Remember, little ratepayer and property owner, you're a PJM "stakeholder," too, and you should be participating in the planning process that at some point in the future may require you to sacrifice a right of way through your private property, or pay for big, new transmission lines of questionable benefit to you.
It's another hot time at the expensive, luxury hotel for our "stakeholders," where market power players and their toadies will be turning out in their best "resort casual" wear to partake in free leisure activities sponsored by the corporations that make big profits from the cartel.
It's another hot time at the expensive, luxury hotel for our "stakeholders," where market power players and their toadies will be turning out in their best "resort casual" wear to partake in free leisure activities sponsored by the corporations that make big profits from the cartel.
You are cordially invited to attend the 2014 PJM Annual Meeting of Members to be held at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay. Please note that the dress code is “Resort Casual”. The program will be similar to last year's event starting on Tuesday, May 13 with registration and an Opening Reception and ending on Thursday, May 15 with the Members Committee meeting and buffet luncheon.
On Wednesday, May 14 we will have the General Session followed by lunch and leisure activities. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, each attendee may select one leisure activity at no cost to themselves. The following leisure activity selections will be available for choosing onsite at the registration desk and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Golf
Spa
St. Michael’s Winery/Tour
Fishing
Biking
Kayaking
They forgot to add extracting obscene profits from consumer pockets, but maybe that's not a leisure activity; instead it's one that requires hard work.
So, what do the PJM aristocracy do at these meetings, when they're not participating in leisure activities, receptions and luncheons?
So, what do the PJM aristocracy do at these meetings, when they're not participating in leisure activities, receptions and luncheons?
They review the past year of incumbent electricity conglomerate rule. They "train" your Consumer Advocates. They eat dinner and hand out golf awards. Then they have entertainment night with desserts.* I think it would be pretty entertaining to give a couple of sponsor CEOs a pie in the face, but that's probably not what PJM has in mind. They also allow the well-funded environmental elite to perform a song and dance for the assembled dignitaries, but no one really pays any attention to it, although that never stops the "public interest group" PIGs from believing that this year's production will be the one that convinces everyone to pay even more for "clean" electricity.
So much glib self-congratulation at your expense, so little time. If your electric supplier is one of PJM's meeting sponsors, run (don't walk!) to sign up for one of the free leisure activities. You're probably paying for it in your electric bill anyhow, might as well enjoy.
And what are the worker bees doing at PJM while the lords and ladies play on Maryland's Eastern Shore? They're holding PJM's annual capacity market auction, where the prices consumers will pay to have generation resources available in 2017-2018 will be determined. Where prices may end up seems to be a matter of opinion. Incumbent generators have been plagued by low prices in previous auctions. PJM's market monitor says the capacity market is broken and has championed several changes that have been recently approved by FERC to raise prices.
PJM has instituted a limit on imported capacity that is supposed to stop the flood of bids from generators in other regions that have been gaming the market by receiving revenue for resources they can't deliver, or resources controlled by other regional operators (yes, big wind, they're talking about y-o-u). Oh, go ahead, read more about it here, but first a little mood music to help you prepare. Sorry about that, but it was actually a pretty concise explanation of PJM's reasoning for the CIL.
The other change is supposed to "result in the more efficient and flexible use of demand response," but will probably just drive some resources from the market altogether. Because demand response lowers overall demand at times of peak use by paying participants to reduce their load, this means that more actual generation capacity will be needed.
But some generators aren't optimistic that the changes will do much to raise prices enough to satisfy their greed and save their bacon. Some generators seem to want more.
And if you think all this capacity auction stuff is about as exciting as watching paint dry, you're not alone. This blogger so thoughtfully compares PJM's capacity markets to steroids in baseball so that we can understand it:
So much glib self-congratulation at your expense, so little time. If your electric supplier is one of PJM's meeting sponsors, run (don't walk!) to sign up for one of the free leisure activities. You're probably paying for it in your electric bill anyhow, might as well enjoy.
And what are the worker bees doing at PJM while the lords and ladies play on Maryland's Eastern Shore? They're holding PJM's annual capacity market auction, where the prices consumers will pay to have generation resources available in 2017-2018 will be determined. Where prices may end up seems to be a matter of opinion. Incumbent generators have been plagued by low prices in previous auctions. PJM's market monitor says the capacity market is broken and has championed several changes that have been recently approved by FERC to raise prices.
PJM has instituted a limit on imported capacity that is supposed to stop the flood of bids from generators in other regions that have been gaming the market by receiving revenue for resources they can't deliver, or resources controlled by other regional operators (yes, big wind, they're talking about y-o-u). Oh, go ahead, read more about it here, but first a little mood music to help you prepare. Sorry about that, but it was actually a pretty concise explanation of PJM's reasoning for the CIL.
The other change is supposed to "result in the more efficient and flexible use of demand response," but will probably just drive some resources from the market altogether. Because demand response lowers overall demand at times of peak use by paying participants to reduce their load, this means that more actual generation capacity will be needed.
But some generators aren't optimistic that the changes will do much to raise prices enough to satisfy their greed and save their bacon. Some generators seem to want more.
And if you think all this capacity auction stuff is about as exciting as watching paint dry, you're not alone. This blogger so thoughtfully compares PJM's capacity markets to steroids in baseball so that we can understand it:
PJM admits that steroids are endemic to the game but then recalculates the final score of the game based on what they believe the outcome would have been if the players were not on steroids.
Maybe PJM should just be doing more of this, and less of this.
*Update! PJM has changed its agenda today. It no longer says "Entertainment night with desserts." Now it says "Dessert Reception and Lawn Games." I guess FirstEnergy showed up with the
*Update! PJM has changed its agenda today. It no longer says "Entertainment night with desserts." Now it says "Dessert Reception and Lawn Games." I guess FirstEnergy showed up with the
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