CUB Conference Preview: Is There A Happy Medium?

Several years ago my parents, newly minted empty nesters, were looking to replace their ancient family mini-van. Fuel prices were high and steadily rising. I assumed a small fuel efficient car was in their future. Instead, they replaced one mini-van with another. “Mini-vans are a known quantity for us,” my mom explained. “But you don’t need that much space anymore,” I protested. “Well, it might be helpful someday if we ever need to move out of the house.”

As the electric utility industry enters a state of rapid flux, utilities are increasingly being challenged to consider resource acquisitions outside of their known quantity. Historically, when an electric utility faced the need to replace or obtain new energy resources, it was assumed that building a large coal or natural gas plant was the obvious first choice. Today, set against the multitude of transformations in the utility sector, that assumption has become far from obvious. Is it still prudent for a utility to make a 30 to 40 year investment in a substantial energy resource when advancements in energy storage, demand response, distributed generation, and energy efficiency are re-writing the utility business model? Isn’t it less risky to obtain energy through short-term market purchases until factors like potential carbon regulation are better understood?

At this year’s CUB conference, Utility Regulation 2.0: Empowering What’s Possible, we’ll explore these questions and many others during the panel, “Is there a Happy Medium? Long Term Rate-Base vs. Short Term Markets”. Panelists will be asked to discuss the dramatic changes taking place in the utility industry and how those changes impact utilities’ resource procurement decisions. We’ll address the comparative risks and benefits associated with building a long term rate-based resource and obtaining short term resources from the market. Panelists will also discuss the path forward for procuring least-cost, least-risk resources that fully account for the many changes and uncertainties in the utility industry.

Speakers on this panel include Franco Albi - Manager, Integrated Resource Planning, Portland General Electric; Juan Pablo Carvallo Bodelon - Senior Scientific Engineering Associate, Electricity Markets and Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Ben Fitch-Fleischmann - Senior Economist, Oregon Public Utility Commission; and Wendy Gerlitz - Policy Director, NW Energy Coalition.

Registration is now open and more program information is being added by the day; we hope you will join us! Sponsorship opportunities are also still available for a range of budgets – contact Pamela White, Development and Communications Director, for more information at (503)227-1984 x10, or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You can follow conference updates on Twitter at #CUBCon17. Stay tuned to the CUB blog for previews of our other breakout panel topics in the coming weeks!

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