Regulators release updated energy primer

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released an updated version of its "resource manual",  Energy Primer: A Handbook of Energy Market Basics.

The FERC is an independent federal agency that regulates a variety of aspects of the U.S. energy industry, including the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil, proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines, and hydropower projects, as well as engaging in strategic planning.

FERC's Office of Enforcement is charged with encouraging compliance with the Commission’s statutes, rules, and orders.  Within the enforcement office, the Division of Energy Market Oversight is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the nation’s wholesale natural gas and electric power markets.

In 2012, the Division of Energy Market Oversight (or DEMO) issued the first edition of its Energy Primer.  This week, DEMO issued an updated 2015 version of the Energy Primer.  As with the previous edition, the 2015 Energy Primer gives the public a broad overview of the physical wholesale markets for natural gas and electricity and energy-related financial markets.  As FERC has noted, the revised edition reflects some of the changes that have occurred in the industry since 2012, including the growth in natural gas supplies and the expansion of organized electric markets under Independent System Operators (ISO) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO).

The 2015 FERC Energy Primer offers a useful introduction to the U.S. energy industry as it is regulated by FERC.  As with the 2012 version, FERC staff states that the 2015 edition is intended to be used as either a text or a reference guide.  FERC's website also notes that the Energy Primer is a product of FERC staff and does not reflect the views of the Commission or any individual Commissioner.  Nevertheless it may offer careful readers insight into how Commission staff view the markets' continuing evolution.

Smart meters are safe, says Maine agency staff

The staff of the Maine Public Utilities Commission has issued a report concluding that the use of "smart meters" -- advanced utility metering infrastructure capable of communicating wirelessly with the utility -- is a "safe, reasonable, and adequate utility service."

Smart meters and other new utility technologies offer the opportunity to cut ratepayer costs while enabling new and innovative services.  Building on the ubiquity of cell phones, the internet, and other devices that can communicate using radio frequency emissions, smart meters can provide utilities with real-time data on each customer's consumption of electricity.  This can eliminate the need for traditional meter readers, enable utilities to manage outages in real-time, and can open up opportunities for real-time pricing of electricity.  Many utilities have adopted smart meters and other so-called "advanced metering infrastructure", including Maine's largest electric utility Central Maine Power Co.

But some people are concerned about the safety of smart meters, and in particular with the health effects of the radio frequency emissions associated with the meters' communication system.  Utilities around the country have faced questions, and even legal challenges, over the safety of smart meters.  As CMP rolled out its smart meter program, the Maine Public Utilities Commission received a series of complaints and requests for investigation into whether CMP's advanced metering infrastructure program complied with Maine law requiring utilities to provide safe, reasonable, and adequate utility service.

After legal proceedings before the Commission and Maine's highest state court, in 2012, the Commission opened an investigation into "the health and safety issue related to CMP's installation of smart meter technology."  That investigation led to Tuesday's release of a Commission staff report (67-page PDF) summarizing the evidence it had collected and staff's conclusions.  Highlights from the report include the following findings:

• The radio frequency (RF) emissions from CMP' s smart meters and other AMI components comply with duly promulgated federal safety regulations and other RF emission standards;
• No state, federal, or Canadian regulatory body or health agency that has considered the health impacts of smart meters (including Maine 's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC)) has found smart meters to be unsafe;
• The scientific evidence presented in this proceeding is inconclusive with respect to the human health impacts from low-level RF emissions generally;
• There are no credible, peer-reviewed scientific studies in the record that demonstrate, or even purport to demonstrate, a direct human health risk specifically from smart meter RF emissions;
• The studies that have been presented in the record to demonstrate the risk to human health from exposure to RF-emitting devices are based on exposure to substantially higher levels of RF emissions than smart meters;
• The relative RF emission exposure from smart meters is significantly less than other commonly used RF-emitting electronic devices; and
• CMP' s installation and operation of its smart meter system is consistent with federal and state energy policy and is a generally accepted utility practice throughout the country.

Based on these findings, the staff report concludes that "CMP's installation and operation of its smart meter system is consistent with its statutory obligation to furnish safe, reasonable and adequate facilities and service."  That said, the report also concurs with recommendations that continued research should be done on the impacts on human health from radio frequency emissions.

It now falls to the full Commission to take up the issue.  Will the Commissioners agree with their staff's findings and conclusion?

July 22, 2010 - Senate energy bill uncertain; FERC moves forward with smart grid standards; Maine dam removal

The U.S. Senate's summer session is almost over, and we don't have an energy bill yet. With just 13 business days left before a month-long recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is reported to be considering an energy bill that doesn't address emissions from electric utilities. (Utility issues may be split off into a separate bill to be introduced this week -- though time is short and consensus is lacking.) Critics of this proposal worry that the utility issues are the most important, and thus should not be glossed over. Still, passing something could help improve energy markets, and could certainly show Congressional confidence in, for example, renewable energy (or, for that matter, in coal).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently received a staff update on the process of selecting smart grid standards (PDF). Laws including the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 have given FERC the duty of developing and adopting interoperability standards and protocols necessary to ensure smart-grid functionality and interoperability with the nation's electric grids.

In plain language, FERC wants to ensure that your utility's infrastructure can have two-way communication both upstream (with the regional grid) and downstream (with your home/business/appliances). Ultimately smart grid adoption may overturn even this "upstream/downstream" paradigm, as end-use consumers take on more characteristics of distributed generation or demand response.

To that end, FERC's staff has been working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop proposed standards. FERC anticipates a proceeding to review the standards later this summer.

Do you want to play in the smart grid market? Have a technology that you want to make sure is interoperable with what the other players are developing? Now is your chance to weigh in. Keep an eye on FERC Docket No. AD10-15-000...




The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has approved the final round of state permits required for a major Penobscot River dam removal project. A coalition led by the Penobscot River Restoration Trust will now implement the $50 million project. Three dams will be removed -- Howland, Veazie, and Great Works -- restoring access for sea-run fish to almost 1,000 river miles. All FERC and state approvals have been secured; the next step is finalizing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits, which are expected to be issued later this summer. Interestingly, fish passage at Howland was not universally supported, due to concerns that invasive northern pike could swim upstream and destroy Maine's blue-ribbon brook trout and salmon fisheries upstream.