Virginia Supreme Court pushed to review Dominion transmission plan

The state's high court will decide if regulators properly balanced historic site protections with the need for new power in approving Dominion's proposal.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 7, 2015

Arizona's utility-owned solar programs: The new business models utilities are looking for?

APS will pay a monthly fee to solar hosts solar and TEP will reward them through rates.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 7, 2015

Explore the Trendline➔

Grid Resiliency

Utilities and grid operators are facing increasing threats from climate change as well as cyber and physical attacks, and are deploying a variety of responses to meet the rising challenges.

By Utility Dive staff

Missouri utilities propose new fixed charges to cover infrastructure costs

KCP&L and Empire Electric want new charges to mitigate fixed and variable charge “distortions.”

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 6, 2015

Activists push for new RTO as Southeast utility reserve margins called into question

NC WARN wants federal regulators to investigate Duke, Southern, FPL, TVA, and other Southeastern utilities, saying their new generation capacity is actually unneeded overbuilding aimed at pumping profits and blocking renewables.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 6, 2015

Southwest Power Pool plans new gas plants, transmission to meet EPA rules

The RTO’s upgrades will add up to 21 GW of natural gas generation and 3.3 GW of wind to replace coal

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 5, 2015

Study: Spending on outage managment systems to reach $1.3B in 2023

Utilities will increase spending on smart technologies to streamline outage detection and repair, Navigant Research found.

By Herman K. Trabish • Jan. 2, 2015

FirstEnergy plans $100M in transmission to serve gas drilling projects

FirstEnergy said new gas customer facilities will account for projected load growth of about 400 MW through 2019.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 28, 2014

PJM wants to postpone plant retirements to ensure reliability

The regional grid operator says scheduled plant retirements next year could put reliability at risk in the winter.

By Gavin Bade • Dec. 23, 2014

Study: Utility microgrid annual revenue to reach $6B by 2023

Navigant found that the market for utility microgrids exploded in the past two years.

By Gavin Bade • Dec. 23, 2014

TXU Energy partners with EnergyHub to improve customer interface

Brooklyn-based EnergyHub is developig an innovative, location-based home heating service based around customers' smartphones.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 18, 2014

Moody's: Public power sector will be stable in 2015

Moody's Investors Service said the outlook for the public power sector remains stable for 2015.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 18, 2014

PG&E: Smart grid helped speed storm recovery

About a half million customers were without power following last week's strong West Coast storm.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 16, 2014

Calif. irrigation district will form utility, seize infrastructure from PG&E

Whether in a friendly negotiation or eminent domain court fight, South San Joaquin Irrigation District will need PG&E's utility lines and substations to begin operating as a public utility.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 15, 2014

How utilities can plan for the future of transmission and distributed generation

PA Consulting’s Ron Norman explains how to choose a route to the grid’s future.

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 14, 2014

'Pineapple Express' storm knocks out power to hundreds of thousands

Pacific Gas & Electric has already restored power to over 85% of residents hit with outages. 

By Robert Walton • Dec. 12, 2014

Eggnog and efficiency: How the holiday season affects utilities

Holiday efficiency tips seem like small savings next to credit card bills that come due in January, but utilities say they can add up and keep demand down.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 11, 2014

How power companies can get to Utility 2.0 and beyond

New distributed generation and a new distribution system are at the heart of a whole new way to make and sell electricity.

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 11, 2014

How utilities can prepare for the bigger, badder storms of the future

New research from DNV GL has frightening forecasts for physical grid security, but there are things utilities can do to adapt.

By Gavin Bade • Dec. 9, 2014

Reports: Faulty cable caused Detroit blackout

But why the cable failed is still under investigation.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 3, 2014

HECO begins charging monthly fee for green investment

Thanks to another surcharge reduction, however, most customers will see little change in their bills.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 3, 2014

Ariz. muni SRP proposes higher fixed charges for solar customers

SRP claims it is losing $51 per month to solar customers that non-solar owners have to cover.

By Herman K. Trabish • Dec. 3, 2014

Detroit hit by major power outage

Last year, a similar outage hit the city's downtown public buildings.

By Davide Savenije • Dec. 2, 2014

Survey: Nearly all rural co-ops have smart grid initiatives

Some 42% are making smart grid efforts part of their core operations.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 2, 2014

WAPA, CAISO face penalties related to 2011 blackouts

A 2011 blackout left 5 million people in the region without power for up to 12 hours.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 2, 2014

Regulators approve higher fixed charges for Madison Gas & Electric

Fixed monthly electric customer fees will rise more than 80% to $19.

By Robert Walton • Dec. 2, 2014