SAIFI Archives - The Handbuilt City

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Can Utilities Be Held Financially Liable For Outages?

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ai generated art, ben dueweke, blizzard, caidi, climate, climate change, climate stressors on infrastructure, CMS, consumers, DTE, extreme weather, investor-owned utilities, maintenance, midjourney, midjourney ai, public utilities, sadie white coat, SAIDI, SAIFI, snowstorm, utilities, utility, utility industry, utility regulation, WACC, walker-miller energy services, weighted average cost of capital

In the aftermath of recent power outages that saw as much as 20% of the population of the state of Michigan without power, this article outlines some ideas on what specific things we should be asking about or thinking about in trying to hold utilities accountable.

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Policy Energy Midwest Utilities

Better Utility Regulation: How We Can Get Out Of This Mess

August 16, 2021September 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 2021 detroit floods, CFPB, challenge coastal chauvinism, climate change, CMS, coal, Consumers Energy, detroit floods, DTE, DTE Energy, EIA, energy information administration, energy waste reduction, EWR, extreme weather, investor-owned utilities, IOU, IOUs, maryland, michigan utility regulation, MPSC, municipalization, on-bill financing, PG&E, rainfall, Regulation, regulatory innovation, rulemaking process, SAIDI, SAIDI-MED, SAIFI, SNAP!, utilities

Too much regulation restricts innovation. But too little regulation does the same, and this is what we see in the crumbling infrastructure of Michigan, where regulators are asleep at the wheel in the name of a “business-friendly regulatory” environment that, as it turns out, is neither terribly regulatory nor terribly business-friendly.