Extreme cold weather in early January 2014 provided a stress test for Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern wholesale electricity market designs. Following this unusual polar vortex weather event several important concerns were identified for review and modification.1 Many of these concerns are appropriately associated with ensuring that independent system operators (“ISOs”) have the ability to effectively manage […]

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Organized Wholesale Markets Require Meaningful Reforms In Light Of Serious Challenges

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This paper focuses on those wholesale electricity markets administered by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) that have evolved over nearly two decades and today serve more than two-thirds of the country. Independent operation of the transmission grid and administration of various regional markets for electricity products and services continue to produce […]

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It doesn’t take a crystal ball to know that this is a rough and uncertain time. While no one ever knows how the future will unfold, the severity of today’s economic crisis lends a particularly sobering quality to these unknowns. In the electric industry, this uncertainty creates substantial challenges. This is a notoriously capital‐intensive industry […]

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On June 1, the American Public Power Association (APPA) issued yet another report that “proves” wholesale competition in the electric industry has been a bad deal for electric consumers. This newest APPA report, “The Deregulation Penalty: Losses for Consumers and Gains for Sellers,” written by Edward Bodmer,2 purports to show that competitive electric generating companies […]

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This report analyzes the role that competitive power has in utility resource planning and procurement, and in the utility’s own supply portfolio. In doing so, it addresses a growing issue in resource procurement — debt equivalency.

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