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Title: Three ways to decouple electric-utility revenues from sales

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/237390· OSTI ID:237390
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
  2. Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Regulatory Assistance Project, Gardiner, ME (United States)

Utility energy-efficiency programs hurt shareholders because these programs reduce electricity use, and this reduction lowers revenues by more than costs are cut. Utilities and their regulators have adopted various methods to deal with these net lost revenues. The two most widely used methods include explicit calculations of the revenues lost because of the energy and demand reductions caused by the utility`s programs, and decoupling of electric revenues from sales. Decoupling first breaks the link between utility revenues and sales. It then recouples revenues to something else. This paper explains and compares three forms of decoupling. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each approach, emphasizing the tradeoff between simplicity and price stability.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
237390
Report Number(s):
CONF-9405119-1; ON: TI96009997
Resource Relation:
Conference: 5. NARUC-DOE national conference on integrated resource planning, Kalispel, MT (United States), 15-18 May 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English