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Median vs. Midpoint

12/21/2010

6 Comments

 
What a bunch of whiners PATH is turning into!  The mom in me wants to send them to their room to contemplate those less fortunate for several hours and not return to civilized society until they can stop sniveling and crying, "poor me!"

Yesterday, PATH filed this on the FERC docket regarding their soon to be history 14.3% ROE.  Randy and Monique cry some big crocodile tears about how unfair FERC is being by insisting that the median of their new proxy group be used to calculate their new ROE.

Let's have a quick talk about median vs. midpoint.  Yes, it's math, but I promise it won't be hard.  Don't look away, it will be virtually painless and I promise you'll "get it".  You're probably all familiar with "average" and how to calculate it -- you add up all the figures in your series and then divide by the number of figures to find the average or "midpoint".  Median is a slightly different animal and can result in a lower figure.  To calculate median, you sort your figures in numerical order and then select the middle number.  If you have an even number of figures, you calculate the mean of the two middle figures to arrive at median.  To see an example of this, see the link above.  The link explains how median is a popular mathematical trick favored by shysters, or in this case our slippery PATH friends, Randy and Monique.

They're quite familiar with median resulting in a lower number.  In the TrAILCO order, they managed to screw a bunch of property owners out of a fair price for their property by using the median of three appraisals to determine the price to be paid to property owners within 400 feet of TrAIL, instead of the midpoint.

"Staff General Condition #2 - “The Company shall purchase any property containing residences that are within 400 feet of the centerline if the owner desires to sell their property.  TrAILCo accepts this condition, provided that in each case the property owner will have until the first anniversary of the inservice date of the West Virginia Segments of TrAIL to notify TrAILCo in writing that the property owner has elected to exercise
the option to require TrAILCo to purchase the property at a fair market value based on the median of three appraisals. One appraisal shall be prepared by a qualified appraiser selected by the property owner, another appraisal shall be prepared by a qualified
appraiser selected by TrAILCo and a third appraisal shall be prepared by a qualified appraiser selected by agreement of the two other appraisers. TrAILCo shall pay the reasonable costs of all three appraisals."

Oh, boo-hoo-hoo, cry me a river, you two.  Do you really think FERC is going to fall for your skulduggery?  Hypocrites.
6 Comments
JustMe
12/21/2010 10:15:16 am

OK Keryn, I jumped the gun before you addressed this so forgive me for re-posting it with the correct topic, but Randy and Co. are blowing my mind with their amateur-ish skills. Wow, even PATH's FERC work is sounding desperate and bleary. So...PATH is asking FERC for a re-do because FERC is insisting PATH use a "median" calculation to determine how much money PATH can grab from us. Apparently those numbers don't work too well for PATH so they want to use an 'expert' to skew the numbers back upward by pretending a simple math problem is really a "factual finding." (pretend the 'answer' to 2+2 is a judgement call -- so lets get an 'expert' to babble about this) Just a couple of points so everyone can see FERC is not so complex after all. 1) When you read PATH's Motion for Reconsideration, have a giggle at footnote 12 where PATH's argument is basically this, "But American Municipal Power of Ohio said its a 'factual finding' when THEY asked for a re-do!" Wow Randy, when you resort to trying to pass off another utility's 'begging for Reconsideration' as some sort of 'authority' worthy of citation... I wonder.... 2)The entire request is an argument that PATH's expert will somehow come up with a number that is more within the range of reasonableness than what FERC ordered in its ground rules for discussing the 14.2%. Now look at footnote 14 which is what Randy REALLY wanted to say behind the smoke and mirror blah blah. translation: "But FERC, in the old days (Enron?) you promised to give us ROE at the "UPPER END OF THE ZONE OF REASONABLENESS..." Now, why does Randy say FERC needs more info to 'find facts' when all he really wants to say is "you gave us the low numbers but (stomp my feet)we want the high ones." (sigh....I really have to stop correcting their homework) I'm guessing FERC might be liking them some Ali Haverty.

Reply
Keryn
12/22/2010 06:10:30 am

She will be a breath of fresh air!

Reply
statsguy
6/5/2012 09:55:44 am

median does NOT = the average. median and midpoint ARE the same. think about it. median is the number in the middle. midpoint is well, the point in the middle, or the median..

Reply
Manisha
4/7/2015 07:25:24 am

Mipoint is not equal to average. Midpoint = (high +low)/ 2
Average = Sum of all values/ 2
Median is as you explained.

Reply
Jim Mosey
3/31/2016 08:06:17 am

MEDIAN DOES NOT EQUAL MEAN (AVERAGE)

MEDIAN DOES EQUAL MID POINT

Reply
Mark O'Connor
3/31/2016 10:36:31 am

I don't understand how you would think that using the median (which is the midpoint, not the average/mean) would result in an unfair settlement value for all involved. Even if you assume a corrupt process where one side would get an appraisal that favors its position, and the other side gets an appraisal that favors the opposite position, the third-party that both sides have agreed upon may show up somewhere in the middle or not. But if that appraisal showed up closer to one side than the other, or even farther in one direction than either of the two original appraisals, wouldn't it be more fair for that appraisal to be used (because it represents the median/midpoint), vs the average of all three, which would be closer to the appraisal that was the farthest off?

Reply



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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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