"...solar power is also seen as a way for Jamaica and other nations in one of the world’s most hurricane-prone regions to become more resilient to ever-intensifying storms." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/c...

Big utilities claim botched rebuild of Lake Michigan power plant in $600M trial www.mlive.com/news/2025/11...

Big utilities claim botched rebuild of Lake Michigan power plant in $600M trial www.mlive.com/news/2025/11...

Virginia needs these solutions - flexibility from data centers that can (they bring batteries for their needs and shift their loads), and other data centers buy us batteries, so we can be flexible with our aggregated loads. (And grid upgrades they all pay for.)

🎁 Gift link: Insightful op-ed on electricity prices by @tnorris.bsky.social Why the rise? ⬆️ natural gas prices ⬆️ costs to modernize the grid and rebuild after hurricanes, wildfires "Ask the largest power users to draw a little less from the grid during the limited hours when it’s most strained."

"The plan revealed Friday involves signing a 30-year agreement to buy back the dams’ power from Confluence at a starting price of $160 per megawatt-hour, with a 2.5% annual price increase." #EnergySky bridgemi.com/michigan-env...

Massachusetts heat pump owners will pay lower electric rates starting this weekend — and the program could help more residents install clean heat.

One Michigan electric utility "has proposed establishing special rules that would require data center operators to sign 15-year contracts that guarantee consistent electricity use and impose steep exit fees on data center operators that downsize or cease operations mid-contract."

Interesting new work from our @michiganstateu.bsky.social colleagues. msutoday.msu.edu/news/2025/10...

How democratic is your water utility? It turns out that those with elected leaders perform better. This week's @latimes.com Boiling Point newsletter features new research by @kbdobbin.bsky.social and @alfencl.bsky.social on water democracy in California www.latimes.com/environment/...

"According to Robb, grid reliability challenges include dwindling resource adequacy with weakening reliability services, extreme weather, interdependency with natural gas and other sectors, especially telecommunications..." 1/2 www.utilitydive.com/news/data-ce...

"The review includes 21 battery energy storage projects, two solar and three wind projects, with most of the interconnection requests in Massachusetts..." Among the wind projects is a proposed 1200 MW of offshore wind farm. www.utilitydive.com/news/iso-new...

Ag, clean water, or data centers. Someone’s gonna be forced to make a choice pretty soon.

Mark your calendars for the next IPU professional education course in public utilities regulation: Cost Allocation and Rate Design. Attendees may choose from sessions on natural gas, electricity, and/or water - discounts for attending multiple sessions. Register at the link below. 👇

🎁Gift link: "A crippling drought is depleting its reservoirs, and the city expects it won’t be able to meet the area’s water demand in as soon as 18 months. In addition to industrial users, the water utility serves more than 500,000 people in seven counties." www.wsj.com/us-news/clim...

At today's Advanced Regulatory Accounting and Auditing course, we'll be covering rate case auditing and the treatment of income taxes.

The US Dept. of Energy ordered the Michigan utility to keep its coal plant open despite its planned retirement in May 2025, citing an "energy emergency." But who is going to pay for it? www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-do...

Today is the day!!! Existential Politics is out in the world! Read about why we’re doing climate policy wrong (too focused on measuring emissions) & what we should do instead (focus on $$ to constrain fossil asset owners & expand green asset owners). Just in time for #COP30.

There is still time to register for the IPU Advanced Regulatory Accounting & Auditing class starting tomorrow (10/7). *Increase your knowledge, skills, and abilities in regulatory rate case accounting and auditing *Earn continuing professional education credits *Network with utility professionals 👇

There is still time to register for the IPU Advanced Regulatory Accounting & Auditing class starting tomorrow (10/7). *Increase your knowledge, skills, and abilities in regulatory rate case accounting and auditing *Earn continuing professional education credits *Network with utility professionals 👇

Excited to see this project coming together after many years of planning! www.mlive.com/news/grand-r...

Private equity firm to buy all Consumers Energy dams in Michigan for $13 www.mlive.com/environment/...

'In the measured world of grid operators, warnings like these are ​“unprecedented,” said Abe Silverman, an attorney, energy consultant,&research scholar @JHU. But so is the threat of the federal government smashing a cornerstone of a region’s energy mix, he said. www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...

Join us for IPU's Accounting and Ratemaking Course: Sept. 9-11, 2025 Introduces the concepts of public utility accounting, financing, cost allocation, & rate design to public utility commissioners, professional staff, consumer & environmental advocates, utility personnel, & other stakeholders. 👇

Notoriously-not-green operator of New England’s electric grid warns that the trumps move to halt an (already 80% completed) offshore #renewable #wind farm *will reduce reliability of the grid* 🤔 “Delaying the project will increase risks” it said: thehill.com/policy/energ...

Join the IPU Accounting & Ratemaking Course! Sept. 9-11, 2025 The course introduces the concepts of public utility accounting, financing, cost allocation, & rate design to public utility commissioners, professional staff, consumer & environmental advocates, utility personnel, &other stakeholders.

Join the IPU Accounting & Ratemaking Course! Sept. 9-11, 2025 The course introduces the concepts of public utility accounting, financing, cost allocation, & rate design to public utility commissioners, professional staff, consumer & environmental advocates, utility personnel, &other stakeholders.

Electricity prices in California's investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and community choice aggregator (CCA) territories have more than doubled in a decade, after accounting for inflation. What are these power providers spending the increased revenues on? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"The costs of keeping the 1,560-MW, coal-fired J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan online will be shared across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s northern and central regions, under FERC’s decision..." 1/2

🥵 "But then come August, that devil in cargo shorts..." Brilliant! #EnergySky 🔌💡

Day 4 of our Annual Regulatory Studies Program: Fundamentals Course features another day of expert instruction. Today's topics: *Federal Energy Regulation 🔌 *Environmental Reg of Utilities 🏭 *Regulatory Alternatives ↔️ *Regulatory Interdependence & Ethics 😇 ##EnergySky 🔌💡💧

It's Day 3 at the IPU Annual Regulatory Studies Program! Today we welcome Steve Kihm & Patrick Sullivan to introduce us to Finance Fundamentals of Regulation, Danny Kermode to cover Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Jenifer Bosco & Breneta Haynes on Utility Consumer Rights & Protections.

"The Trump administration has canceled $156 million in federal grants that were supposed to help low-income Michiganders install solar panels, a development that could prompt a legal challenge from the state." #EnergySky 🔌💡 bridgemi.com/michigan-gov...

Today's Regulatory Studies Program features the Economic Fundamentals of Regulation with Dr. Geoff Marke and the Legal Fundamentals of Regulation with Harvey Reiter. 🔌💡💧

The IPU Annual Regulatory Studies Program: Fundamentals Course starts today! On deck today we have Dr. Janice Beecher with an introduction about "why we regulate, followed by a panel discussion comparing utility regulation across sectors. 🔌💡💧 www.canr.msu.edu/ipu/programs...

IPU's Annual Regulatory Studies Program - Fundamentals Course begins next week! Join fellow utility commissioners & staff for engaging sessions on core concepts in utility regulation & networking opportunities. The course is live on Zoom 8/11-15. See link below for program details & registration.

IPU's Annual Regulatory Studies Program - Fundamentals Course begins next week! Join fellow utility commissioners & staff for engaging sessions on core concepts in utility regulation & networking opportunities. The course is live on Zoom 8/11-15. See link below for program details & registration.

Not long ago the tech sector was perceived as the key driver of the energy transition in the US. A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health shows that this is no longer the case: data centers have a carbon intensity 48% higher than the average US electricity user.

State energy regulators charged w deciding who pays for energy are facing their "most important decision" with proposed data centers, says Piedmont Environmental Council's Chris Miller. Virginia (data center alley) is facing $40B in grid upgrades in next 5 years. www.wsj.com/business/ene...

Nice to see Massachusetts working on electricity rates to improve the affordability of heat pumps. Rate design can be a great way to overcome the "spark gap" barrier.

In cold climates, households that switch to heat pumps often pay more than their fair share on utility bills due to high electricity use in winter. Massachusetts may (and should) correct this inequity by discounting winter electricity for heat pump owners. This could accelerate heat pump adoption.

Institute of Public Utilities' director emerita @janbeecher.bsky.social was quoted in the The Wall Street Journal's article on Chester, PA's water utility. 👇 www.wsj.com/articles/ban...

Institute of Public Utilities' director emerita @janbeecher.bsky.social was quoted in the The Wall Street Journal's article on Chester, PA's water utility. 👇 www.wsj.com/articles/ban...

"Coal, oil and gas will continue to supply much of Georgia Power’s electricity for years to come after state regulators approved a long-range energy plan Tuesday for the utility that was driven overwhelmingly by the needs of data centers." www.ajc.com/business/202...

Today on Volts: last year, the residents of Ann Arbor, MI, voted to create a "sustainable energy utility" that operates alongside the investor-owned utility & supplements it with clean energy. This is, AFAIK, the first arrangement of this kind in the world. I talk with its architect & champion.

Excellent overview at 6-months in outlines how NYC’s wildly successful congestion relief program has already become “part of the fabric of New York City”— and the ways it’s becoming “a blueprint for advancing social & environmental policies nationwide.” atmos.earth/manhattans-9...

According to this report, about half of the people affected by proposed rate hikes are in the US South. But the largest rate increases are in Western states. www.latitudemedia.com/news/as-buil...

It's not just you. Utilities in the US have requested or secured a record-setting $29 billion in rate increases in the first half of 2025, @maeveallsup.bsky.social reports for @latitudemedia.bsky.social. www.latitudemedia.com/news/as-buil...

Utility rate design geeks are familiar with the "missing revenue" problem, which usually owes to energy efficiency measures, DER growth, economic downturns, changes in customer demographics, etc. But have you ever heard of it being blamed on...a warm winter? www.northernjournal.com/anchorage-el...