Power companies can be publicly or privately owned and may report to corporate boards, local governments or co-op members. But there’s no one best way to deliver electricity reliably and affordably.
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Articles on Electric utilities
Displaying 1 - 20 of 51 articles
Some power plants don’t have massive smokestacks or cooling towers – or even a central site.
Losing power also has real consequences for people’s businesses, livelihoods and potentially their health and safety.
A new report lays out steps communities can take to help their residents survive heat waves as the risk of dangerous temperatures rises.
The US government regulates many industries, but social media companies don’t neatly fit existing regulatory templates. Systems that deliver energy may be the closest analog.
Most households pay a flat rate 24/7 for electricity although the cost of generating it fluctuates through the day. Wireless technologies are changing that system.
They look like conventional school buses, but electric versions are cleaner, quieter and cheaper to maintain. States, utilities and federal agencies are helping school districts make the switch.
Sometimes wind and solar power produce more electricity than the local grid can handle. Better energy storage and transmission could move extra energy to where it’s needed instead of shutting it off.
Many people want to know about practical suggestions to help slow climate change. Effective action starts at home.
Bidirectional charging is the next big stage for electric vehicles. But storing power in your car and sending it back to your house involves more than flipping a switch.
How and where people spend their money and use energy can influence corporate behavior.
President Biden’s proposed solar power expansion would cost $350 billion in federal support over the coming decade. An energy expert explains where that money would come from and who it would help.
Natural gas was once widely seen as a bridge fuel to renewable energy. But the industry’s methane leaks make it a larger global warming threat than people realized.
Hurricane Ida left the entire city of New Orleans in the dark and renewed discussion of burying power lines. But there’s no way to completely protect the grid, above ground or below.
The practice of using electricity revenue surpluses to fund other municipal services is running out of road.
New research finds that tap water avoidance is on the rise in the US, especially among minorities. An expert on water and health calls for better public education about water quality and testing.
There will be more weather-driven disasters like February’s deep freeze in Texas, and energy planners aren’t prepared.
Some Texans are receiving eye-popping electric bills after power providers passed on volatile costs to some of their customers – legally.
The Texas electric power market is designed to give energy companies incentive to sell electricity at the lowest possible cost. That focus helps explain why it collapsed during a historic cold wave.
Heat waves, droughts and deep freezes can all strain the electric grid, leading utilities to impose rolling blackouts. Climate change is likely to make these events more common.
Top contributors
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Director of Energy Studies, University of Florida
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Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics and International Affairs, Penn State
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Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University
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Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology
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PhD Student, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London School of Economics and Political Science
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Professorial Fellow, Department of Economics, Monash University
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Lynton K. Caldwell Professor, Indiana University
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Josey Centennial Professor of Energy Resources, The University of Texas at Austin
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Professor of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
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Associate Professor of Physics, Penn State
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Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida
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Professor of Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professor of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Affiliate, Electricity Markets & Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western University
