Electric Light & Power articles from March 2008

Electric Light & Power archives from March 2008

Events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... APRIL April 6--11, 2008 75th Annual International Conference of Doble Clients Doble Boston, Massachusetts www.doble.com April 20-23, 2008 9th Annual Metering America/Billing CIS America Metering America ...

It's tough to describe the smart grid in words. It's made up of lots.(Commentary)
March 1, 2008... It's tough to describe the smart grid in words. It's made up of lots of components, and many of them are quite technical. The benefits the smart grid offers are worth its hefty price tag, but making the business case is complex. A five-minute...

The three C's of call monitoring.(COLUMN: Customer Service Utility Style)
March 1, 2008... Successful call center managers know that in addition to answering calls in a timely fashion, true success comes in providing quality information to customers during the call. Utility call handling has an impact on customer satisfaction. In...

As policymakers fight over paradigms, a crisis looms.(COLUMN: Benefit of Counsel)
March 1, 2008... In "The Adventure of the Final Problem," Arthur Conan Doyle both introduced and did away with Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis, the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. The 1893 story is essentially a long chase scene, culminating in the...

Interconnection overhaul overdue.(COLUMN: Taking It Into Account)
March 1, 2008... First-come, first-served rules governing interconnection to the high-voltage transmission grid are keeping generation off-line that is needed to serve load, meet capacity reserve requirements and satisfy renewable portfolio standards that have...

A new environmental era: managing renewable energy risk.(COLUMN: Managing Uncertainty)
March 1, 2008... Environmental impact and climate change related to fossil fuels have put renewable electricity sources--namely wind, solar, biomass and geothermal--at the top of the global energy agenda. A surge of research, education and awareness has led to...

Climate change legislation.(Industry Report)(Cover story)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Federal climate change legislation is inevitable--that's the consensus on U.S. global warming policy. Beyond that, there's no accord as far as "when" or "what." In the meantime, state governments have been moving...

Climate change initiatives and the bottom line: what SEC reports reveal about the impact of legislation on power producers.(Industry Report)
March 1, 2008... One source of information about power producers' perspective on the financial impact of climate change initiatives is the reports the companies file with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Companies whose shares are traded on public...

Federal loan guarantees: will they give the U.S. climate response a needed boost in 2008?(Finance)
March 1, 2008... -Part Two- Almost three years ago in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Energy authority to provide loan guarantees for innovative energy technologies. This authority was seen by its supporters and Congress...

2007 Gains Gone: February's losses pile on top of January's.(Exclusive C Three Equity Index)
March 1, 2008... Every C Three index except Less Regulated Gas saw all remaining gains from 2007 wiped away in February. February's 5.93 percent losses were on top of January's 5.3 percent losses. For the full 12 months, the average share price has lost 7.8...

Risk management the smart way: use automation to manage regulatory and financial risk.(Risk Management)
March 1, 2008... It's one of those things that keep utility execs awake at night. Regulatory requirements and the risks and challenges associated with reporting and compliance are growing concerns for utility managers the world over. More aggressive...

The LNG business in the U.S.: importers can set the stage for long-term success.(Generation)
March 1, 2008... The worldwide demand for liquid natural gas has been increasing steadily due to economic growth, a renewed interest in cleaner sources of energy, and declining production of indigenous natural gas in the largest demand centers. In the U.S., the...

Thermal energy storage: shifting the air conditioning load can reduce peak power demand.(Renewables)
March 1, 2008... In the U.S., peak electricity demand is expected to increase 18 percent over the next decade, while generation capacity at peak times is expected to increase by only 8.4 percent, according to a North American Electric Reliability Corp....

Energy efficiency: making it work is one of the industry's toughest challenges.(Renewables)
March 1, 2008... Several powerful forces have combined to create one of the electric utility industry's most complex challenges: responding to the rapidly growing societal mandate for action on energy efficiency. The mandate comes from the consumer....

Benchmarking inbound call center operations: how do you compare?(IT/CIS & CRM)
March 1, 2008... As every call center manager knows, assembling the fight mix of resources to ensure high-quality, cost-effective customer care is a constantly evolving challenge. Selecting, training, managing, and motivating a large pool of employees in a...

Establish a brand "voice": by automating communications, Aquila and Alliant improved customer service.(IT/CIS & CRM)
March 1, 2008... The utility industry has an identity problem with its customer base. Ask the general public to describe the local utility company and you are likely to get few responses beyond generic rate complaints, anecdotes surrounding the last power...

CS week promises the best in education and networking.(IT/CIS & CRM)
March 1, 2008... At CS Week Conference 32, executives, vice presidents, managers, directors and all levels of customer service personnel will have the opportunity to benefit from programs designed to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of key utility...

CS week up to the challenge.(CS WEEK)
March 1, 2008... CS Week is raising the bar in meter-to-cash educational offerings. Holding the bar steady only works when dancing the Limbo. It doesn't demand greater creativity and stultifies efforts to address and shape the future. Instead, today's...

CS week conference workshops.(IT/CIS & CRM)(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... AGENDA Workshops sorted by track For morn details, visit www.csweek.org. Advanced Metering Infrastructure Concentrates on the various aspects of metering through to the accumulation of metering data for various purposes, including...

Using CAIDI as a leading indicator: CL&P discovered the critical elements of effective outage response.(T&D)
March 1, 2008... Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) was able to achieve significant improvement in outage response, as measured by CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index), by shifting from solving technical problems to coordinating responses to...

Seven criteria of the strategic business leader in energy.(Management Methods)
March 1, 2008... Is your company ready to move beyond the strategy of merely farming for organic growth? If so, you may be ready to build a hunting strategy, looking for those unique individuals who can deliver new business to your firm. With the advent of...