Well duh! MIT says utilities should share results from demo projects

By Jesse Berst

You'd expect the big brains at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come up with big, brilliant ideas as part of their new report, "The Future of the Electric Grid." Yet many of their conclusions were Homer Simpson, slap-your-head obvious. The silliest of all was their call for utilities to release detailed data about the bulk power system and about demonstration projects.

Doesn't MIT know that Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and other agencies are compiling detailed synchrophasor and other data about the bulk power grid? And that the stimulus bill requires utilities receiving funding to share the results from their demos in great detail? And that the federal government has several grid information-sharing web sites up and running already?

Compiling information is the easy part. In this ultra-noisy world, making that information noticeable and easy to find has been the bigger challenge... one that was apparently ignored by the MIT brainiacs.

It's time for time-varying power pricing, says MIT

As part of its report, MIT has added its voice to the many others that say it is time for utilities to begin the transition to dynamic pricing - to pricing that varies to reflect the different costs of power at different times of day. This move to dynamic pricing should be led by those utilities who already have advanced metering technology in place. The report claims the move would improve efficiency and lower rates.

The report also calls for regulators to allow utilities to recover a portion of their costs through charges that do not vary with the volume of electricity sold. A number of states have already instituted "decoupling" or other strategies that give utilities incentives to become more efficient. They seek to break the link between how much electricity is used and how much money the utility makes, so utilities are not penalized for efficiency.

The efficiency and efficacy of dynamic pricing has been proven in numerous studies, as we highlighted recently in a story about the two most damaging myths about dynamic pricing. What's needed is a way to overcome regulatory and consumer resistance. Many advocacy groups still believe - despite the proof to the contrary - that time-based pricing hurts low-income consumers. We wish the MIT study had tackled this intractable obstacle instead of repeating common wisdom.

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