Not so long ago electric utilities had a “duty to serve†any customer within their designated service territory. In our electronic age it’s the customer who will have the duty to serve.
Not so long ago electric utilities had a “duty to serve” any customer within their designated service territory. In exchange for government-sanctioned monopoly power, utilities would string a wire to just about anywhere, slap on a meter that was unreadable except by trained employees, and pump electricity from mostly fossil fueled plants to whoever switched on a light. For a half-century this industrial-age compact provided reliable energy supplies at reasonable prices.
The arrangement had its costs. Coal, diesel, and, to a lesser extent, natural gas-powered plants ”“ almost always located in minority and low income neighborhoods -- spewed polluting air and greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Billing errors from improper meter readings regularly occurred, and utility customers had little incentive or knowledge to effectively engage in energy conservation. As fuel prices increased, and utilities were made to pay for the environmental costs they induced, the monopoly pact became less of a bargain. Today energy prices are high, reliability suspect, and even with dramatically reduced environmental impacts, central power stations continue to be prime contributors to pollution.
In response regulators have perhaps unwittingly turned the monopolies’ historic obligation on its head. In our electronic age it’s the customer who will have the duty to serve. Solar panels, and someday, small wind turbines, on every rooftop; communicating meters that a child can read; and voluntary and involuntary energy curtailment programs all add up to a different kind of electricity system. In this updated version of “small is beautiful” customers will be actively involved in generating their own power, contributing energy to the grid, and helping to manage the peaks and valleys of aggregate demand. Some futurists even see electric cars as part of the network, “breathing” into and out of the grid depending on the time of day and cost of power.
In this new system the utility ”“ which could be owned by the public, investors, or the customers themselves ”“ will be transformed from a “power on, power off” behemoth to a conductor of a diverse orchestra of energy management instruments. Demand will be lowered to the extent possible through conservation. Base power will be provided by a dispersed array of solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and, last in line, traditional coal and natural gas-powered plants. Demand spikes will be addressed by customers voluntarily turning-off their electric devices, and, if that doesn’t work, centrally-directed curtailments of specific devices, such as pool pumps and air conditioners.
Our future may depend on the effective creation of this new electric age. Fossil fuels are becoming increasingly rare and global climate change is a reality. Policy makers in California and a few other states have already embraced the need to steadily shift to renewable resources. Perhaps equally important is the public’s acceptance of an energy regime in which we all actively participate. Indications are that the road ahead will be rocky, with extreme climate conditions, economic challenges caused by an emerging China and India, and the potential for at least partial collapse of some eco-systems. By firmly establishing our collective duty to serve now, we’ll be prepared to pitch-in when the call for “all hands on deck” comes.
