Free Republic

Let’s be real, the “we the people” crowd is the only group in this country truly rooting for President Trump. When it comes to politicians, media, and corporations, it’s all about the ABT — “Anybody But Trump” agenda, which the RNC is currently rolling out with quite a bang. The first debate moderators have just been announced, and they could practically serve as presidents of the ABT fan club. Struggling Fox News will host the debate, with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum at the helm — the same disastrous duo who made that premature call for Arizona on election night...

The UT researchers said that 67 sites were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by ERCOT. Dozens of mostly natural gas facilities, including some directly supplying fuel to power plants around the state, were paid to have their electricity cut off in an emergency like February’s devastating winter storm, according to a report released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. The UT researchers said that 67 sites, mostly gas refining and pipeline infrastructure locations around Texas, were allowed to sign up for a voluntary “emergency response” program coordinated by the Electric...

The third and last remaining commissioner of the Texas utilities regulator resigned under pressure on Tuesday after the release of comments to investors vowing to protect utility profits and dismissing financial hits from a cold snap on municipal power companies. The resignation came soon after the disclosure of inflammatory comments by the Public Utility Commission Chair Arthur D’Andrea in a March 9 call with Bank of America utilities’ analysts. The call took place two days before he was to consider rescinding billions of dollars payment to utilities. His stance against repricing helped sink a proposal this week to cut $4.1...

Utility commission says repricing power markets too difficult, despite recommendation that overcharges during storm be reversed The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Friday signaled it didn’t intend to reverse $16 billion in electric overcharges that an independent market monitor had flagged as stemming from the state’s weeklong blackouts. Commission Chairman Arthur C. D’Andrea said it was too difficult to reprice the energy markets and involved too many uncertainties. “It is impossible to unscramble this sort of egg,” he said. Mr. D’Andrea said there were so many hedges and private transactions outside the view of the commission that taking a...

At Griddy, transparency has always been our goal. We know you are angry and so are we. Here’s what’s been going down: On Monday evening the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) cited its “complete authority over ERCOT” to direct that ERCOT set pricing at $9/kWh until the grid could manage the outage situation after being ravaged by the freezing winter storm. Under ERCOT's market rules, such a pricing scenario is only enforced when available generation is about to run out (they usually leave a cushion of around 1,000 MW). This is the energy market that Griddy was designed...

After again shutting power to hundreds of thousands this week, California’s utility PG&E disclosed Thursday that it had discovered a broken jumper cable by the ignition site of a wildfire blazing across Sonoma County. The company has warned of more blackouts this weekend and perhaps for the next decade as it refurbishes its aging grid. Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to deflect political blame. “It’s about dog-eat-dog capitalism meeting climate change. It’s about corporate greed meeting climate change. It’s about decades of mismanagement,” Mr. Newsom declared. But Democrats for years have treated PG&E as their de facto political subsidiary. The...

When the Colorado Public Utilities Commission recently approved Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan, the commissioners made a highly politicized decision that ignored economic reality, bypassed the state legislature and allowed the company to break its promise to save customers money. Coloradans should be troubled not just by the plan itself, but by how it won approval through an end-run of the democratic process. In August 2017, Xcel unveiled the Colorado Energy Plan .. The plan’s cheerleaders, including Gov. John Hickenlooper and state agencies, celebrated the monopoly utility’s proposal to spend $2.5 billion on fuel switching ... Earlier in 2017, Xcel...

State officials plan to update the way they consider environmental and health effects when determining the overall cost of energy production, a move that could help guide decisions ranging from the fate of aging power plants to using cleaner sources of energy. The state Public Utilities Commission has agreed to update the way it considers costs, the St. Cloud Times reported . That could mean taking into account issues such as climate change, infant mortality and emergency room visits. "What this would do is to cause Minnesota to take a hard look before investments are made in power plants so...

Last year saw a slew of states review telecommunications laws designed for a bygone era. Tennessee phased out special charges for in-state long distance calls that subsidized phone companies. Florida and Kansas now allow companies subject to price regulations to better compete with new, less regulated providers. Increased competition has resulted from convergence in the industry, as providers once broken into segregated markets (e.g., cable TV, local and long distance phone, wireless, etc.) now all offer similar broadband phone and video services, or at least a pipe to get them. However, state laws have been slow to change, regulating some...

San Francisco residents may soon have a chance to power their homes and businesses with "100 percent" certified green energy. But it won't come cheap. Under the CleanPowerSF program adopted Tuesday by the city's Public Utilities Commission on a 4-0 vote, San Francisco's 330,000 utility customers would be able to get all their power from wind, solar and other renewable sources, starting as early as July 1. On the downside, typical residential customers would also see their bills rise - at least in the short run - by anywhere from $7 to $54.50 a month, depending on their usage. That's...

After being directed to create a SmartMeter opt-out proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission early last month, PG&E released a proposal that has angered customers who are frustrated with the high costs of disabling the meters, considering that they never gave their consent for installation. The opt-out proposal, which was released March 24, allows customers to disable the radios inside their gas or electric meters with the option of either paying a $135 up-front fee followed by a $20 monthly charge or a $270 up-front fee followed by a $14 monthly charge to cover the costs of implementing the...

California's Assembly on Tuesday approved one of the most ambitious renewable energy programs in the nation. The bill requires the state's utilities to get 33 percent of their power from renewable resources like biomass, geothermal, solar and wind by 2020, up from the current target of 20 percent by 2010. Currently, the state's three investor-owned utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric -- get 18 percent of their electricity from wind farms, solar power plants, geothermal, and biomass facilities, according to a new report from the California Public Utilities Commission. But they...

New Public Utilities Commission Chair Appointed: Governor Dayton has named Senator Ellen Anderson as the new Chair of the Public Utilities Commission. The five-member Public Utilities Commission regulates rates for electric and natural gas utilities and permits new power plants, electric transmission lines, and pipelines. Sen. Anderson (DFL-St. Paul/Falcon Heights) is currently the ranking minority member on the Senate’s Energy and Utilities Committee and was formerly the Chair of the Senate Energy, Environment and Natural Resources finance committee. Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the state Senate.

WICHITA FALLS — The electric grid operator for Texas is urging consumers and businesses are encouraged to reduce their electricity use during peak demand hours over the next few days from 6 – 9 a.m. and 4 – 8 p.m. to help reduce the risk of electricity emergencies or the need for rotating outages. “The National Weather Service is anticipating severe cold weather statewide this week, as another arctic air mass is expected to reach deep into Texas, dropping temperatures back into the teens and twenties,” said Trip Doggett, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. "In anticipation of...

SACRAMENTO — The governor's latest nominee for the board that regulates the multibillion-dollar energy and telecommunications industries has been in bankruptcy for more than four years, and faces questions about his qualifications and his commitment to consumer protection. Timothy A. Simon was one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top-level aides, screening applicants for positions in the administration, until the governor selected him Feb. 15 for a vacant seat on the powerful Public Utilities Commission. In December, while Simon was still working for Schwarzenegger, a judge ordered the state to deduct $1,795 per month from his monthly salary as part of a...

AUSTIN — TXU Wholesale was named on Friday as the mysterious energy supplier linked to possible anti-competitive practices similar to those associated with Enron during the California power crisis.The Texas Public Utility Commission had withheld the identity of the North Texas company for months, saying that it would only release only it if the agency launched an enforcement action. But on Friday, in the face of mounting public information requests from media outlets, the agency relented and named TXU Wholesale as the operation identified only as ``Company C” in a July consultant’s report on the Texas energy market.On the last...

  The FReeper Canteen looks at The Presidential Unit Citation USA and USAF Presidential Unit  The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941 (the date of the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of American involvement in World War II). The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating...

The Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved a nearly 13-cent hike in the state's wholesale gasoline price for next week... That increase, combined with this week's hike, adds up to about 27 cents a gallon more for gasoline so far this month. The Hawaii state average is currently $2.997 for regular unleaded gas... $2.914 on Oahu, $3.096 in Hilo and $3.294 in Wailuku, Maui...regular unleaded ... Lanai...$4.149 a gallon. The national average is $2.695 a gallon.

Edison International, PG&E Corp. and other suppliers of electricity in California will be required by state regulators to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Power companies in the most populous state will face a cap intended to bring emissions down, possibly to 1990 levels, according to a measure approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said last year that he wanted the state to cut greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The state would be the first to regulate emissions by electricity providers. "It's a very positive first step in the right direction," said Dan Kalb, the California...

California regulators on Thursday allocated $300 million collected from electricity customers to subsidize purchases and installation of solar energy units in 2006. The action was aimed at "jump starting our implementation of what was originally called the governor's million solar roofs initiative," said California Public Utilities Commission President Mike Peevey. That proposal was "a marquee idea of the governor's ... legislative agenda (but) got bogged down in politics in Sacramento," said PUC member Susan Kennedy, who attended her last meeting after being tapped to become chief of staff for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A broader plan that would tap ratepayers for...