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EPA and Texas Railroad Commission Sign Memorandum of Agreement for Permitting Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide

LCG, April 29, 2025--Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) today outlining the state’s plans to administer programs related to carbon storage wells, known as Class VI wells. The MOA signing is a required step in the RRC’s application to be granted authority to permit Class VI wells in the state of Texas. EPA is currently preparing a proposed approval of RRC’s primacy application.

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Calpine and ExxonMobil Sign CO2 Transportation and Storage Agreement for CCS Project in Texas

LCG, April 24, 2025--Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) announced yesterday an agreement with Calpine Corporation (Calpine) to transport and permanently store up to 2 million metric tons per annum (MTA) of CO2 from Calpine’s Baytown Energy Center, a natural gas-fired facility located near Houston, Texas. This is part of Calpine’s Baytown Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project that is designed to add CCS for the facility’s CO2 emissions. The Calpine facility could then provide a 24/7 supply of low-carbon electricity to the Texas grid plus steam to nearby industrial facilities.

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Industry News

CA Regulators to Vote Today on Rate Hike Revenue

LCG, October 24, 2002-The CPUC will vote today on whether or not to allow California utilities to use rate hike money for purposes other than buying electricity.

Last year the California Public Utilities Commission permitted Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric utility to increase their retail electricity rates by a total of $0.04 per kilowatt-hour in order that the utilities meet some of their debt payments. In January last year, the CPUC allowed a one cent increase, and in March of last year, an additional three-cent increase was allowed, after which Pacific Gas & Electric utility declared bankruptcy.

The CPUC passed these "overcollections" because the mandated price of retail power was not high enough during the energy crisis of 2000/2001 to cover the cost of wholesale power, and the utilities were having trouble staying out of the red.

CPUC President Loretta Lynch came out with a proposal to allow the utilities to do whatever was needed with the revenue from the two rate hikes; currently the utilities must use overcollections to purchase power. The spot price of wholesale power has been below retail rates for over a year, and Lynch's proposal is intended to allow some of the revenue from overcollections to be used to restore the utilities' financial health.

The utilities clearly support the plan, which offers them more freedom to spend ratepayers' money where it is needed. Consumer advocates, however, such as those from the Utility Reform Network, call it the "it's our surcharge and we'll do what we please with it" decision.

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