• White Papers

    Shifting Regulatory Oversight of Utility Mergers

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    Many in the energy industry are anticipating a wave of mergers that will fundamentally alter and concentrate the energy industry, both from utility consolidation and mergers between utilities … Read Article

    The Energy Policy Act of 2005

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law, following four long years of congressional debates, negotiations and revisions. The … Read Article

    Fusion of Work Management and Supply Chain Management

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    Asset life cycle management is an asset management strategy designed to manage the cradle-to-grave life cycle of key assets, considering all classes, stakeholders and life cycle stages, in … Read Article

    The World’s Hottest Retail Energy Markets

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    The number of retail energy markets open to competition grows year-on-year and research carried out by Peace Software and VaasaEmg has provided for the first time an “apples … Read Article

    Preparing for Automated Metering

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    Over the past year, technology advances and high energy prices have stimulated interest in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Discussions are wide-ranging. Some focus globally: Australian and Canadian “smart … Read Article

    Weather Forecasting for Utility Companies

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    Weather-sensitive business operations are primarily reactive to shortterm (three to 36 hours) local conditions (city, county, state) due to the unavailability of appropriate predictive data at this temporal … Read Article

    Defining Customer Valuation

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Most utilities view their interactions with customers – mainly monthly billing and payment – as highly routine, with neither party giving a second thought to the value at … Read Article

    The Hydrogen Economy

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    The expression “hydrogen economy” is appearing more and more frequently in the headlines and on the bookstands. As recently as February 2005 the governor of Florida unveiled his … Read Article

    Goodbye AMR, Hello AMM

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Not long ago, the decision to pursue an automated meter reading (AMR) project was straightforward to describe and quantify. The business case was essentially one of justifying the … Read Article

    On Better Business Intelligence

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Utilities are working hard to address new financial control and reporting requirements, making progress on significant cost reduction and revenue enhancement initiatives and improving the management of financial … Read Article

    Exploiting Broadband Over Power Lines

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Broadband over power lines (BPL) and power line communications (PLC) are sets of equipment, software and management services that when overlaid on the electric grid provide users with … Read Article

    Q&A: Meter Reading – Past and Future

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Q: In 1997, as Puget Sound Power and Light, you merged with Washington Natural Gas and became Puget Sound Energy. Was it then that automated meter reading made … Read Article

    Setting a Course for Growth

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Within the next few years, energy and utility companies will be operating in a more disaggregated, multinational industry. The demands of this new market will drive companies to … Read Article

    The New New Grid

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Under pressure from four distinct sources – aging assets, growing peak demand, the emergence of new power generation technologies and revenue constraints from regulation and theft – distribution … Read Article

    Re-Evaluating a Core/Noncore Electric Market

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    It is difficult to discuss or propose a core/noncore market structure without discussing California’s previous retail market restructuring effort. Many academics and others have written papers pointing out … Read Article

    Toward Intelligent Grids

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    The promise of the intelligent energy grid remains elusive; however, a steady wave of innovation in communication and information technologies, combined with advancement in emerging energy technologies, is … Read Article

    Prioritizing Growth

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    After years of cost cutting and risk management to bring companies “back to the basics” in response to the market anomalies, reliability issues and regulatory uncertainty of the … Read Article

    Transforming Communication Infrastructure

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    For a long time the standard point-to-point analog line to a substation was all that was needed in the grid of the past. It worked well for many … Read Article
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