Smart Grid: Utilities: Why it's time to get tougher on energy theft (And on ourselves)

Many utilities are surprisingly tolerant of energy theft. As you'll read in this guest editorial by Alan Snook, there are some understandable reasons for that forbearance. Including the difficulty of easily and accurately detecting theft.

But that is now changing, as he describes. As this information filters out to regulators and ratepayer advocates, I predict that they will begin to demand that utilities do more to detect and prevent theft. Use the Talk Back form at the bottom to agree or disagree. – By Jesse Berst

Read the Full Story:

Smart Grid: Utilities: Why it's time to get tougher on energy theft (And on ourselves)

BBC News - Transformer travels 5,500 miles to Willington village

The National Grid described the transformer as the "size of a bungalow"

The transporter was brought to Derbyshire on a trailer, with a police escort

Read the Full Story:

BBC News - Transformer travels 5,500 miles to Willington village

'Oh, not again': Northeast is hit by another storm

A convoy of utility trucks rolls through Martinez, Ga., a suburb of Augusta. Crews in the South worked to restore power to 800,000 homes and businesses. Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Read more at 

'Oh, not again': Northeast is hit by another storm

Worcester gets a jump on smart energy technology - Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com

                     

Transmitting antennae, which connect to smart devices, are seen on top of utility poles at the National Grid Training Center in Millbury. (T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG)

Read the full story:

Worcester gets a jump on smart energy technology - Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com

WICS NewsChannel 20 :: News - Top Stories - Crews Battle Elements, Work to Restore Power

At the peak, Shelby Electric Co-op had about 600 customers without power, since then they've been busy trying to get electricity  back on as outages keep popping up.

Most of the time that means going out in the exact same conditions that caused the lines to break in the first place.

"When it gets this cold you get all kinds of challenges," said Brian Chevalier, "lines that break just because it's cold, of course the snow, the drifts, can't get these trucks through them, we don't have 4 wheel drive trucks, we have tire chains."

When they aboslutely can't get the truck to a downed line, they have backup transportation, a Polaris Razr off-road vehicle one of the linemen brought in.

But not having the bucket truck means climbing the pole the old fashioned way, with spikes mounted to their boots.

Read the full Story:

WICS NewsChannel 20 :: News - Top Stories - Crews Battle Elements, Work to Restore Power

Nation's Largest Wind Utility: Wind Energy Tax Credit Hurts Consumers

The biggest wind energy purchaser in the country may sever ties with the industry’s largest trade group in the wake of a bitter fight to sustain subsidies for wind energy producers that, the company says, benefit producers at the expense of utilities and electricity consumers.

Read the Fully Story:

Nation's Largest Wind Utility: Wind Energy Tax Credit Hurts Consumers

electrical usage dropping as manufacturing levels fall - Albuquerque Business First

The Energy Information Administration is projecting that electricity use in the U.S. will rise an average of just 0.6 percent a year for industrial users and 0.7 percent for households through 2040.

Read the Full Story:

electrical usage dropping as manufacturing levels fall - Albuquerque Business First

Lights out for aging electrical infrastructure | Daily Record | dailyrecord.com

A crew from Asplundh work amid dead but downed power lines to remove a tree in Chatham after Sandy 

 Daily Record 2012

Read the Full Story:

Lights out for aging electrical infrastructure | Daily Record | dailyrecord.com

Lights out for N.J. power system | MyCentralJersey.com | mycentraljersey.com

A utility crew works in Freehold on Nov. 8, nine days after superstorm Sandy, when 13 inches of snow was reported in the borough. / Mark R. Sullivan/Staff Photographer

Read the Full Story:

Lights out for N.J. power system | MyCentralJersey.com 

Highland Park’s Big Pecan Tree grows weary with age, stands tall in town lore | Dallas-Fort Worth Communities - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

 Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

Parks department employee Javier Salas strings up Christmas lights on the 147-year-old Big Pecan Tree, an annual tradition in Highland Park.

Read the Full Story:

Highland Park’s Big Pecan Tree grows weary with age, stands tall in town lore | Dallas-Fort Worth Communities - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News