@billtilles.bsky.social
Sadly there is only one real solution here. The same one FDR used. Set up a competing utility and put them out of business. Don’t buy crappy old legacy assets at stupidly high prices.
December 21, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Sadly there is only one real solution here. The same one FDR used. Set up a competing utility and put them out of business. Don’t buy crappy old legacy assets at stupidly high prices.
I’m beginning to think this administration simply uses nuclear energy as a figleaf to justify more fossil based power development.
December 19, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I’m beginning to think this administration simply uses nuclear energy as a figleaf to justify more fossil based power development.
Nowadays the only technologies with that promise are solar and batteries because they are both getting cheaper while they scale.
December 18, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Nowadays the only technologies with that promise are solar and batteries because they are both getting cheaper while they scale.
You’re right on all these point. But you’re young. In the early 1960s, coal plants got much bigger (scale) and power prices got cheaper. And utility growth and profitability increased. Consumers got cheaper power and shareholders made money too.
December 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
You’re right on all these point. But you’re young. In the early 1960s, coal plants got much bigger (scale) and power prices got cheaper. And utility growth and profitability increased. Consumers got cheaper power and shareholders made money too.
The tell with Gallego is the love for SMRs which aren’t real, at least not yet, but it makes him sound like responsible Democrat. His politics are pure Clintonian triangulation, sell out the left.
December 18, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The tell with Gallego is the love for SMRs which aren’t real, at least not yet, but it makes him sound like responsible Democrat. His politics are pure Clintonian triangulation, sell out the left.
For the first time I don’t think you’re even remotely cynical enough. The shoddy, deregulated, do it fast approach virtually guarantees accidents. But an authoritarian controlled press will simply cover it up. Think press coverage of nuclear accident in Stalin’s Russia.
December 18, 2025 at 12:14 PM
For the first time I don’t think you’re even remotely cynical enough. The shoddy, deregulated, do it fast approach virtually guarantees accidents. But an authoritarian controlled press will simply cover it up. Think press coverage of nuclear accident in Stalin’s Russia.
You’re right. The real issue is going to be the % of equity in the IOUs capital structure. 30-40% equity will be good enough for investment grade ratings. but this is only lever the PSCs can pull to reduce rates as commodity gas prices begin to spiral upward.
December 17, 2025 at 1:56 AM
You’re right. The real issue is going to be the % of equity in the IOUs capital structure. 30-40% equity will be good enough for investment grade ratings. but this is only lever the PSCs can pull to reduce rates as commodity gas prices begin to spiral upward.
Donovan is right but for the wrong reason. People might be checking apps on their phones but not their meters. However, electric bills are issued monthly and where prices are going up alot people notice.
December 12, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Donovan is right but for the wrong reason. People might be checking apps on their phones but not their meters. However, electric bills are issued monthly and where prices are going up alot people notice.
The logic for hydrogen is almost funny: 1) make electricity 2) produce hydrogen 3) make electricity 4) use electricity. But if we act intelligently and eliminate steps 2 and 3 an oil company executive somewhere will be very sad.
December 12, 2025 at 12:24 PM
The logic for hydrogen is almost funny: 1) make electricity 2) produce hydrogen 3) make electricity 4) use electricity. But if we act intelligently and eliminate steps 2 and 3 an oil company executive somewhere will be very sad.
This is the equivalent of making smaller monthy credit card payments but you end up paying much more in toal interest over the long run. Municipal utilities have many excellent attributes. This is not their best one.
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
This is the equivalent of making smaller monthy credit card payments but you end up paying much more in toal interest over the long run. Municipal utilities have many excellent attributes. This is not their best one.
Lutnick is the personification of authoritarian finance. He willingly espouses two utterly contradictory priciples, high GDP growth and lower interest rates, because he works for Trump and is happy to repeat the party line no matter how nonsensica.
December 11, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Lutnick is the personification of authoritarian finance. He willingly espouses two utterly contradictory priciples, high GDP growth and lower interest rates, because he works for Trump and is happy to repeat the party line no matter how nonsensica.
Nutlick is a moron but an interesting one. If GDP growth was even remotely as high as he suggests, the Fed would have to raise rates substantially to limit damaging inflation. Cutting rates is traditionally a sign of policy failure and economic weakness.
December 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Nutlick is a moron but an interesting one. If GDP growth was even remotely as high as he suggests, the Fed would have to raise rates substantially to limit damaging inflation. Cutting rates is traditionally a sign of policy failure and economic weakness.
You’re right, but regulators can’t fix this. IOUs need constant growth to raise new equity capital or they fail. All munis and co-ops, exclusively debt financed, only have debt obligations. The importance here is they’e not beholden to shareholders, just the public’s interest.
December 11, 2025 at 12:57 PM
You’re right, but regulators can’t fix this. IOUs need constant growth to raise new equity capital or they fail. All munis and co-ops, exclusively debt financed, only have debt obligations. The importance here is they’e not beholden to shareholders, just the public’s interest.
The problem here is with purchasing an existing investor owned utility and paying a very high purchase price for old, legacy assets. It might be better to spend those extremely large sums on building competing renewable generation and ignore legacy assets.
December 11, 2025 at 12:36 PM
The problem here is with purchasing an existing investor owned utility and paying a very high purchase price for old, legacy assets. It might be better to spend those extremely large sums on building competing renewable generation and ignore legacy assets.
That’s wrong. The risk shifting is not due to CWIP, which is simply recovering cash interest costs on a real time basis which reduces overall financial risk and improves credit quality. Prudency investigations by PSCs post construction are supposed to correct for any excesses here.
December 10, 2025 at 5:16 PM
That’s wrong. The risk shifting is not due to CWIP, which is simply recovering cash interest costs on a real time basis which reduces overall financial risk and improves credit quality. Prudency investigations by PSCs post construction are supposed to correct for any excesses here.
I think you left out a comma after Kavanaugh.
December 10, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I think you left out a comma after Kavanaugh.
Agree. But it’s not just the higher prices this implies (which is bad enough) but a dramatic increase in gas price volatility from shifting to a global competitive market versus the mostly domestic price setting market we presently have.
December 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Agree. But it’s not just the higher prices this implies (which is bad enough) but a dramatic increase in gas price volatility from shifting to a global competitive market versus the mostly domestic price setting market we presently have.
The only thing missing here is a political party willing to defend consumers and limit profits of gas producers. The Dems should threaten to shut down exports. Bad enough we’re using the gas. But exporting gas and importing higher prices is nuts.
December 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM
The only thing missing here is a political party willing to defend consumers and limit profits of gas producers. The Dems should threaten to shut down exports. Bad enough we’re using the gas. But exporting gas and importing higher prices is nuts.
Great point. We’re exporting LNG and effectively importing higher gas prices in return. Even Trump’s DoE said this would happen in 2018. Our only hope is the political dynamic here, immiserating the masses to enrich gas producers, begins to bite.
December 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Great point. We’re exporting LNG and effectively importing higher gas prices in return. Even Trump’s DoE said this would happen in 2018. Our only hope is the political dynamic here, immiserating the masses to enrich gas producers, begins to bite.
Walther Matthau moaning at his dead Ferrari, “They told me I had carbon on my valves.”
December 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Walther Matthau moaning at his dead Ferrari, “They told me I had carbon on my valves.”
I think the follow up question to that claim is whether, under those robust circumstances, as Fed chair he would raise interest rates?
December 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I think the follow up question to that claim is whether, under those robust circumstances, as Fed chair he would raise interest rates?
True, but it appears the only two policies in energy Trump will be remembered for is a blinding hatred of renewables and perhaps administrative dysfunction.
December 7, 2025 at 12:51 PM
True, but it appears the only two policies in energy Trump will be remembered for is a blinding hatred of renewables and perhaps administrative dysfunction.
And here I thought it was about Europeans fondness for bearer bonds.
December 2, 2025 at 2:15 PM
And here I thought it was about Europeans fondness for bearer bonds.
Remind me again. If you’re a capital intensive and interest rate sensitive industry, entering a huge build cycle, with at least 50% leverage in your typical capital structure, are sudden interest rate spikes a good thing?
December 1, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Remind me again. If you’re a capital intensive and interest rate sensitive industry, entering a huge build cycle, with at least 50% leverage in your typical capital structure, are sudden interest rate spikes a good thing?
Thanks. The distribution grid is simply a legacy technology (and regulated monopoly) for distributing central station power. Once we can make electricity locally the distribution system becomes irrelevant.
December 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Thanks. The distribution grid is simply a legacy technology (and regulated monopoly) for distributing central station power. Once we can make electricity locally the distribution system becomes irrelevant.