ASC 980 and GASB 62 can help revenue recovery of budget misses due to unforecasted solar and renewable energy generation, from distributed energy resources (DER).

With analytical trend tools at our disposal, budgets are more realistic and numbers can be tighter. However, as your DER customers grow, their increased generation trends may not show up yet in historical sales data and not be included in budgets. This article discusses the use of ASC 980 and GASB 62 in making sure budget shortfalls are not “lost” revenues.

This article discusses the 2022 FERC compliance audit report on issues from auditors. It can be helpful to consider this FERC view when considering items to include in electric rates or accounting approaches to take on various transactions.

A common arrangement in the power supply process is joint ownership of power plants. Joint ownership arrangements involve two or more owners of a power plant, with one of the owners called the operator owner, who operates the power plant, bills the owners for operating costs, and all owners partake of the power supply. The joint ownership is governed by an overall power supply agreement, which designates various committees (management, operating, and finance) that are charged with the governance and management of the contract.

The contracts generally have audit provisions that allow any owner to audit billings under the contract, using their own personnel or through an independent party such as an accounting firm. Regular audits are beneficial to all owners - we’ll discuss the areas why.

The monthly residential customer electric bill consists of a customer charge and a kWh charge. The monthly electric bill for a large power user consists of a kW charge and a kWh charge. Would it surprise you if the costs of the customer charge and the kW charge are two-four times more than the amount charged to the customer? The undercharged amount ends up in the kWh charge. Why is this, why does it matter, and what might you do about it? Read on, and we’ll share some schools of thought on electric ratemaking.

An electric utility recognized that it needed to increase electric rates after developing its budget for the coming year (also known as a revenue requirement). The utility had not increased rates in 5 years and wanted to take the opportunity to move customer rates towards their cost of service and to incorporate distributed energy resources (DER) and electric vehicle charging into their rate structure.

Here are the steps they took to move to cost of service rates and implement innovative rates for residential, DER, and EV customers.

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are taking on a greater role in the energy planning process for co-ops and utilities. FERC Order 2222 and the NARUC Distributed Energy Resources Rate Design and Compensation publication discuss this trend and the recommended rate structures that are becoming industry best practices.

Solar power customers have a love/hate relationship with their electric provider. Before you install solar panels on your home, know the full cost of ownership.