utilities Archives - Page 3 of 4

Nov 25

Performance Programs, Ouija Boards, and Mark Twain

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I could not compete with my former self and Gene Simons from last week, but I went back to the Gallup psychoanalysis barrel for more inspiration. I don’t want to write about myself unless it helps you understand why I’m so, uh, peculiar. Like Mr. Simons, I’m an insatiable consumer of information, maybe not books so much – although I’m sure I broke personal records since the Covid – but digital publications, interviews, conference papers, and journals. The psychoanalysis says, “It’s very likely that you rely, to some extent, on your passion for reading to help you launch conversations. Engaging…

Nov 18

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Performance-Based Programs; Do You Have the Delusion?

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 3 Comments

Employees at Michaels get a free psych-x profile (it’s not my area of expertise) to determine personal strengths through Gallup. My top strength is “context,” which means I’m a historian. What does this mean? I observe history, including my mistakes, others’ mistakes, and continuously analyze human nature. For example, I watched a webinar last week on how to be a “rock star” of success. You’ve heard of others called a “rock star,” right? “Rock star” made lists of overused terms years ago. The presenter said, (paraphrasing) “it doesn’t matter whether the person is a customer, supervisor, owner, or employee; all…

Aug 13

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Electricity – Breakpoints, Tipping Points and Imagination

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant One Comment

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article last week – it would be fascinating if it weren’t sadly true. The title: Everyone Hates Customer Service. It is a perfect addition to my continuation of last week’s post regarding innovation with electric utilities. Are Electric Utilities in for a Taxi Ride? Tales of Customer Service Last week during a raging thunderstorm, I was in the pickup-window line at Walgreens. It’s a pickup window, not a chat room. Every time, the cars ahead of me take at least five minutes each. What are they talking about up there? The baseball trade…

Aug 05

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Are Electric Utilities in for a Taxi Ride?

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

I spent part of last week at the Smart Electric Power Alliance’s Grid Evolution Summit. In my notes I wrote, SEPA is out of the closet. They are full-throated in support of decarbonization of the grid. A carbon-free grid brings a limitless stream of what-ifs. This post features a few of those. Regulated Vertical Markets In regulated, vertically-integrated electricity markets, utilities drive decarbonization in collaboration with stakeholders across the board – cities, communities, industry, landowners, consumer advocates, regulators, legislators, and economic development authorities. I realized from Summit presentations that some utilities do better than others managing and lining up all…

Jul 08

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Regulation v Deregulation in True Color

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 3 Comments

Recent projects have led me to examine how deregulated electricity markets work. Since I am naturally curious, I wanted to investigate differences between electricity price performance of deregulated states versus those of regulated states. This week we examine the impacts of regulation/deregulation on pricing, and next week, we will look at the impacts that renewable energy has on pricing. Data used come from the Energy Information Administration. Figures lie, liars figure, but Jeff merely presents all data available for you to decide, pound your chest, or cry. That is your prerogative. Often data which do not support a narrative is…

Sep 18

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I’ll Take Smart Grid for $200, Alex – What is AMI?

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant 2 Comments

Last week, in a moment of weakness, I was on my Pinterest board (is that what it’s called?), when I came upon this excellent tip sheet from a marketing blog. I noted that the “emotional” alternatives to the “intellectual,” bloated phrases were simpler with fewer syllables and easier to read. On the same day, I was studying the benefits and costs of “advanced metering infrastructure,” aka, “smart grid.” Do you see a problem with our industry here? Name something with grotesquely puffy language, and then tag it with an incomprehensible acronym, rather than using a simpler term like, oh, smart…

Jul 31

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Program Evaluation – Most Excellent Avocado Practices

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Everyone has applied for health insurance, and many of you have applied for life insurance. Anyone over, oh, 40, 50, or for sure 60, knows health flaws start to accumulate like the dumpster’s worth of unwelcome gifts, used shoes, and outdated clothes for those of you who stay current with the style trends of the day.Come to think of it, all you digital natives, back in the day before weddingregistry.com (where you shop and make other people fill your house with stuff you want), we just took whatever the aunts, uncles, or more especially, great aunts and uncles, decided to…

Jul 06

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Energy Rant – Best of I Told You So

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Don’t you hate it when the holidays come, and the A-Team of whatever it may be – radio show hosts, NPR, WPR, other talk radio and news stations - play their “best of” broadcasts? It is essentially retreads of irrelevant, untimely information. Of course we don’t do this at the Rant. Instead, this holiday week, I am going to add some recent reinforcement and other timely information in which you are sure to be interested. Guaranteed, or you may need to see a counselor. Customer Engagement, Take 2 A few weeks ago in Customer Engagement, Get with It or Get…

Feb 06

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Investing in Utilities

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Rant No Comments

Most readers have likely seen the business triangle: cheap, fast, good ; pick two. My first emotional reaction to the triangle was that it was something a lazy bum would say. However, as a geezer, I think the law is valid for consulting. I will explain this in a future post. For utilities, it would be something else; maybe cheap, constant, yes. Those are the price, time, and quality attributes of utility delivery. For utilities, the term “constant” represents reliability. The term “yes” represents quality or accuracy. In this case, 60 Hertz and the applicable constant voltage. I explained how…

Sep 28

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Trade Allies; Care for a Nail, Sir

By Jeff Ihnen Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 5 Comments

Would you like to hear about the founding of Michaels? Great! Jim Michaels, founder and namesake of the company, and Dave Waffenschmidt, current President, had started a flourishing energy efficiency business within a local architect and engineering firm amid the waning days of the Carter administration. The two of them, and one other fellow, left that firm to start Michaels because they saw an opportunity and focused solely on energy efficiency and improving building performance. They had a burning passion for these things. Efficiency and performance were the thing, not a thing, to tinker with as time permitted in an…

Performance Programs, Ouija Boards, and Mark Twain

Performance-Based Programs; Do You Have the Delusion?

Electricity – Breakpoints, Tipping Points and Imagination

Are Electric Utilities in for a Taxi Ride?

Regulation v Deregulation in True Color

I’ll Take Smart Grid for $200, Alex – What is AMI?

Program Evaluation – Most Excellent Avocado Practices

Energy Rant – Best of I Told You So

Investing in Utilities

Trade Allies; Care for a Nail, Sir

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