accounts 1000kw – 1499kw total peak demand (not just one meter) begins Nov 2009, meters installed by Apr 2009 (300 customers)
• MHP for accounts 500kw – 999kw begins May 2011, meters installed by Apr 2010 (1400 customers)

PowerMove Expansion

• Allows Customer to choose supplier when they enroll, getting 7% savings immediately
• Expect Jun 2010 implementation pending PSC approval

Automated EDI Testing

• New automated testing process will reduce testing timeline to 10 days
• Web-based testing interface for trading partners; see progress; interact; email updates when files posted, etc.
• Implementation Jan 2010

Miscellaneous

• 600k accounts switched (3.1M total)
• 60 ESCO’s, 15 electric only, 28 gas only, 15 E&G

Attached below is FE’s summary of FE’s UCBRR solution.

Summary:  FirstEnergy-UCBRR-Summary-20090917

Links:

• Website, Rate Form for Met-Ed/Penelec:  http://www.firstenergycorp.com/supplierservices/files/Supplier_Registration/Ratedesignform%20rev%206%2021%2007.xls
• Website, Rate form for Penn Power:  http://www.firstenergycorp.com/supplierservices/files/Rates_and_EDI/suprates.pdf

The PA PUC ordered both PPL and PECO to prepare a report for how they would do Rate-Ready in their marketplaces.  PPL is leading a collaborative of LDC’s, suppliers and service providers through the requirements needed to make this happen.  Combined with POR, these markets in PA should be busy!  Notes:

• PA markets Duquesne, PennElec, MetEd, Allegheny Power and Penn Power all provide Rate Ready already.
• Most expect the new RR solution to look alot like the existing RR solutions already in place in PA
• PPL and PECO started with Bill-Ready in 1999
• To join the fray, contact Bruce Bolbat at PPL
• A report is due to the PA PUC by 11/9/09
• ESG is helping to coordinate Suppliers in this effort.  If interested, contact George Behr at ESG

Hot off the presses, these will certainly share equal-billing with that last Harry Potter novel you are still trying to finish.

PJM IG’s 2009-08-08