Utility briefs

Electrical Apparatus, Apr 2008

Does daylight-saving time waste energy?

A study recently conducted by a University of California professor suggests that "springing forward" in March or April may waste energy, not save it.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Prof. Matthew Kotchen of the University of California-Santa Barbara, along with graduate student Laura Grant, saw an opportunity to study the effect of daylight-saving time when numerous counties in Indiana began observing the practice.

Until two years ago, only 15 of Indiana's 92 counties had set their clocks ahead an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall. A decision by the state legislature in 2006 to synchronize all counties in the state presented a rare opportunity to study the effect of daylight-saving time.

"Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills," the Journal reported.

"[The researchers] conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings."

Duke Energy CEO proposes research fee

Jim Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy Corp., the North Carolina utility, has proposed adding a fee to all U.S. electricity to pay for research into low-carbon technology. He says such a program "could generate billions of dollars to fund much-needed research into renewable energy, nuclear power, and cleaner-burning coal projects," according to the Associated Press.

An alternative program, proposed by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner, would auction pollution credits among utilities and other polluters. According to Rogers, such a plan could result in rate increases of as much as 60% for customers in states that rely mainly on coal power.

Whichever strategy is pursued, according to Rogers, it ought to be phased in, to avoid a consumer backlash against cleaner energy technology.

North Carolina utility execs lose perks

The bosses at Progress Energy in Raleigh, N.C., aren't exactly roughing it, but the utility is no longer paying their country club dues or letting them use the corporate jets for personal use.

Only last year they lost their car wash privileges. Now they can expect to lose their free tickets to events unrelated to business.

The cutback in perks, first reported by the Raleigh News and Observer, may be part of a trend: companies seeking to improve their image by publicizing such cutbacks.

"In 2006, 16 Fortune 100 companies announced compensation cuts, whereas in 2005 only two companies made similar disclosures," according to Alexander Cwirko-Godycki, research manager at compensation research firm Equilar. "I would expect the number of cuts to increase this year."

'Human error' was cause of Florida blackout

The blackout that struck a large part of southern Florida in February, affecting more than half a million customers, was triggered when a technician diagnosing a switch disabled some relays without authorization, according to Florida Power & Light Co.

The technician, working on a substation in West Miami, "disabled two levels of relay protection, and during the diagnostic process, a fault occurred," according to the South Florida Business Journal. The resulting outage affected 26 transmission lines and 38 substations. ?

Edited by the EA staff