Utilities have taken on climate change in a number of different ways. In Sacramento, Calif., the local utility has gone all electric. Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) All-Electric Smart Home project is part of...

Utilities are used to facing opposition from environmental and consumer groups when they present a new rate-case proposal to their state regulators. However, Dominion Energy in Virginia has been challenged from an unexpected...

Technological innovation can be a blessing and a curse. For example, the increased penetration of renewable energy has created new challenges for grid operators. At the same time, big data can provide insight to help address...

Legislatures in two states—Hawaii, and now Nevada—have determined, if the states impose mandates for utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources, the states should also allow utilities to implement alternative...

According to the 2019 Summer Reliability Assessment by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), projected electric grid resources are at or above the levels needed to satisfy summer peak demand until anticipated...

Changes in California’s utility regulations are coming about because of last year’s devastating wildfires. Some regulations, including enhancements to utilities’ mitigation plans, are expected, and some, such as...

Some big-name utilities, including PG&E, Dominion Energy and DTE Energy and other Fortune 500 companies, plan to lobby for some type of “economy-wide” price on carbon, perhaps deciding to get involved with policy-making of...

The U.S. utility industry may have just experienced its first malicious “cyber event”—or at least the first such event to be reported. In March, an anonymous utility in the Western region of the country filed an “ Electric...

In recent years, California has been hit with a number of massively destructive wildfires, some of which utility infrastructure has triggered, and the resulting liabilities have created financial stress for these utilities....

When it comes to transmission and distribution grid improvements, headlines tend to use the word smart. However, following a range of natural disasters, from hurricanes to floods to wildfires, many utilities also are pursuing...

According to a new report from Navigant Research , while the growth of distributed energy resources (DER) poses some significant challenges for electric utilities, it also provides a number of opportunities. "The...

For almost a century, electric meters served a single purpose: telling utilities how much power their customers had consumed. Over the last two decades, however, electric meters have transformed. The newest generation of...

Updated on 4/16/19: Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act into law on April 18, 2019. While the mainland United States debates the Green New Deal, Puerto Rico last month committed to 100...

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) recently published its first power technology market gap analysis report, titled " 2019 Grid Integration Insights ," which is designed to bridge the gap between the technologies...

The California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, raising some immediate, and financially critical, questions for its customers, suppliers and investors. Answers to those...

Solar and wind power are the leading sources of renewable energy generation. Combined with advanced battery storage technology, their effectiveness has only increased. Rarely, however, are all three utilized together in one...

As the nation’s mix of energy sources continues to evolve, the need for distribution innovation also increases. Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced awards for projects that find new ways to harness the...

Information technology company IBM has launched a predictive analytics tool that—combined with artificial intelligence—helps utilities better spot which trees and other vegetation within their service territory need to be...

Questions about the ability of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to withstand the tremendous liability it incurred from a series of unprecedented wildfires have now been answered. The Northern California utility has announced it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

For electrical contractors and electricians concerned about the possibility of reduced demand by the nation's electric utility industry for new infrastructure projects, there is some good news. According to a December...