FirstEnergy, the parent company of West Penn Power and the employer of 695 workers in the several local unions in the area, is engaged in a contract negotiating process right now.

As FirstEnergy moves to negotiate, it’s clear that they are fully invested in reforming the way that the former Allegheny Energy has done business and they are fully invested in bargaining for a contract that favors only one side.  The company is now proposing sweeping changes in every aspect of ‘work life’ for their union employees.

Previously employees in the bargaining unit were afforded the ability to work hard and be rewarded for that work.  These are men and women with families who have spent time in the classroom and they’ve spent countless hours learning and relearning safety procedure after safety procedure.  They’ve moved up from one job to another to secure the job they have now.  They have earned the privilege of seniority, providing the company with an extremely valuable experienced, safe and dedicated work staff. 

FirstEnergy would like to modify the job requirements effective immediately.  Employees who’ve worked hard to put themselves in positions with set schedules would be subject to working at the will of the company.   Jobs which have weekends and nights off now – jobs that these men and women have competed for – will be scheduled by shifts or even worse with no considered pre-planning.  Workers will be forced to work a 16 hour shift and told to not report the following day, with no predictability and not a dime of overtime pay, effectively eliminating their ability to plan quality time with their families and completely discounting the effort, time and planning that it’s taken these employees to put themselves in these positions.

I fully support the company’s right to efficiently and effective manage and schedule their staff.  They do have obligation to make the company profitable and provide a decent return on investment.  I do find it hard to believe that the best solution for all is to put the burden on the people who come to work, learn their job, put themselves in harm’s way and earn their wage in the field.  I believe, however, that it is the easiest way to do it and the way that is the least painful for the upper levels of management.  It’s the way that keeps their salaries intact.  It’s the way that does not force them to review efficient conduct of business logistics, from inefficient orders and computer systems that don’t make sense to a top heavy management structure. 

 I just don’t see how the public can continue to believe that the company tasked with keeping our lights on is continuing to act from any other motivation than management’s greed.

Added messaging informing customer as to payment options when an actual bill is received (after multiple estimates) if the bill is > 25% than the customer's prior year bill informing customers of some payment options at receipt of the bill reducing dissatisfaction with catch-up bills.

*PJM is evaluating a May 23 appeals court ruling vacating FERC Order 745 in its entirety. This ruling could affect how demand response resources are able to participate in PJM’s markets in the future. Since the court has not issued a mandate requiring FERC to take action pending appeal of its ruling, there are no immediate impacts on the current base residual auction results.

Electric utilities… are seen by many investors as a sturdy and defensive subset of the investment grade universe. Over the next few years, however, we believe that a confluence of declining cost trends in distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation and residential-scale power storage is likely to disrupt the status quo. Based on our analysis, the cost of solar + storage for residential consumers of electricity is already competitive with the price of utility grid power in Hawaii. Of the other major markets, California could follow in 2017, New York and Arizona in 2018, and many other states soon after.

We believe that solar + storage could reconfigure the organization and regulation of the electric power business over the coming decade.

We believe that sector spreads should be wider to compensate for the potential risk of regulator missteps and/or a permanent change in the utility business model.

Whether because of biases or analytical complexity, the market (and its constituent prognosticators) has tended to be late in pricing technology-driven shifts, particularly in industries that have had stable operating models (such as telcos and airlines).

The report also outlines in some detail how the company's board of directors during the last year has taken some significant steps to tie executive incentive pay to company performance.

Under the new rules, Alexander's base salary -- $1.34 million since 2011 -- accounted for just 12 percent of what he potentially could have earned in 2013, the report notes. The rest of his compensation is now entirely performance based.

"We believe that the quality, skills, and dedication of our executive officers, including our NEOs (named executive officers), are critical elements in our ongoing ability to deliver positive operating results and enhance shareholder value," the compensation committee of the company's board of directors explained in the report.

TDI New England said it has filed a presidential permit application with the Energy Department for a $1.2 billion project it is calling the Clean Power Link. The company hopes to complete the project in 2019.

If approved by regulators, the power line’s route will run from the Canadian border near Alburgh, 3 to 4 feet under Lake Champlain for nearly the entire length of the lake – about 97 miles – and then turn southeasterly at Benson, crossing Rutland County to Ludlow in western Windsor County.

“It’s an all-buried project, which is important to us from a community perspective,” Jessome said. “It’s important to be respectful of the communities we traverse.”

The Grain Belt Express Clean Line (Grain Belt Express) is an approximately 750-mile, overhead direct current transmission line that will connect wind energy from western Kansas with utilities and customers in Missouri,  Illinois, Indiana and states farther east.

Receiving this authority will allow Clean Line to sell transmission capacity to potential customers of the project, including utilities and other load serving entities or clean energy generators.

The Grain Belt Express is estimated to enable more than $7 billion of investment in new wind farms.  Clean Line recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to wind generators in the western Kansas
region, and results confirmed the need for transmission to access larger markets for renewable energy.  Developers of wind projects totaling over 13,500 MW of potential capacity shared information on high
capacity factors and cost-competitive wind energy prices. The combined capacity of these wind projects under development could fill the Grain Belt Express line over three times.

We find that Landowners’ concerns are based on speculation as to Grain Belt Express’ solicitation efforts, which Grain Belt Express  has not fully implemented. Grain Belt Express has not proposed in its application, and we do not approve, selection or ranking criteria based upon the type of generation that a potential transmission customer might seek to interconnect. That Grain Belt Express has posted an inquiry about potential wind development in Kansas does not prove that Grain Belt Express intends to exclude other resources, and it is premature to judge now the totality of its solicitation efforts. As Landowners have recognized, the Commission has previously disapproved of a proposal that would include a preference for renewable resources as part of a transmission owner’s open season criteria where the transmission owner did not justify such preference. [Rock Island Clean Line] As discussed elsewhere in this order, Grain Belt Express is required to make a filing after the conclusion of its solicitation process that demonstrates compliance with the commitments made in its application, and any concerns that Grain Belt Express has unduly discriminated against non-wind resources can be addressed in that proceeding.

“FERC’s jurisdiction is pretty much limited to making sure that the process of selling transmission rights is open and transparent and non-discriminatory,” said Mark Lawlor, director of development for Clean Line Energy. “To make sure we aren’t building lines to give some competitors an advantage that others don’t have access to.”
Company officials don’t expect the line to go into commercial operation until 2018, but with FERC approval the company can begin talks with potential customers, Lawlor said.
The exact method for selling capacity on the line or how it will be priced hasn’t been determined, he said.
In the meantime, the company continues to work its way through state regulatory processes, he said.

Senator Alexander said, “It’s up to the TVA board to decide what kinds of electricity to generate and purchase. But it is the responsibility of members of Congress to provide oversight to TVA policies, and these questions are part of that oversight.”

1)      Does purchasing electricity from this distance increase security threats to the TVA’s power supply? Former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz has said we should pay attention to generating more energy where we use it because of national security risks.

2)      What is the cost of purchasing wind electricity compared to TVA generating or purchasing other types of electricity generation?

3)      There is substantial opposition in Congress to the wind production tax credit. Will TVA ratepayers be at risk of increased rates if the wind production tax credit is not renewed?

4)      What is the reliability of purchasing wind power as compared to other types of electricity generated by natural gas, nuclear, coal, or hydropower?

5)      TVA’s peak power demands tend to be between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and wind tends to mostly blow at night. How does wind power fit into TVA’s overall demand structure if the electricity isn’t being produced when TVA needs it the most?

6)      At a roundtable in September 2013, hosted by Senators Corker and Alexander, you said that TVA didn’t need additional electricity generation capacity as the result of reduced electricity demand. Has this projection changed?

7)      If the projection for TVA’s electricity demand has changed since September 2013, does it make more sense to purchase this wind power from Clean Line Energy Partners, to build additional nuclear capacity, or to build additional natural gas or coal capacity?

8)      Does Clean Line Energy Partners’ proposal require the use of eminent domain in order to acquire any right-of-way for this project? How many land owners or homeowners will be impacted by the use of eminent domain, what specific lands will be acquired and where are they located?

9)      Can you explain how Clean Line Energy Partners plans to compensate any landowners or homeowners who are affected by eminent domain?

10)  How will the price of compensation be determined? Does Clean Line Energy Partners have a specific formula when compensating for land purchased under the use of eminent domain?

11)  What funding stream will Clean Line Energy Partners use to compensate landowners and homeowners for the land purchased under eminent domain?

"TVA should and will make a decision that is in its best interests, but we believe this would provide a clean, reliable and cost-competitive source of power that would not increase in price over the next 25 to 30 years," said Mike Skelly, founder and president of Clean Line Energy.

Clean Line estimates the wind power could be delivered to TVA for 4 cents to 6 cents per kilowatthour, which would make it generally competitive to other new sources of energy for TVA.

But Alexander questioned whether TVA needs more power with the slowdown in the growth of electricity demand. He also questioned whether wind would become more expensive if federal production credits given for new windmills are not extended.

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

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.