Because we had nothing better to do on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in September, my friends and I were enjoying some delicious ice cream at Skipper's Downtown Dips and Deli.  Imagine our surprise when our friend Earl Ray walked out of the back room, entourage in tow, just like a celebrity!  I know, wow, what are the odds, huh?  Running into Earl Ray while enjoying a cone of chocolate insanity would kind of be like running into Commissioner Jon McKinney in front of AEP headquarters, or mowing Mike Morris's lawn, or something!  I guess it was our lucky day!

When Earl Ray approached our table, we figured it wasn't to see if we needed drink refills, so we took the opportunity to catch up on old times.  We gave Earl Ray an official "I Stopped PATH!" button, just like the ones we were wearing.  I'm certain he will wear it proudly during campaign season.

Somehow the discussion got onto the topic of appointing a new PSC Commissioner to replace expired Commissioner McKinney.  Earl Ray told us he was still evaluating the candidates, but probably wouldn't be able to make an appointment in the next 2 weeks.  He's been so busy campaigning that he hasn't had time to evaluate all the candidates and make a decision.

I know Earl Ray is always working in the citizens' interest, so I have hope that perhaps he'll manage to eke out a quiet moment or two to make a decision on this important matter, that he's been considering since June 30, within the next two weeks (and besides, when have I ever accepted "No" as anyone's final answer?)

So, if you happen to see our friend Earl Ray at your local ice cream parlor, be sure to ask him if he's made a decision yet.  Oh, and ask to see his button! 

The Coalition for Reliable Power and Energy Efficient West Virginia hosted a public forum, Real Solutions to Rising Electric Rates, in Martinsburg last night. 

The forum was well attended and the audience got all fired up when they heard that FirstEnergy/Potomac Edison, as required by stipulations in their merger settlement, is proposing an ineffective Energy Efficiency Program in West Virginia that is much weaker than programs FirstEnergy is required to comply with in neighboring states.  The program will be paid for by residential consumers, including its marketing and administrative costs and reimbursement for resulting lower sales revenue to the company.  Benefits offered to consumers via the program are extremely limited.  Their program offers assistance to commercial/industrial customers with upgrading lighting (although this class of customers will not contribute to the cost of the program in their rates).  It also offers free CFL bulbs and faucet aerators for low-income residential customers.  That's it -- there's nothing in it for the rest of the residential customers who will finance this program through new rate increases.  In fact, the audience was so outraged and motivated, several checked back in with me on the way out to make sure we had their e-mail address for future calls to action.  Even if you missed the meeting, we're still asking you to take action detailed below.

Now that I've given you the punch line first, here's the background that we covered last night.  We explained how a regulated utility systems works and the mission and procedures of the PSC in a rate case.  Next we explained how the FirstEnergy subsidiaries operate in the state -- how electricity gets to your house and where it comes from.  Cathy Kunkel of EEWV gave a very informative talk explaining the ratemaking process, the different types of rate cases, why rates have increased over 30% in the past couple of years (the cost of coal!), and informed us that Potomac Edison & Mon Power will be filing for another rate increase next month.  Mike Harman of EEWV talked with the audience about energy efficiency measures and how they can dramatically reduce electric bills.  If FirstEnergy had a more effective program that helped more consumers with energy efficiency measures, even those who did not participate would benefit through lower bills.  As long as our consumption of electricity continues to rise, we are subject to higher costs to purchase peak power and the cost to build additional generation plants and transmission lines.  If we can reduce our use overall, we can avoid higher prices because the cheapest power plant and transmission lines are the ones that FirstEnergy doesn't have to build.  Mike also introduced the concept of demand response, where consumers of large amounts of power agree to lower their usage at times of peak demand in exchange for payments from the power company.  He shared many success stories of West Virginia businesses and school systems who have scored big financial benefits from energy efficiency and demand response programs.  He compared FirstEnergy's program goals in West Virginia with those FirstEnergy is required to comply with in neighboring states, which shocked the audience about what FirstEnergy is trying to get away in this state.

Cathy wrapped things up with a call to action for all Potomac Edison and Mon Power customers:

• Read more about this issue here.
• Send a letter to the Public Service Commission asking them to order FirstEnergy to bring their proposed program in line with standards and benefits offered in other states.

Get involved with EEWV and the Coalition for Reliable Power -- visit their websites and sign up!

Additional meetings are being planned around the state this fall.  The next meeting will be in Lewisburg, at City Hall, on August 31 at 7:00 p.m.  Check out the complete meeting schedule here.  If you'd like to attend another meeting offered in the Eastern Panhandle, let EEWV and the Coalition know!

Here's a link to The Journal's article about the forum.  The meeting was also covered by WEPM radio.

This article from Ohio caught my eye this morning and reminded me that, not only is the Ohio Consumers Council dissatisfied with FirstEnergy's Energy Efficiency program in that state, but FirstEnergy is proposing an even more useless farce in West Virginia.

What the FirstEnergy talking head doesn't tell the consumer is that they're paying for this program.  Sure, you can buy a CFL light bulb for 50 cents, or get a small rebate on a new appliance, but all FirstEnergy's costs for the program are recovered from ratepayers, including their marketing costs for the program.

As part of their merger settlement in West Virginia, FirstEnergy was required to offer energy efficiency and demand response programs in the state.  Because consumers like you saving electricity cuts into their profit margin, FirstEnergy has proposed an ineffectual, weak energy efficiency program that's going to cost more than its potential savings.  And because out-of-state energy companies view the WV PSC as their champion against the citizens of this state, FirstEnergy expects their proposal to sail through PSC approvals.  Read about the program at Energy Efficient West Virginia's website. 

You will be paying for this program in your "Potomac Edison" bill, but unless you're a commercial/industrial customer who wants to change out the lighting in your business, or a low-income customer who needs a few free lightbulbs or a faucet aerator, you will get absolutely nothing in return for the monthly fee you will be charged for this program.  Why isn't this meager program offered to everyone?  Is FirstEnergy afraid that your electric bill might go down, along with their revenue?

FirstEnergy customers need to take action with the WV PSC to make FirstEnergy's Energy Efficiency program better.  PATH opponents know all about getting involved at the PSC, and we need to share our knowledge with all our neighbors.  We're not going to be asking anyone to intervene this time, merely to participate in public comment.  You PATH opponents know how easy that is (compared to all we've been through over the past 3 years!)

Energy Efficient West Virginia and the Coalition for Reliable Power will be co-hosting a series of public meetings designed to solicit input from FirstEnergy customers around the state beginning this month.  The first meeting will be held at the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library on Tuesday, August 23, beginning at 6:45 p.m.  Come join us and save some money on your "Potomac Edison" bill!  More information can be obtained from The Coalition for Reliable Power or Energy Efficient West Virginia.

Read more about the upcoming meetings, including our meeting agenda, format and attendees, by checking the blog at Coalition for Reliable Power regularly.  If you are tired of constantly rising electric bills, come and find out how and why rates go up and the simple steps you can take to make your electric provider work for you to save money for your business and reduce your residential costs for power.

I've been trying to plow through FERC's Order No. 1000 that was released last Thursday, but with all the other things I've got going on right now, it's not going to happen anytime soon.  Therefore, here's what I've gleaned from it in the little time I had available.  All the news reports so far have been disappointing.  None of these reporters have actually read Order No. 1000, but are depending on the CliffsNotes version provided by FERC's press release and the statements of the Commissioners.  I'd be an idiot if I was satisfied that these stories provided all the details I needed to decide if Order No. 1000 was a good thing or a bad thing (or somewhere in between).

Bill has a pretty good general overview over on TPL.  This is his initial reaction to the order, and it echos mine as well.  While it appears that this order is going to work against the PATH project, it's encouraging AEP's "national grid" fantasy.  FERC believes we need a whole bunch of new transmission lines hundreds of miles long to pump western renewables to coastal population centers and to increase long distance energy trading (Enron?  Hello?).  As you all know, spending billions to transport power hundreds of miles, when local renewables that don't require new transmission lines are available, is inefficient and uneconomic.  Off-shore wind is located within 10 miles of population centers, and I read something recently that said existing transmission networks can handle the additional power generated by off-shore projects.  Instead of the east coast's power traveling from the west, it should come from the east.  Of course, that would spell disaster for our coal-burning buddies, wouldn't it?  Heh, heh, heh!!

FERC states that their new transmission planning and cost allocation order will "...benefit consumers by enhancing the grid’s ability to support wholesale power markets and ensuring transmission services are provided at just and reasonable rates."  However, think about it while applying a little logic.  FERC is promoting billions of dollars worth of new transmission infrastructure (plus incentive payoffs to the energy companies) that needs to be paid for.  It's going to be paid for by YOU.  The first place I went in Order No. 1000 was the Commission Determination on their new cost allocation process.  Here are the six new principles of cost allocation:

1. Costs are to be allocated to those who benefit roughly commensurate with identifiable benefits received.  Some of these benefits are:  reliability & sharing reserves, production cost savings, congestion relief and meeting public policy goals.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  However here are a couple of things that bug me.  First, FERC prattles on about the "benefits of an interconnected transmission grid."  Scared yet?  Here's another:  In determining "benefits," power companies/RTOs can use "likely future scenarios."  To quote the Order, "Scenario analysis is a common feature of electric power system planning, and we believe that public utility transmission providers are in the best position to apply it in a way that achieves appropriate results in their respective transmission planning regions."  Now you're crouched in the corner doing some primal screaming, aren't you?  That's right, they can make up some fictional "scenario" whereby you might "benefit" from their project and assign you costs NOW.  That sounds fair, doesn't it?
2. No involuntary allocation of costs to non-beneficiaries.  A beneficiary is one who causes costs, or benefits from the facility (transmission line).  No, this doesn't mean you can refuse to pay your electric bill, this is all going on between the power companies, the RTOs and FERC.  Nobody cares what you think, little ratepayer stakeholder.
3. The benefit to cost ratio for selecting projects by an RTO cannot be higher than 1.25.  This means that your "benefits" must be at least .25 higher than the cost of the project that is selected.  However, this is no guarantee because this principle is merely intended to ensure that RTOs don't set too high a threshold for competing projects.  I just can't wait to see what kind of "PATH MATH" (lying with numbers) turns up in these benefit/cost ratios.
4. Costs cannot be allocated to another region without voluntary agreement. (Again, not YOUR agreement, silly!)
   
5. The method for determining benefits/beneficiaries must be transparent and provide adequate documentation that will allow stakeholders to determine how it was applied.  (Again, you're not a "stakeholder"!)
6. Different cost allocation methods may be created for different types of facilities (projects):  Reliability, Congestion or Public Policy.

A "public policy" project is driven by individual state (or federal if that ever happens) Renewable Portfolio Standards.  So, say Maryland needs additional renewables to meet their RPS.  PJM will want to build a gigantic new transmission line from the midwest to bring wind power to Maryland, because we know transmission is the PJM-preferred solution to EVERY problem.  It wouldn't matter if Maryland is planning to construct their own in-state renewables or hook up to the Atlantic wind backbone, PJM would propose a transmission line.  Said transmission line would traverse several other states on its course and "benefit" people along the way.  That way, laws being enacted in the state of Maryland by Maryland legislators will also affect citizens of other states who had no say in their creation.  Landowners in these other states will also have their property taken by eminent domain to satisfy Maryland's laws.  Kind of sticks in your craw, doesn't it?  I expect to see this one in court in the near future.

Anyhow, that's only the tip of the iceberg.  I'm sure there's lots more goodies in Order No. 1000 I haven't gotten to yet.  I hear there's some "backstop" provision in the planning section that will cause an evaluation of alternatives in the event of a stalled project.  Sounds good... probably will end up being bad, but that's fodder for another day when I find the time to finish reading Order No. 1000.  My advice... get yourself off the grid ASAP!  That's where I'm heading and I hope you join me in my monthly giggle-fest when I don't get a whopping electric bill that pays for Mikey's "national grid."  If we make our off-the-grid club big enough, there won't be anyone left to pay for the national grid and all the power companies left holding the bag will go belly-up.  You don't have to finance this ludicrous expenditure.  Your own power generating system is within your grasp.

In other news:  Today the WV PSC Consumer Advocate Division filed a scathing rebuttal to the power companies' answers to the Staff's Petition to require a report of the condition of their transmission systems in our state.  Bill has the scoop here.  I'm trying to decide what my favorite part is.  Initially, I got a kick out of how he lambasted PJM for their bias, but maybe that's only because I was right at the point in the draft of StopPATH's Transmission Incentives NOI comments where I call PJM a cartel...  That Transco thing was pretty good too...  What's your favorite?

And speaking of Transmission Incentives comments to FERC, are you working on yours?  They are due a month from today, so get busy!!  If you need help, go here.  As you can see, FERC needs a little consumer education from the consumers and it appears that this NOI is actually a spin-off from Order No. 1000.  Get writing, folks!

And finally, go check out Bill's analysis of what's going on with PJM's strawman planning process.  Thanks, Bill!  One less thing for me to do!  As he points out in his post, The Sierra Club, Piedmont Environmental Council and EarthJustice are acting on our concerns at PJM.  So, if you're a PATH opponent who is wondering what to do with your money now that the project is stalled and we're no longer funneling all our spare cash to a lawyer and experts, why not show these organizations a little love of the green variety?  Bill's got his comments turned on now -- you can post a comment (unless, like me, you suddenly find yourself speechless).

And last, but not least, come check out what's going on at the Coalition for Reliable Power.  We're planning a series of public meetings next month intended to empower "Potomac Edison" customers to improve that farce of an energy efficiency program they proposed in WV.  Hope to see you all there!

And now I'm going to go crawl back in my hole and get back to work on all these rotten projects sitting on my desk.  Thanks, PATH, you're a real PAL!

Looks like you're going to have to eat your Lucky Charms at home or in your own office this year because there will be no free breakfast buffet at Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw & Pittman for you! :-(

According to this notice posted at PJM, the Annual Update Open Meeting is going to be held only via conference call this year, instead of also live and in person at the DC offices of PATH's FERC attorney.  How many other precedent changes can PATH dream up to demonstrate how scared they are of us?

Despite PATH's attempt to take all the fun out of it, we can still gather in our little groups for the call, and this time we can politely mute the phone before we pass notes and snicker and giggle :-)

So, mark your calendar for July 20 and be sure to send in your "reservation" before July 14.  Of course, you *could* pretend that you don't have an email address, just so you can waste a bunch of Randy's time making phone calls the day before the meeting.

We could also go to DC anyhow and call in on our cell phones from outside the building while peering in the windows of the conference rooms until we find the one Randy's sitting in all by himself, hogging all the donuts.

I'm going to stop thinking about all the possibilities for mischief provided by this notice now, before I think up something truly weird.  When is Randy going to realize that he's never going to outsmart us? 

They're always after me Lucky Charms.......

In the final episode of the PATH funeral saga, here is the last batch of party photos.  These are shots of the single biggest flaw in PATH's sinister plan -- the PEOPLE (or as AEP thinks of them -- the Soylent Green of transmission line siting)!  PATH died because of the grassroots activity of the people of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.  Instead of letting them divide and conquer and play us against each other, we rose and stood together in solidarity.  We refused to take the NIMBY part PATH had written for us, and we refused to follow PATH's strategy playbook.  We wrote our own!  The creativity of the people was PATH's ultimate downfall.