Electricity Demand
Is Far Outpacing
New-Supply Sources
U.S. electricity demand is growing at twice the pace new supplies are being added, an imbalance that, if it persists, could lead to supply problems in a couple of years, an electric-industry group said.
In its latest 10-year forecast, the North American Electric Reliability Corp., or NERC, found supplies thinning fastest in California, the Rocky Mountain region, New England, Texas, the Midwest and the Southwest.
NERC, which oversees the reliability of bulk power systems in the U.S. and parts of Canada, said peak demand is expected to increase 18%, or about 135,000 megawatts, for the U.S. during the next decade.
The amount of power that can be relied upon at peak times is expected to increase 8.4%, or about 77,000 megawatts. That could mean trouble, especially on hot summer days when supplies are stretched thin.
Before deregulation, utilities simply would have been ordered to build more power plants. But now most of the nation relies on market mechanisms to coax firms into building resources or to prompt customers into reducing energy use.
NERC's report suggests this structure compounds the uncertainties created by fluctuating fuel prices, transmission bottlenecks and -- the latest pressure point -- the need to reduce reliance on power plants that emit large quantities of the gases that contribute to global warming....
*An excerpt from a Wall Street Journal Article
October 17, 2007
The Effects of Deregulation On Energy Efficiency
Along with the introduction of competition in the retail electricity markets in Texas, a competitive market for the provision of energy efficiency has also been introduced. On May 21, 1999, the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas passed Senate Bill 7, which amended several sections of the Texas Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA). One such amendment requires each electric utility to reduce customers’ energy consumption by a minimum of 10% of the utility’s annual growth in demand in Texas by January 1, 2004 and annually thereafter. To achieve this goal, the regulated distribution arm of each investor-owned utility must provide incentives through standard offer and market transformation programs, which are funded by commission-approved transmission and distribution rates. These programs, designed to achieve the installation of long-lasting energy efficiency measures that reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills across all customer classes, offer incentives that are to be paid to energy efficiency service providers or to retail electric providers for the acquisition of cost-effective energy efficiency savings.
With input from many stakeholders, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) chose eight program templates that would ensure a consistent, standardized administrative approach across Texas and fairly promote competition among the Energy Efficiency Service Providers. Enertia currently operates under 2 of these programs that include: Residential / Small Commercial and Low Income Weatherization.
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