What does the future hold for utility electricity efficiency programs?

This study develops projections of future spending and savings from electricity efficiency programs funded by electric utility customers in the United States through 2030 based on three scenarios. Our analysis relies on detailed bottom-up modeling of current state energy efficiency policies, demand-side management and integrated resource plans, and regulatory decisions. The three scenarios represent a range of potential outcomes given the policy environment at the time of the study and uncertainties in the broader economic and state policy environment in each state. We project spending to increase to $8.6 billion in 2030 in the medium scenario, about a 45 percent increase relative to 2016 spending. In the high case, annual spending increases to $11.1 billion in 2030 and remains relatively flat in the low case ($6.8 billion in 2030). Our analysis suggests that electricity efficiency programs funded by utility customers will continue to impact load growth significantly at least through 2030, as savings as a percent of retail sales are forecast at 0.7 percent in the medium scenario and 0.98 percent in the high scenario.     

Options for change: Restructuring California’s residential inclining rates for a better electricity future

Local distribution companies (LDCs) regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission use mandatory inclining rates (MIR) to bill their residential electricity customers. However, MIR hinder the California electricity industry’s provision of clean and reliable service at affordable rates. Hence, we consider the following options to restructure MIR: (1) adopting a flat energy rate and revised customer charges; (2) replacing the flat rate in (1) with time-of-use (TOU) rates; (3) replacing the TOU rates in (2) with real-time pricing; (4) replacing (3) with a Hopkinson tariff with reliability differentiation. Our assessment of these options recommends sequential implementation (1), (2) and (4), thus lessening the potentially large and adverse bill impacts on some residential end-users caused by a drastic rate design change. Our recommended implementation sequence is (2) and (4) when the potentially large bill impacts of TOU pricing on the small and poor end-users with relatively high peak kWh consumption are to be mitigated by income-based customer charges.     

Carbon pricing and Alberta’s energy-only electricity market

Alberta operates one of the few energy-only electricity markets. This paper highlights the benefits of Alberta’s market design for the incorporation of a carbon price which efficiently transmits incentives to market participants. Specific attention is paid to how carbon pricing has contributed to the shift away from coal towards natural gas and wind. The incentives created by carbon pricing have resulted in substantial new investment in wind, solar, and natural gas-fired generation capacity.     

South China Power Grid balances power and electricity for next year in advance

This winter and next spring, even in the whole next year, power supply and demand situation will be morer igorous than that this year. It is estimated that the maximum load of South China Power Grid next year will increase by 20% on the basis of year-on-year, power shortage will further enlarge. For this reason, South China Power Grid has been well prepared early and has arranged and balanced the power and electricity for next year in advance.     

Analyzing California’s framework for estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with retail electricity sales

Accurately attributing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the electric power sector is critical to measuring progress towards climate policy goals. We evaluate a new methodology adopted by the California Energy Commission to calculate the GHG emissions intensity of retail electricity providers. In the long run, the new regulations better align with the physical nature of grid operation than did past practices, but policymakers should monitor a set of potential challenges as market structures evolve.     

China’s electricity transmission and distribution tariff mechanism based on sustainable development

In order to guarantee the rapid sustainable development of the social economy, the power grid will make large investments in the construction of smart grids, the renewable energy network, the construction of long-distance transmission grid channels as well as the technology and service innovation of the power grid. According to the electricity transmission and distribution tariff accounting mechanism of costs and benefits, the power grid investment needs to be recycled by the transmission and distribution tariff. However, at present, the low electricity transmission and distribution tariff in China, which is based on the difference between the electricity sales price and the average purchase price, cannot guarantee the return of investment and the sustainable development of the power grid. Based on the current situation of China’s power grid construction and electricity transmission and distribution tariff, this paper proposes that the new investments in the power grid can be divided into technical innovation investments, environmentally friendly investments, service promotion investments and other kinds of investments, according to their functions. Then, four electricity transmission and distribution tariff and power grid investment linkage models are built and example analysis undertaken, respectively, which are the timely linkage model, static linkage model, ladder linkage model, in which the electricity tariff space changes by a fixed absolute value annually and ladder linkage model in which the electricity tariff space changes by a fixed proportion value annually. The results reveal that the ladder linkage model in which the electricity tariff space changes by a fixed absolute value annually can guarantee relatively smooth changes in the electricity tariff, and is suitable for the actual situation of China’s power market. The transmission and distribution electricity tariff and power grid investment linkage models based on sustainable development built in this paper are beneficial for promoting the reforms of the electricity transmission and distribution tariff in China and guiding the establishment of a scientific electricity tariff mechanism.     

What is the state of development of retail electricity markets in the EU?

For our research, which aims to provide a thorough approach to assessing the development of the retail electricity market in the EU, we tested the hypotheses that the number of suppliers in the retail markets of EU member states has increased significantly over the past decade, and that in the same period, the number of suppliers entering the retail markets of EU member states increased significantly with market liberalisation. We also collected data on the number of electricity suppliers to end-consumers in EU member states between 2010 and 2017, and used the Kruskal-Wallis test for verification, which was also used to establish the ratio between electricity consumers and suppliers between 2010 and 2017. A thorough overview of current scientific findings led us to contemplate a possible combination to measure the dynamics and assess the energy market development, since several authors indicate that no method has been fully accepted as standardised for a thorough assessment of the energy market development. Therefore, a combination of indicators to measure the dynamics and assess the energy market development is proposed in the conclusion of this article, which brings important implications for science and specifically for politics and experts.     

Peak power problems: How Ontario’s industrial electricity pricing system hurts consumers

Under a program called High-5, reduced consumption during the five highest demand hours in a year results in a lower share of global adjustment charges to large industrials in Ontario, with costs transferred to smaller customers. The government should phase out the High-5 scheme and rely on a market-based demand management system as part of a capacity market.     

Guangdong sets electricity price for rural areas

GuangdongprovincialgovernmenthasputaceiIingonelectricitychargesinruralareastoeasefarmers'complaints.Themaximumpriceshouldbenomorethan1.8yuan($0.22)perkil0watthourofelectricityinturalareasthisyear.Thedecisionisaimedathelpinglightenfarmers'loadsandboostingtheruraleconomywhichlagsfarbehindthePearlRiverDelta,coastalcitiesandcounties.TheSouthChinaprovincewillstrictlyimplementGuangdongProvincialRegulationsonRuralElectricityandPriceManagementtoguaranteestrong,healthydevelopmentinruralareas.Ille…     

How price responsive is industrial demand for electricity in the United States?

We use five parametric specifications and monthly data for the lower 48 states in 2001–2019 to document that industrial demand for electricity in the United States (US) is price inelastic, with statistically significant (p-values ≤ 0.05) estimates of ? 0.029 to ? 0.130 for the static own-price elasticity, ? 0.021 to ? 0.133 for the short-run own-price elasticity, and ? 0.043 to ? 0.214 for the long-run own-price elasticity. Absent significant price escalation (e.g., 10% per year), the US industrial customer class’s price-induced conservation of electricity is likely modest, justifying the continued use of energy efficiency standards and demand side management programs to achieve deep decarbonization.     

Future Expectation for China’s Nuclear Power

China: the future of nuclear powerWang Yonggan: In terms of the highlighted issue ofenergy security, oil is of paramount importance, coal isthe foundation and electricity is the pivot according to     

Reducing electricity prices and establishing electricity markets in China: Dos and don’ts

This article provides recommendations on how to establish effective electricity markets in China while also achieving electricity price reduction goals in the long-term by drawing on the lessons and experiences of the U.S. markets. We begin by discussing the goal and criteria for market reform.     

Determining a set of suspicious electricity customers using statistical ACL Tukey’s control charts method

Estimation a set of suspicious electricity customers is the first stage for detecting fraud of electricity. This paper deals with this stage. Based on historical data about monthly measurements of electricity, customers’ time series are formed and then analysis of these series is performed using Tukey’s control charts as one of the statistical method. The asymmetric control limit (ACL) Tukey’s control charts are chosen due to a rather expressed asymmetry and dominantly presented right distribution of time series data. As usual, the choice of upper (UCL) and lower (LCL) control limits is not based on allowed number of observations outside of the control limits. The choice of these limits is based on the balance of total energy, registered energy and energy losses. The essence of this approach is the simultaneous observation all customers’ time series of the controlled set with the same control limits and the same percentage of total and normalized energy losses in the observed distribution network. The criterion for finding the number of suspicious customers and their addresses is allowed error between the number of registered customers with one or more data (observations) outside the control limits for given losses and the number of suspicious customers’ indicators based on certain balance of energy and the estimated total percentage of losses in distribution network.     

Impact of COVID-19 on Ontario’s electricity market: Load,generation, emissions

The COVID-19 outbreak not only threatened global health, it has also –affected the energy markets around the world. This paper studies the impact of the pandemic on Ontario’s electricity market assessing the demand and supply balance over three distinct periods: pre-pandemic, start of the pandemic and during the period 2020–2021. The paper also evaluates the contribution of work-from-home and other mandates in reducing GHG emission. Furthermore, the impact of such rare events is studied on load forecasting. Our analysis shows that although demand dropped by 12% during the beginning of pandemic, it started rising to levels higher than the previous years. Consequently, due to the changes in the daily load profile, primarily due to the changes in consumers’ behavior, the emissions declined significantly during the lockdown and increased afterwards. Finally, this paper provides a short-term Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) model to predict future demand. The model performance was evaluated during the three distinct periods and showed high accuracy even in the initial stages of the pandemic: MAPE of 3.21% pre-pandemic, 13.86% beginning of pandemic and 4.23% during pandemic.     

Can Yesterday’s Demand-Side Management Lessons Become Tomorrow’s Market Solutions?

The value of DSM solutions has not diminished since the 1980s. But program providers need to package such programs to be more attractive to customers and beneficial to energy providers if they are finally to find a meaningful role.     

The recursive Green’s function method for graphene

We describe how to apply the recursive Green’s function method to the computation of electronic transport properties of graphene sheets and nanoribbons in the linear response regime. This method allows for an amenable inclusion of several disorder mechanisms at the microscopic level, as well as inhomogeneous gating, finite temperature, and, to some extend, dephasing. We present algorithms for computing the conductance, density of states, and current densities for armchair and zigzag atomic edge alignments. Several numerical results are presented to illustrate the usefulness of the method.     

Do gentailers charge higher residential electricity prices in the Texas retail electricity market?

In areas of Texas where energy consumers can choose among retail providers of electricity, we find that the prices offered by companies which are involved in both power generation and retail sales (“gentailers”) tend to be higher than the prices offered by Retail Electric Providers (REPs) which are independent of any generation company. Yet, within the group of gentailers, we find significant differences in their pricing levels and patterns. These findings are based on graphical and regression analysis of pricing plans advertised on the Power to Choose website. We offer hypotheses that might explain these pricing behaviors. As retail competition in electricity markets is considered or refined in other regions, these findings from Texas may prove instructive.