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demand charges

Big Tech

Chasms of Big Tech and Utilities

By Energy Rant No Comments
Last month, Utility Dive posted an article describing how big tech (Google, Amazon, etc.) is taking the lead for home automation and energy management. But there is still hope for utilities – they have trusted relationships with customers, Dive says. Chasms of Risk Tolerance There may not be a pair of industries more dissimilar than big tech and utilities. Big tech has so much cash flow they can afford to have half their products bomb: Amazon failures include Fire, Destinations, Local, Register, and Importer. I only recognize Fire and none of these other boondoggles. Too bad, so sad for Mr.…
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AMI – Good for Consumers; Good for Utilities

By Energy Rant No Comments
AMI, or advanced metering infrastructure, is rolling out across the land. This opens the door to a lot of cool things, including time of use rates, and it is a great enabler of electrification technologies. I’ve heard from utility executives or people involved with some portion of demand-side management departments within utilities that smart meters are a waste of money. Wow. They are going to be standing at the depot while the electrification train is barreling forward. I will save that topic for another day. Stay tuned. For background, here is a primer on AMI and here is a discussion…
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Residential Demand Charges; Harpooning Red Herring

By Energy Rant No Comments
On the one hand, this article from Utility Dive, The flaws in the utilities’ push for residential demand charges, had me shaking my head left and right in disagreement. On the other, not so much considering Solar City’s Chief Policy Officer co-authored the article. The article suggests that rather than using demand charges for residential customers, whether they generate renewable energy (solar) or not, utilities should use time-of-use rates instead. Time-of-use rates are a step in the right direction, but demand rates are still more equitable. Electricity Bills For new readers, here is a quick overview of various ways utilities…
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Electric Bills and Waldo

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
Recently, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy issued a report, “The State of the Utility Bill” and I thought, “now there is a topic for plenty of discussion.”  No, that was no joke, although there was an interesting finding that I found to be very hilarious:  All of the ~100 bills analyzed in the study (100%) included the amount due to the utility from the customer.  I would say not having the amount due would have its disadvantages.  (that WAS a joke) I’ve witnessed and studied many issues regarding end user understanding of energy, energy consumption, and end…
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