The Energy Institute blog is on vacation for the next two weeks. It will return with a new blog post on Monday, January 5, 2026. Happy Holidays! Meanwhile, check out our latest post: "Top 10 Energy Institute Blog Posts of 2025" tinyurl.com/465bd9p5

John List has a disturbing LinkedIn post on the job market for economists. Between trump's attack on university/research and his destruction of the government infrastructure for managing and evaluating policy, big hit on economics hiring. www.linkedin.com/posts/johnal...

Pretty exciting news that Amazon is using AI to reduce its total energy use. Makes sense. I hope it will expand to focus on shifting electricity use out of the most constrained hours. www.utilitydive.com/news/amazon-...

Save the date for the POWER Conference on March 20, '26 (registration opens in Jan). Learn about exciting new research on energy markets and regulation from scholars, and engage with energy policy and business professionals. Paper Submissions Due: 1/7/26. tinyurl.com/ydu4wxwh

This is an increasingly challenging problem as the distinction between loads and generation grows murkier. I think economics teaches us that the key will be to make sure new facilities pay at least the incremental cost of the services they receive. www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-pj...

Interesting that EIA is seeing slower growth of large load aggregate demand , but that is a poor indicator of grid strain. Need to understand peak demand relative to available supply, some of which is intermittent. www.utilitydive.com/news/energy-...

"'When it comes to oil and gas, the market has more than recovered...There has not been much handwringing that it’s holding firms back, driving up costs.'” - @severinborenstein.bsky.social in Politico eenews.net/articles/the-oil-business-is-hurting-but-still-in-love-with-trump/

Top 10 Energy Institute Blog Posts of 2025 - by @campbellenergy.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/t...

New Energy Institute Working Paper: Benefits, Costs, and Distributional Outcomes in an Environmental Market, Olivier Deschenes and Paige Weber haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti...

"'Now that [cost] is many, many times higher because almost all of the fires that have been started are distribution level fires.'” @severinborenstein.bsky.social @kqednews.kqed.org kqed.org/science/1999400/bay-area-electricity-bills-are-some-of-the-highest-where-does-your-money-go

New Energy Institute Blog Post: California Now Allows More Ethanol in Gasoline — Is This Going to Save Drivers Money? - by Aaron Smith energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/12/08/c... #airpollution #gasoline #naturalgas #oil #transportation

Unfortunate, but common, misinterpretation of grid data. Total hours California's grid has run without natural gas since 2019 is zero. Some hours when renewables>demand, but much exported. FOR NOW, still need gas to balance the system. yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/02/cali... 💡🔌

Very interesting episode of the Shift Key podcast on what AI boom is doing to clean energy and what might happen if it is a bubble that leaves bankrupt data center companies and potentially unused grid capacity. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... 🔌💡

Dallas Burtraw at @rff.org has an excellent explainer on the climate and energy bills that passed the California legislature and were signed by Gov. Newsom in September. No blog could cover all the critical details, but Dallas hits the major points. www.resources.org/common-resou...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: A Small Beautiful Bill - by Maximilian Auffhammer energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/a...

An important, and discouraging, reminder that innovation continues in the fossil fuel industries as well as in renewables. Cheap oil and gas remains a major barrier to decarbonization . www.eia.gov/todayinenerg... 🔌💡

Good update on Kinder Morgan plans for expanding refined product distributions to Arizona, California, and Nevada. This would be a benefit to producers and customers, but not clear there is enough value to shippers for the investment. stillwaterassociates.com/open-season-... 🔌💡

Excellent article in FT on the problem of Phantom data centers making it difficult for utilities and grid operators to plan, and some of the solutions. I think gift link (on.ft.com/4otkC25) works only for first 3 who use it. Sorry. www.ft.com/content/331f... 🔌💡

“‘We’re fundamentally talking about hard tradeoffs between mitigating wildfire risk, managing reliability impacts and managing costs, which often translate...’ Meredith Fowlie in POLITICO politico.com/newsletters/california-climate/2025/11/18/californias-undergrounding-conundrum-00658395

In this week's Energy Institute blog, Andy Campbell digs into the debate over how to use money from California's cap and trade auctions to support clean energy and electrification. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/c... 🔌💡

Update on California's Mystery Gasoline Surcharge: holding steady around $0.50 per gallon. In last 6 weeks, however, mostly due to higher spot prices, not downstream margins. Worrisome given one recent and one impending refinery closure. For context: energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/c...

Closely related reporting from OPIS www.opis.com/resources/en...

Fairly detailed update on CA gasoline market. But omits fact that CA spot price was $0.70-$0.90 above NY/Gulf for > 1 month after Chevron El Segundo fire, rather than normal $0.15-$0.30. CA needs more storage to avoid spikes in this new world. Plus end to Jones Act. www.opis.com/resources/en...

“'We’re fundamentally talking about hard tradeoffs between mitigating wildfire risk, managing reliability impacts and managing costs...' said Meredith Fowlie, faculty director of the University of California, Berkeley, Energy Institute at Haas." politi.co/3Kbvd3p

"...price differential is due to taxes and regulatory costs and that there’s a 'mystery surcharge'...a phenomenon first identified eight years ago by @severinborenstein.bsky.social" - Cal Matters calmatters.org/commentary/2025/11/newsoms-gas-price-crusade-refiners/

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Choosing Between Increasing Subsidies or Lowering Rates for Electrification - by @campbellenergy.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/c...

Hard-nosed rules for new large load interconnections are catching on across the political spectrum. A good sign for protecting existing customers from rate increases driven by stranded T&D investments. www.utilitydive.com/news/kansas-... 🔌💡

In my EI blog post today, I discuss the CA debate over how to return some of the cap and trade revenue to households and explain why I think a fixed rebate for every household the utility serves should be replace by a discount per-kilowatt-hour. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/s... 🔌💡

“We’re eliminating refineries faster than consumers are switching to electric vehicles...This deepens a paradox: the drive for a cleaner future is colliding with persistent fuel demand." - @severinborenstein.bsky.social in MSN News www.msn.com/en-us/money/...

Canary media correct that MA elec rate is way above MC, bc much of price pays for infrastructure that is not constrained except at peak hour, so high price distorts customer behavior. So true for heat pumps. Also for excessive incentive to install rooftop solar. www.canarymedia.com/articles/hea...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Spreading the Cap-and-Trade Wealth - @severinborenstein.bsky.social energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/spreading-the-cap-and-trade-wealth/ #climatechange #electricity #energyefficiency #naturalgas #solar

"If you could get these data centers to get off the grid, say 50-60 hours a year, they really wouldn't create any cost pressure at all," @severinborenstein.bsky.social on NPR. www.npr.org/2025/11/06/n...

Kinder Morgan talking about building a new pipeline from TX to CA through AZ. Seems like a big bet CA won't respond to declining refinery capacity by increasing capacity to receive tanker imports. Will KM get enough subscribers to build it? www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

In EI blog, Lucas Davis and Paige Weber explain their new paper finds regulated IOUs are less responsive to wholesale prices than merchant generators in their decisions to close a plant. That leads to important inefficiencies in the generation fleet. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/d... 💡🔌

Well said, Tyler.

US ethanol exports on the rise. Very discouraging bc it continues to be sold as low-GHG. Lots of evidence that it is not. Also worth noting that CA recently started allowing 15% ethanol blend. Other states already *allow*, but most retailerscontinue to sell E-10 instead. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

Not sure how this got past the administration's communication controls, but EIA had a nice piece last Friday on the increasing role of solar/wind/batteries in Texas. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg... 🔌💡

Fascinating WSJ on recent geothermal power developments, much due to fed govt support. To me, an economist with no technical knowledge on this, super exciting. Hope they can get the economics to work very soon. www.wsj.com/business/ene... CA sends mixed signals www.utilitydive.com/news/newsom-... 🔌💡

“'If strawberries are expensive, I’ll buy apples—there are substitutes...Electricity, in the long run, there aren’t many substitutes.'” - Prof. Fowlie on @wsj.com wsj.com/economy/consumers/surging-power-costs-are-putting-the-squeeze-on-customers-f8b2c04b #energybills #electricity #datacenters

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Does Regulation Distort Exit Decisions? - Lucas Davis (co-authored by Paige Weber) energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/d...

@severinborenstein.bsky.social in Utility Dive. "Using flexibility to reduce new large load demand peaks spreads utilities’ increased sales across times when infrastructure and supply are adequate, Borenstein said." www.utilitydive.com/news/in-an-e...

Meredith Fowlie's latest Energy Institute Blog, on expediting permitting for electric vehicle chargers. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/t...

Save the Date for POWER Conference on March 20, 2026 (Paper Submissions Due January 7, 2026)! haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti...

Earlier this year countries and industry came together to develop and adopt a groundbreaking carbon policy, applied to 85% of global shipping. Earlier this month the policy ran aground due to US opposition. James Sallee looks at the policy. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/c...

“We know we need a lot of electricity, and nuclear provides a large, reliable, low-carbon source of power.” - Lucas Davis on LAist laist.com/shows/airtal...

Resources Radio (from RFF) today dropped their podcast episode w Daniel Raimi talking to me about my research on "Energy Hog" households, who are mostly just homes in hot climates, with many occupants and w/out rooftop solar. www.resources.org/resources-ra... haas.berkeley.edu/energy-insti... 💡🔌

I'm back from vacation (and the huge Oakland No Kings protest). Lots to catch up on posting. In the EI blog today, Jim Sallee has an excellent analysis of the poorly designed, but good direction, of proposed international shipping GHG regulations. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/c...

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Carbon Pricing on the High Seas? - by Jim Sallee energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/carbon-pricing-on-the-high-seas/ #carbonpricing #emissionsmarket #greenhousegas #transportation

"There's a reason why the monopoly board has a square that says the electric company on it...Electricity is sort of always...” Jim Bushnell in @abc10news.bsky.social abc10.com/article/news/local/california/deregulation-to-blackouts-power-past-high-costs/103-b7ca31a1-1717-4350-9bff-6c538416e148

New Energy Institute Blog Post: Is There Really an Energy Silver Lining to a Datacenter Bubble? - by Jim Bushnell energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/i...