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Mike Hopping's Energy Report - Sept. 12, 2008 Mike Hopping's Asheville Energy Report Progress has also requested utility commission approval for a massive rate hike. The residential bite is 16.2%. About a fifth of the money will support the new efficiency programs. Higher fuel costs and past “under-recovery” of expenses account for the remainder, said Martha Thompson, Progress community relations manager. The company wants to phase in the increase over three years. Residential customers would see an initial bump of 11.2%. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for September 16. Former CEAC member Margie Meares will be pleased to learn that Progress is supporting an effort to strengthen North Carolina building codes. The state won a $499,190 Department of Energy grant to fund development and implementation of higher building code efficiency standards. The governor’s office, State Energy Office, the NC Department of Insurance, Appalachian State University, and Mathis Consulting of Asheville participated in the grant request. Current CEAC member and Mathis employee, Jonah Butcher, is assigned to the project. CEAC facilitator, Steve Cochran, announced that he is part of a group hoping to convert the Haywood Park Hotel and Starnes Building in downtown Asheville to a state-of-the-art efficient National Center for Sustainability. The Center would house organizations and business groups oriented toward sustainability issues in a variety of fields including heavy industry and retail business.
For the complete copyrighted report, entitled "CEAC and the Iron Equation," by Michael Hopping, see article below. CEAC and the Iron Equation On September 12th, the Community Energy Advisory Council (CEAC) met for the first time without Progress VP Robert Sipes sitting at the head of the table. Sipes was in Kansas City cheering his company’s entrants in the National Lineman’s Rodeo. CEAC might have called off the September session but decided to press ahead with discussing how to involve the public in energy conservation and efficiency. Action updates EnergyWise will pay customers $25/year per qualifying electric heat, hot water, or air conditioning system, in return for allowing grid managers to remotely cycle those appliances off and on to blunt demand spikes. While some customers will be allowed to sign up this fall, a major rollout isn’t planned until early next year. According to Edge, programs like EnergyWise are typically adopted by 20-25% of eligible customers within the first 5-7 years of operation. He guesstimates an eventual ability to shave 30-35 megawatts (MW) off a WNC demand peak. He added that local demand for electricity is increasing by 20-30 MW per year. Progress has also requested utility commission approval for a massive rate hike. The residential bite is 16.2%. About a fifth of the money will support the new efficiency programs. Higher fuel costs and past “under-recovery” of expenses account for the remainder, said Martha Thompson, Progress community relations manager. The company wants to phase in the increase over three years. Residential customers would see an initial bump of 11.2%. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for September 16. Former CEAC member Margie Meares will be pleased to learn that Progress is supporting an effort to strengthen North Carolina building codes. The state won a $499,190 Department of Energy grant to fund development and implementation of higher building code efficiency standards. The governor’s office, State Energy Office, the NC Department of Insurance, Appalachian State University, and Mathis Consulting of Asheville participated in the grant request. Current CEAC member and Mathis employee, Jonah Butcher, is assigned to the project. CEAC facilitator, Steve Cochran, announced that he is part of a group hoping to convert the Haywood Park Hotel and Starnes Building in downtown Asheville to a state-of-the-art efficient National Center for Sustainability. The Center would house organizations and business groups oriented toward sustainability issues in a variety of fields including heavy industry and retail business. Some other announcements could have been made, but weren’t. A recently inked deal between Progress, FLS Energy, and Biltmore Farms Hotels will outfit the Hilton on the Biltmore Park Town Square with solar-thermal hot water. The system should provide 2,000 gallons per day and save an estimated $10,000 per year in fuel costs. Meanwhile, Appalachian Energy is preparing to install WNC’s largest photovoltaic (solar cell) array on the roof of Jim Barkley Toyota. The project involves 336 solar panels and will produce 75-kilowatt of power to be sold to Progress. According to press reports, Barkley expects to recoup its investment within five years. Sectors The meeting ended with a CEAC video segment from the locally produced variety show, Green Radio Bistro. A peanut gallery commentary - *It is pioneering a new model for constructive engagement between a corporation and its customers. The crazy thing is that Robert Sipes may be among those who’d rather not build a new peaking power plant, with all the burning of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions, and community consternation it would entail. But the iron equation of the electric grid may push him to propose it anyway. Electricity Supply = Electricity Demand Even a momentary imbalance in the equation equals deep doo-doo. We’re staving off 250 MW worth of peak power doo-doo with stop-gap contracts. Issues of Ownership They’re present in the CEAC charter: “The CEAC will function as an advisory group. The primary purpose of the group is to provide input to PEC on local opportunities and concerns in the region and to provide PEC a local means of advising the company in developing the best overall energy strategy for meeting growing demands in the region.” Progress owns CEAC. It created the group, defined its scope, selected the members, and provides the funds. This past March, when CEAC asked to stretch the boundaries and address electric rate structures with the utilities commission, permission was denied. The council’s ownership arrangement, necessary as it may have been from the corporate point of view, created a subservient group. Progress drives CEAC. Council members are along for the ride. There’s a second, perhaps more destructive, ownership assumption also contained in that charter passage. Progress implies that it owns both sides of the grid equation, Supply and Demand. As a practical matter, by virtue of power plants and transmission lines, electric utilities do own Supply. However, Demand is a manifestly different story. Demand is owned by the demanders, the community of ratepayers. Community behavior can be shaped by load control incentives, and I applaud Progress for proposing them. But, apart from the company’s impressive demonstration of how a simple in-house energy audit can reduce wasted electricity, this is not ownership. On the Demand side of the equation, utility companies are relegated to the backseat. Demand in WNC is now driven by a disorganized and largely unconscious populace. CEAC is in a unique position to alter that dangerous state of affairs if it so chooses. I enjoy Chris Edge’s reports, but I also want to hear about Buncombe County trends in Healthy Built homes and watch the PowerPoint on how Chamber of Commerce members are progressing with efficiency measures. When will Ned Doyle be asked to come in and explore possible CEAC interfaces with the Southern Energy & Environment Expo? Where are the energy audits on the public schools? What changes are occurring as a result? One other re-vision may help finesse the ownership contradictions. What if CEAC becomes less about an organizational construct than a dependable location where Progress (Supply) and the community (Demand) coordinate efforts on shared goals? I’ll close with a plea to Progress. Why not go ahead and announce what you already know? that without a major downturn in the Demand trend, you’ll have to try for another peaking power (Supply) plant in the near future? Tell us now, while there’s still time to avoid another fossil fuel solution to the grid’s iron equation.
Copyright 2008 Michael Hopping All Rights Reserved Reprinted with permission by MediaBear and TheGreenerHome.com Editor's Note: This article first appeared as is and in its entirety on www.MichaelHopping.com. |
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