Financial Times (March 26)
“Ten years ago, you knew where you stood with your energy suppliers. Oil companies sold road fuel, while utilities supplied electricity and gas. Today those lines of demarcation are blurring: utilities can fill up your car and oil companies want to keep your lights on.” This will make for a “period of intensified competition and instability, as companies that were previously able largely to forget about each other are now forced to battle for dominance.”
Tags: Blurring, Competition, Electricity, Energy, Fuel, Gas, Instability, Intensified, Oil, Suppliers, Utilities
Bloomberg (June 26)
“Japan’s consumer prices climbed at the fastest pace in 32 years, boosted by higher utility charges and a sales-tax increase that contributed to the biggest slide in household spending since the March 2011 earthquake.”
USA Today (November 12)
“Thanks to computers and smartphones, Americans are more dependent than ever on electricity. But the nation’s 20th century power grid is incompatible with its 21st century economy and increasingly extreme weather.” For days and even weeks, thousands were left in the dark following hurricane Sandy. “The utilities are not powerless. They can bury more key lines, harden substations and protect cellular communications, a vital link when disaster strikes.”
Tags: Disaster, Extreme weather, Power grid, Sandy, Smartphones, U.S., Utilities
The Economist (September 17)
The Economist salutes Japan for succeeding. “The nation responded as one, dimming lights and cranking down the air-conditioning…. Peak electricity usage fell by nearly a fifth in the Tokyo region, compared with last year. Amazingly, Japan made it through the summer without blackouts.” The Economist provides a new challenge. “The new government should break up Japan’s electricity monopolies.” Japan needs a smart grid where pricing is linked to demand, monopolies are eliminated, and generation and distribution separated.
Tags: Deregulation, Japan, Monopolies, Pricing, Smart grid, Utilities
Bloomberg (May 26)
Solar is sliding down the cost curve even as cell efficiency climbs. Solar may soon beat the electricity rates set by utilities. “The cost of solar cells, the main component in standard panels, has fallen 21 percent so far this year, and the cost of solar power is now about the same as the rate utilities charge for conventional power in the sunniest parts of California, Italy and Turkey.”
Tags: Cost, Efficiency, Electricity, Solar, Utilities
