Eventually I happened across a Web site for a lawyer in the Midwest, Carol Overland, who specializes in opposing the utilities’ proposals to build towers across beauty spots or increase power generation in nature reserves. “Transmission lines have become transmission lies,” she told me when I finally intercepted her on the phone between utility commission appearances. Her deep knowledge of the industry made her sure of one thing: The industry does not want to increase transmission capacity in order to better serve the public. Rather, it is there to facilitate the burgeoning long-distance trade in wholesale electricity between the power companies themselves.
But the regulators and the U.S. Energy Secretary will not pay for better, smarter power lines merely to help the utility traders.
“Investments must be ‘reasonable and prudent.’ Opportunity to play the market is not reasonable and prudent,” said Overland, “so it’s not a reason to build a transmission line.” That is why the representations are made to the regulators in terms of “peak load,” i.e., ever-growing demand. “Planning for peak load is a transmission lie,” said Overland. “Utilities have incentive to overstate need when they build for peaks. The higher the peak they build for (with peaks occurring only several times annually), the deeper the off-peak valley and the more electricity they can sell on the market when generation is available but not ‘needed.’ Conservation and peak shaving is against their interest because it lowers peak and lessens the valley of market sales.”
Overland claimed that “overloading the lines with bulk power transfers at off-peak times” caused the 2003 outage. In the 2005 legislation, as part of the response to the 2003 blackout, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was given limited powers over transmission lines, and an industry organization called North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) was handed the job of reporting to FERC on reliability issues. Overland’s point of view received some supporting evidence when a NERC spokeswoman told me the organization was unable to issue comparative reports on the reliability of the eight regions that make up the U.S. grid. Indeed, NERC does not offer any data about reliability or electricity usage on its Web site, although it does sell this information, which seems inappropriate for a federally mandated organization, as it inhibits monitoring of its own effectiveness. NERC, it appears, is just acreature of the electricity industry, funded by the utility companies and its board stuffed with retired utility- and power-industry fat cats, not a single one of whom represents the consumer. The whole setup feels to me like the industry’s covering up its dirty secrets.
But nobody is questioning the grid, asking whether it made sense to organize things this way. Sure, the blackout served to indicate how fragile is this electrical edifice that we all take for granted every day, yet not once did anyone suggest that perhaps we should not have a grid.
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3 Responses
“Howes stressed the importance of the local community and the employment of domestic staff.”
Perhaps electrical power was seen as a savior by those householder who couldn’t afford domestic staff? The electrical appliances, and the power to operate had a cost, but one less than hired help. Point being that electrical power, and the appliances that consumed the power most likely weren’t a hard sell to those who could afford them. We today probably can’t appreciate the change electrical power repented in the daily live of many.
I see again a comment associating terrorist attack & decentralization. Large population centers will be the target of choice for terrorists When/if their localized power generation is destroyed. Power from the grid will be that return there lives back to normal. That should be the case if the conversation doesn’t turn from lambasting the grid to improving it. The citizens of japan have learned how important electrical power is to modern life. They experienced a situation where those off-grid, or on localized generation wouldn’t have fared any better than those on the grid
It makes no more sense to push electricity hundreds of miles using dangerously high voltages that is does to send water through hundreds of miles of pipeline. This is lunacy, sheer utter lunacy when solar and wind power can easily provide our electric power.
What about more efficient electric motors that can run our electric gadgets on 12 or 24 volt power? What about developing more efficient light sources (LED is still expensive, but it needn’t remain so)
What about all the overunity devices which are mysteriously pulled from YouTube for “Terms of Use Violations”?
The best defense against terrorist attacks on our electric power distribution is DECENTRALIZATION.
If the power I pay for is so good, why do my electronic sewing and knitting machines, my computer, and my TV all require not just surge suppressors, but power cleaning surge suppressors to smooth out the spikes and optimize their functioning?
There is a hidden agenda which we are being told doesn’t exist. Our public fool systems are teaching our children to not ask questions. Wake up!
Wow! Men, that was some short article of just 9 pages :) . Is appreciated. Great Info. Thank you