Jim Pierobon is Founder and principal writer of The Energy Fix. He is a policy, marketing and social media strategist who has reported on, testified and consulted about smarter grids, cyber-security as it affects the power grid, fossil fuel shortages, price spikes, energy efficiency and the rise and fall -- and the rise again of nuclear and renewable energy sources.Consumer energy data from the ‘Green Button’: how long before adoptions match the hype?
The White House wants it. Some California utilities get it. But will more than a few U.S. utilities sign on to help ratepayers better understand how they use electricity with one-click access to their data? One year after the Obama Administration began talking about the idea, and in the roughly six months since it formally [...]
Engaging consumers about smart grid apps: face-to-face better than Facebook
From the successes, hiccups and outright failures of utilities trying to deploy smart grid applications, those worth emulating are few. As previous posts on TheEnergyFix demonstrate, Southern California Edison is widely hailed for rolling out programs that are working. So is Oklahoma Gas & Electric. Another success story to emulate is the “PowerCents DC” effort [...]
Pepco customers in Washington, DC area: listen and laugh to this before Hurricane Irene wipes out power
If you live in Washington, DC or the close-in Maryland counties, treat yourself to this melody by the “Morning Majority House Band” on WMAL 630 AM radio about an extended power outage likely to wipe out electricity for area Pepco customers due to Hurricane Irene. Even if you don’t live there, read and listen and [...]
Matching smart grid apps to customer lifestyles
Among the lessons emerging from various utility pilot programs around the country where homeowners respond to dynamic pricing and demand reduction incentives is this pre-requisite: to change behavior utilities need to truly e-n-g-a-g-e their customers. And the most effective way to accomplish that is to be sure the utility has a large stockpile of customer [...]
It’s time for all utilities to buy electricity under power purchase agreements
Power purchase agreements – aka “PPAs” – are an established tool for spreading the cost of energy over 20 years or longer as a means of ensuring a revenue stream for renewable energy project developers, stabilizing and predicting energy costs and displacing dirty coal with cleaner sources of electricity. The time has come in just [...]