Source: The Energy Bad Boys
ENB Pub Note: I had the privilege of sitting down with Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling, The Energy Bad Boys. We had a fantastic podcast, and I look forward to working with them on other podcasts and topics. This current article is important as we consider trying to look at our pricing for kWh in the US, and how wind and solar are attached to the grid physically and financially. They are on point, and we need to change the policies and leadership.
A fundamental problem with the vertically integrated monopoly utility model is that utilities can recover the full cost of an asset, plus a five to ten percent rate of return, regardless of whether that asset contributes to grid reliability. Last week, we detailed how this arrangement has allowed utilities to make billions building unreliable wind and solar facilities and the generators to back them up.
This week, we discuss one of our ideas for fixing this situation: the Only Pay for What You Get Act. This legislation would protect electricity customers by only allowing utilities to earn a profit on the reliable portion of a power plant. We believe this change would introduce important market signals to a utility planning process that lacks them.
Energy News Beat