Generating energy alternatives: demand-side management, renewable energy at America's electric utilities. Executive summary

Book · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:5930847

Cogan, D; Williams, S

In the face of warnings about looming power shortages in the 1990s, electric utilities are exploring a myriad of new business strategies to avoid building more central-station power plants. The success of these strategies will depend largely on utilities' ability to control customer energy usage patterns and on development of new power sources by industrial cogenerators and other independent energy producers. In their new role, utilities have come to regard capacity additions as the option of last resort and are beginning to view themselves less as electricity suppliers than as marketers of energy services. Escalating construction costs, regulators' disallowance of imprudent plant expenditures, uncertainty about future demand, emerging sources of competition and state legislatures adoption of least-cost planning initiatives are forcing utilities to reassess their position in the power industry. Also, electricity consumers are beginning to realize that they have a vital stake in the electricity business - a stake that goes beyond paying the bills for power plants and infrastructure that utilities build. These are some of the results of a 15-month survey research report involving 123 utilities across the nation. The entire 358 page report is available from IRRC; announced here is the Executive Summary.

• OSTI ID: 5930847
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
290800 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Heat Utilization-- (1980-)
296001* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power Generation-- (-1989)
CAPACITY
COGENERATION
DEUS
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NORTH AMERICA
PLANNING
POWER
POWER DEMAND
POWER GENERATION
PUBLIC UTILITIES
STEAM GENERATION
USA