Utility spot pricing study : Wisconsin

Spot pricing covers a range of electric utility pricing structures which relate the marginal costs of electric generation to the prices seen by utility customers. At the shortest time frames prices change every five minutes--the same time frame as used in utility dispatch--longer time frames might include 24-hour updating in which prices are set one day in advance but vary hourly as a function of projected system operating costs. The critical concept is that customers see and respond to marginal rather than average costs. In addition the concept of spot pricing includes a "quality of supply" component by which prices are increased at times in which the system is approaching maximum capacity, thus providing a pricing mechanism to replace or augment rationing.This research project evaluated the potential for spot pricing of industrial customers from the perspective both of the utility and its customers. A prototype Wisconsin (based on the WFPCO system) and its industrial customers was evaluated assuming 1980 demand level and tariff structures. The utility system was simplified to include limited interconnection and exchange of power with. surrounding utilities. The analysis was carried out using an hourly simulation model, ENPRO, to evaluate the marginal operating cost for any hour. The industrial energy demand was adjusted to reflect the price (relative to the present time-of-use pricing system). The simulation was then rerun to calculate the change in revenues (and customer bill) and the amount of consumer surplus generated.A second analysis assumed a 5 percent increase in demand with no increase in capacity. Each analysis was carried out for an assumed low and high industrial response to price changes.In an effort to generalize beyond the Wisconsin data and to evaluate the likely implications of a flexible pricing scheme relative to a utility system with a greater level of oil generation, particularly on the margin, the system capacity of the study utility was altered by substitution of a limited number of coal plants by identical but with higher-fuel cost oil-fired plants. The analyses for the modified utility structure are parallel to those for the standard utility structure discussed above.The results of the analysis showed that the flexible pricing system produced both utility and customer savings. At lower capacity utilization the utility recovered less revenue than it did under the present time-of-use rates. While at higher utilization it recovered more. Under all scenarios tested, consumer surplus benefits were five to ten times greater than were simple fuel savings for the utility. While these results must be evaluated in additional testing of specific customer response patterns, it is significant to note that the ability of the customer to choose his pattern more flexibly holds a significant potential for customers to achieve greater surplus--even if their bill may in fact increase. These results are discussed in detail in the report as are a number of customer bill impact considerations and the issues associated with revenue reconciliation

Preserving the Chesapeake: Law, Ecology, and the Bay

This event was co-sponsored by the Merhige Center for Environmental Studies, the Allen Chair of Law, the Virginia State Bar, and the Miller Center of Public Affairs. The “Historical Background” session, held from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m., was presented by the Hon. Governor Gerald L. Baliles, Director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs and 65th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Gerald McCarthy, Executive Director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment; and Russell W. Baxter, Deputy Director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Rodney A. Smolla, Dean of the University of Richmond School of Law, served as moderator. The “Current State of the Bay” session, held on Friday, October 20, 2006 from 10:45 - 11:45 a.m., was presented by Jonathan Z. Cannon, Director of the Center for Environmental and Land Use Law at the University of Virginia School of Law; Erin Ryan, of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary; and Richard Batiuk, Associate Director for Science of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Joel Eisen, University of Richmond School of Law, served as moderator. The Keynote was given from 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. by L. Preston Bryant, Secretary of Natural Resources of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The “Regulatory Efforts” session, held 1:15-2:15 p.m., was presented by Kathy R. Frahm, Director of the Division of Policy at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; Joseph J. Tannery, Virginia Staff Attorney for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation; David E. Evans, Partner at McGuireWoods LLP; and Mark Smith, Environmental Scientist with the Water Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The “Future and Solutions” session, held from 2:30-3:45 p.m., was presented by Nikki Rovner, Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia; Timothy G. Hayes, Partner at Hunton & Williams LLP; Clyde Wilbur, Principal of Greeley & Hanson; and Alexandra Dunn, General Counsel for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies. Carl W. Tobias, Williams Professor of Law University of Richmond School of Law, served as moderator

Some Medical and Social Aspects of the Treatment for Genetic-Metabolic Diseases

By enhancing the survival of certain patients with inheritable disorders, advances in medical therapy have pro duced an apparent conflict between medical ethics and the natural laws governing the viability of humans. There has arisen considerable concern that the quality of the human gene pool will deteriorate if medicine succeeds in significantly alter ing the survival and reproductive fitness of individuals with deleterious genetic disorders which were heretofore selected against by nature. A review of the successful treatment cur rently used for phenylketonuria (PKU) is given as an example of therapy for a genetic disorder which will not significantly increase the gene frequency in the population. However, the disastrous and unexpected results of reproduction by phenyl ketonuric women dramatically illustrate the unforeseen prob lems that may arise from new therapeutic approaches. Ther apy that confers normal reproductive fitness on a previously incapacitating disorder inherited in a dominant manner will increase the future frequency of the disorder. Medicine is now in the early stages of implementing methods of efficient genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis which will not only benefit the affected family but will hopefully lessen the impact of deleterious genetic diseases on future generations

Discretionary Evolution: Restucturing the Electric Utility Industry

The electric utility industry is changing. But unlike the evolution of species, conscious collective choice can influence the evolutionary drift of the industry. The direction that many propose is one of placing greater reliance on market forces for directing the deployment and utilization of electric power resources. The purpose of this article is to consider the market-oriented paths that may be pursued. We address the problems of the market-oriented proposals given the social concerns and technological realities associated with the electric power industry. We consider institutionalist concerns with regard to transition options and the process of transition.

Myophosphorylase Deficiency (McArdle's Disease): Report of a Family

The clinical and biochemical findings are presented of two brothers suffering from McArdle's Disease (Myophosphorylase Deficiency). Tissue enzyme estimations and lactate levels were done in affected and non-affected members of the family. Affected members showed absence of phosphorylase enzyme by histochemical and quantitative estimation. No quantitative abnormalities were found in other enzyme systems of glycolytic pathways in the family investigated. Various other aspects of clinical features, biochemical abnormalities and inheritance are discussed