Management Matters: Monthly Digest of Insights Shared by Your Peers in the Energy Central Utility Management Group – May 12, 2022

Welcome to the Utility Management Group roundup, Management Matters. As always, your fellow group members are paying close attention to utility management trends and sharing their insights. This month’s selection includes information about best practices for reaching net-zero, how utility billing could be improved, and more. Be sure to like and comment on your favorite posts. Happy reading!

Greenflation Is Leading To Volatility In the Markets 

Patrick McGarry

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/c/um/greenflation-leading-volatility-markets

In this piece, Patrick McGarry, Senior Director at PCI defines greenflation as the rise in prices and minerals used to create renewable technologies, and warns that this phenomenon has already started and will continue to intensify. He summarizes the findings of a white paper that examines this matter, including reasons to expect higher inflation as a result of the transition to net-zero emissions and why the energy transition will be messy, causing uncertainty for utilities’ long-term planning.

Powering Ahead: The Race to Net-zero and What Lies Ahead for Utilities

Anandarup Bonnerjee

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/o/tata-consultancy-services-tcs/powering-ahead-race-net-zero-and-what-lies-ahead-utilities

Utility Week has partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to gain an understanding of how utility leaders are approaching the net-zero vision in an increasingly complex business environment. In this post, new Energy Central member Anandarup Bonnerjee, Regional Manager for the Relationship Incubation Group at TCS shares some learnings from the report. For example, a majority of respondents said one of the biggest lessons to be learned from the net-zero response is the need to reduce barriers to collaboration, both internally and with external stakeholders such as governmental agencies.

Dark Clouds on the Horizon for Electric Vehicle Batteries

Llewellyn King

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/c/um/dark-clouds-horizon-electric-vehicle-batteries

Materials used to build lithium-ion batteries come from many locations and are controlled by various entities. As the demand in the U.S. for this technology continues to grow, supply issues could become a problem. In this article, Llewellyn King, Executive Producer at White House Media, LLC compares these supply and demand dynamics to those of the fossil-fuel reliant automotive industry of the past.

Charge Residential Electric Customers $75 per Month, Then Add Usage Charges?

Russ Hissom

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/c/um/charge-residential-electric-customers-75-month-then-add-usage-charges

Power utility bills consist of both fixed and variable charges. Here, Russ Hissom, Owner of Utility Accounting Education Specialists notes that utilities routinely charge less than the actual fixed costs within the fixed charges, with those costs ending up in the variable charges. He points out that this process puts utilities at risk of not recovering those costs in the event of shifting energy use patterns and recommends that utilities work to close this gap by charging a higher fixed rate.  

Thanks again for reading this edition of Management Matters! The authors listed above are eager to hear your thoughts and questions, so don’t hesitate to engage them. And if you want your content to be featured in this spot in future issues, be sure to publish your posts within the Utility Management Community.

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