A Peak Load Pricing Policy for North Carolina Utilities

In the early 1970s North Carolina electric utility companies planned to embark on construction projects for new plants costing billions of dollars. But, for the first time in the history of the state, power firm policies fell upon turbulent waters. Soaring electric rates had resulted in a tide of consumer outrage. Legislative efforts delayed the companies from sailing their original courses. Questions were being raised about utility pricing policies. In 1975, the North Carolina legislature adopted a measure by Senator McNeill Smith to require the state Utilities Commission to hold public hearings on peak load pricing and the future needs for electricity in the state. After the December, 1975 hearings, the Commission ordered the utilities to submit plans to implement this form of pricing. With peak load pricing, a consumer is charged a rate based upon the time of day he uses the electricity. This system charges a lower rate for off-peak use to encourage electricity consumption at off-peak "With peak load pricing, a consumer is charged a rate based upon the time of day he uses electricity." periods. Advocates of peak load pricing, sometimes called time of day or marginal cost pricing, claim there could be an immediate reduction in average monthly bills and that construction programs for new generating capacity to meet peak demand would be delayed for a significant period in the future

A Swing-Contract Market Design for Flexible Service Provision in Electric Power Systems

The need for flexible service provision in electric power systems has dramatically increased due to the growing penetration of variable energy resources, as has the need to ensure fair access and compensation for this provision. A swing contract (SC) facilitates flexible service provision because it permits multiple service attributes to be offered together in bundled form with each attribute expressed as a range of possible values rather than as a single point value. This paper discusses a new SC Market Design for electric power systems that permits SCs to be offered by any dispatchable resource. An analytical optimization formulation is developed for the clearing of an SC day-ahead market that can be implemented using any standard mixed integer linear programming (MILP) solver. The practical feasibility of the optimization formulation is demonstrated by means of a numerical example

Understanding informal payments in health care: motivation of health workers in Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is growing evidence that informal payments for health care are fairly common in many low- and middle-income countries. Informal payments are reported to have a negative consequence on equity and quality of care; it has been suggested, however, that they may contribute to health worker motivation and retention. Given the significance of motivation and retention issues in human resources for health, a better understanding of the relationships between the two phenomena is needed. This study attempts to assess whether and in what ways informal payments occur in Kibaha, Tanzania. Moreover, it aims to assess how informal earnings might help boost health worker motivation and retention.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine focus groups were conducted in three health facilities of different levels in the health system. In total, 64 health workers participated in the focus group discussions (81% female, 19% male) and where possible, focus groups were divided by cadre. All data were processed and analysed by means of the NVivo software package.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The use of informal payments in the study area was confirmed by this study. Furthermore, a negative relationship between informal payments and job satisfaction and better motivation is suggested. Participants mentioned that they felt enslaved by patients as a result of being bribed and this resulted in loss of self-esteem. Furthermore, fear of detection was a main demotivating factor. These factors seem to counterbalance the positive effect of financial incentives. Moreover, informal payments were not found to be related to retention of health workers in the public health system. Other factors such as job security seemed to be more relevant for retention.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggests that the practice of informal payments contributes to the general demotivation of health workers and negatively affects access to health care services and quality of the health system. Policy action is needed that not only provides better financial incentives for individuals but also tackles an environment in which corruption is endemic.</p

‘Mental mobility’ in the digital age: entrepreneurs and the online home-based business

Home-based online business ventures are an increasingly pervasive, yet under-researched phenomenon. The experiences and mindset of entrepreneurs setting-up and running such enterprises requires better understanding. Using data from a qualitative study of twenty-three online home-based business entrepreneurs, we propose the augmented concept of ‘mental mobility’ to encapsulate how they approach their business activities. Drawing on Howard P. Becker’s early theorizing of mobility, together with Victor Turner’s later notion of liminality, we conceptualize ‘mental mobility’ as the process through which individuals navigate the liminal spaces between the physical and digital spheres of work, and the overlapping home/workplace, enabling them to manipulate and partially reconcile the spatial, temporal and emotional tensions that are present in such work environments. Our research also holds important applications for alternative employment contexts and broader social orderings due to the increasingly pervasive and disruptive influence of technology on experiences of remunerated work