It is very clear that we need electricity for the digital era, where retail competition is about business model innovations that will develop the resources of the demand side and enable demand elasticity. To transform local utilities from regulation or deregulation to EWPC we need to enable as soon as possible a transition to a complete and fully functional market on the digital era, under an EWPC Energy Policy Act.
This is an update of the highly recommended articles' summary EWPC Blog's First Year Anniversary: Electricity for the Digital Era.
First posted on the GMH Blog on September 22nd, 2008.
The update is about two comments by Don Giegler and my responses.
Comment #1
EXPERT ANALYSIS SHOWS PROPOSED NEW PUDS COMPETING FOR BPA POWER WILL LENGTHEN PHASE-IN TIME, SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING ELECTRIC RATES
An independent analysis performed by Hardy Energy Consulting and released today by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) finds that competing proposed new public utility districts (NPUDs) in Skagit, Island and Jefferson counties will face a lengthened phase-in process to access low-cost power from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) if they succeed in getting approved by Washington state voters in November and meet other requirements. - (YellowBrix) --> http://www.energycentral.com/global/news_text.cfm?id=11030598
# Posted By Don Giegler 9/11/08 12:59 PM
Response #1
Who cares that BPA's has rules to give away cheap federal power. In the mean time, those district that want to take away from Puget Sound Energy (PSE) a local distribution system to sell themselves monopoly power under the obsolete price controls business model will need to purchase expensive (or maybe market priced) power for several years in a wholesale market without retail demand elasticity and thus subject to higher than necessary wholesale market prices.
So who cares, except you, that "the system" favors PSE. It is very clear that is not about electricity for the digital era at all, where retail competition is about business model innovations that will develop the resources of the demand side and enable demand elasticity.
Those who care, in those districts (and elsewhere in the USA), need to transform PSE (and their local utility) to EWPC to enable asap a transition to a complete and fully functional market on the digital era.
# Posted By Jose Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio 9/14/08 6:05 PM
Comment #2
CITIZEN POWER CALLS ON STATE GOVERNMENT TO DETERMINE WHY ELECTRICITYDEREGULATION HAS FAILED AND TO DEVELOP LONG-TERM CORRECTIONS TOAVOID UNWARRANTED RATE INCREASES
In a letter to key legislators, regional energy advocacyorganization Citizen Power has requested the Pennsylvania GeneralAssembly to appropriate funds for an independent study of theElectric Choice program. - (YellowBrix)--> http://www.energycentral.com/global/news_text.cfm?id=11085527
# Posted By Don Giegler 9/19/08 5:03 AM
Response #2
Don,
Thank you for the lead. I am available as an independent and systemic consultant to advise Governor Rendell (or any other governor with deregulation issues) and/or the Pennsylvania (or the corresponding state) General Assembly on the study that should be funded as soon as possible.
Since EWPC is electricity for the digital era, which deregulation is not, Citizen Power (or any other energy advocacy organization of other state), needs to place close attention to the EWPC article "An Overdue Debate: Customers' Price Controls (please hit the link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2008/5/5/An-Overdue-Debate-Customers-Price-Controls )," whose summary states: "The regulation vs. deregulation discussion was about the wrong question. An undiscussed issue during the debate, price control is the key to a properly framed debate. As utilities keep wining rate cases to the regulators, customers are now facing a very large risk of increasing rates as unprepared regulators are part of a flawed system that push them to make incredible bets on Intelligent Utility Enterprise and Smart Grid investments."
It is also very clear that Citizen Power Calls on State Government is not about electricity for the digital era at all, where retail competition is about business model innovations that will develop the resources of the demand side and enable demand elasticity.
Just as in the case of PSE, those who care, in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere in the USA), need to shift from deregulation to EWPC to enable ASAP a transition to a complete and fully functional market on the digital era.
While your comment seems fine with respect to BPA and cheap power, comment #1 was about cheap power with the intention to confuse readers with respect to electricity without price controls (EWPC) or electricity for the digital era, in which price controls are not longer needed.
To try to get readers in the proper page, I will copy the introduction of "Part 1," which gives access in only three posts to all EWPC articles under EnergyBlogs.com
Introduction to "EWPC Blog's First Year Anniversary: Electricity for the Digital Era (please hit link http://www.energyblogs.com/ewpc/index.cfm/2008/9/8... ):"
About the same time energy costs stop declining, year alter year, more than 40 years ago, information costs have been declining following Moore's Law.
When information transaction costs were prohibitive and customers could be classified into neat customer classes, like residential, commercial, industrial, the price control business model was readily justified.
Today, on the digital age, those two assumptions don't hold at all. Information costs as shown [for]cell phone technology are cheap and customers needs vary widely. As energy costs are exceedingly expensive, customers need to be able manage such costs under a competitive marketplace and under prudential regulations to allow for the development of business model innovations without price controls.
Electricity Without Price Controls will enable fully functional competition on wholesale and retail.
On the digital age that we are living today, price controls by government regulators should be forbidden by an EWPC EPAct..
A whole year of article said it all.