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Archive for June, 2011

Support for Electricity Competition Remains Strong in New England

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By Joel Malina, Executive Director of the COMPETE Coalition

Support for maintaining electricity competition and choice among New Englanders remains strong, according to a recent survey conducted by Opinion Dynamics and sponsored by the New England Energy Alliance.

The survey found that an overwhelming 81 percent of New Englanders favor the concept of consumer choice when purchasing electricity, about the same level of support as last year. New England residents and business are indeed exercising their ability to choose their electricity provider. Retail power shopping in Rhode Island grew in the first quarter of 2011, adding 826 new…
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California Direct Access Expansion Bill Introduced

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We commend Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) for introducing legislation on June 23 to expand the Direct Access cap. The new legislation, Senate Bill 855, if enacted, will expand the Direct Access cap by the same amount, approximately 1000 to 1500 MWs that had been provided during the transitional reopening enacted in October 2009 under SB 695.  That reopening is 95% to 100% subscribed statewide.

This will provide the opportunity for more California businesses and organizations to see competitive retail service and the competitive energy prices, improved customer service, and technological and product innovations that come with it…
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Weather Outlook for July & August

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Earlier this week many of the major weather services issued their July and August temperature forecasts. Given the intensity of heat across much of the eastern portion of the country for June, July may bring some (relative) relief to the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. When viewed against the extreme heat seen for the same period last year, July is expected to trend roughly 9 percent cooler on a population weighted cooling degree day basis. An overview of each month along with one weather services national maps follows.

July

In July, it looks like a warm and humid pattern will…
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Electric Choice and Competition Critical to Michigan’s Economic Prosperity

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I applaud Consumers Energy leaders for hosting a business conference today about the vital role competition plays in the state’s economic vitality and future.

It’s puzzling, however, that the planned agenda for the five-hour meeting in Lansing called Getting Michigan Competitive omits one of the most critical factors driving Michigan’s economic future – customer choice and competition for electric supply.

Study after study shows that more competition in Michigan’s electric market would lower prices, create greater innovation, promote clean energy and create jobs. We also know that state government leaders made the decision more than a decade ago…
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Impact of Coal Retirements

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For decades, coal technology has been a primary source for electric generation in the United States due to the abundance of the fuel supply and relative low cost. According to the Energy Information Administration, coal is nearly 25% cheaper than natural gas and approximately 60% cheaper than Fuel Oil on an equivalent basis. For this reason, coal plants have supplied more electricity to the U.S. than any other power source and currently supply more than natural gas and nuclear combined (see chart 1). However, in recent years there has been a slow decline in the percentage of electricity generation by…
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Rising Concerns About a Chinese Economic Slowdown

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China has the second largest economy in the world.  It has some big trading partners that depend on its thriving economy to sell their exports.  Obviously, a slowdown of its economy would raise concerns about the bumpy recovery that the global economic community has been struggling through.   All one needs to do is to look into some of the numbers to understand the possible impact of a Chinese slowdown would have on the U.S. or global economy. For example:

- China is the largest energy consumer in the world (BP 6/8/2011)

- It is also the largest consumer…
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