NIPSCO open to changing rate hike plan for farmers

German Energy Price Brakes harness price signals in a market-based policy, cutting gas consumption, preserving industrial output, and supporting CO2 reduction, showcasing Germany's resilience and adaptation while protecting households and businesses across Europe.

Key Points

Fixed-amount subsidies preserving price signals to curb gas use, shield consumers, and sustain industrial output.

✅ Maintains incentives via market-based price signals

✅ Cuts gas consumption without distorting EU markets

✅ Protects households and industry while curbing CO2

German industry and society are once again proving much more resilient and adaptable than certain people feared. Horror scenarios of a dangerous energy rationing or a massive slump in our economy have often been bandied about. But we are nowhere near that. With a challenging year just behind us, this is good news — not only for Germany, but also for Europe, where France-Germany energy cooperation has strengthened solidarity.

Companies and households reacted swiftly to the sharp increases in energy prices, in line with momentum in the global energy transition seen across markets. They installed more efficient heating or production facilities, switched to alternatives and imported intermediate products. The results are encouraging: German households and businesses have reduced gas consumption significantly, despite recent cold weather. From the start of the war in Ukraine to mid-December industrial gas consumption in Germany was (temperature-adjusted) around 20 per cent lower than the average level for the preceding three years. Even if some firms have cut back production, especially in energy-intensive sectors, industrial output as a whole has only fallen by about 1 per cent since the start of 2022. Added to this, in a survey released by the Ifo institute in November, over a third of German companies saw the potential to reduce gas consumption further without endangering output.

Instead of imposing excessive laws and regulations, we have relied on price signals and the prudence of market participants to create the right incentives and reduce gas consumption, as falling costs like record-low solar power prices continue to reinforce those signals across sectors.

We will follow this approach in coming months, when energy savings will remain important, even as the EU electricity outlook anticipates sharply higher demand by 2050. Our latest relief measures will not distort price signals. To this end, the Bundestag approved gas and electricity price brakes in its final session in 2022. They are designed to function without any intervention in markets or prices. This system will pay out a fixed amount relative to previous years’ consumption and the current difference to a reference price — regardless of current consumption.

Energy price brakes are the main component of Germany’s “protective shield”, which makes up to €200bn available for measures in 2022 to 2024. Seen in relation to the German economy’s size, its past heavy reliance on Russian energy imports and the fact that the measures will expire in 2024, these are balanced and expedient mechanisms. In contrast to instruments used in other countries, our new arrangements will not affect the price formation process driven by supply and demand, or on incentives to save gas. Companies and households will continue to save the full market price when they reduce consumption by a unit of gas or electricity. In this way, the price brakes also avoid the creation of additional demand for gas at the expense of consumers in other European countries, even as Europe’s Big Oil turning electric signals broader structural shifts in energy markets. No one need fear that competition will be distorted or that gas will be bought up. Indeed, a recent IMF working paper on cushioning the impact of high energy prices on households explicitly praises the German energy price brakes.

Current developments confirm the effectiveness of a market-based approach — and show that we should also rely on price signals when it comes to reducing CO₂ emissions, as suggested by IEA CO2 trends in recent years. Last year, households and companies had only a few weeks to adapt, yet we have already seen a strong response. The effect of CO₂ prices can be even stronger, as adaptation is possible over a much longer time and they additionally affect expectations and long-term decisions. Regulatory interventions and subsidy schemes, even if well targeted, cannot compete with market co-ordination and incentives that support individual decision-making and promote innovation.

Europe and Germany can weather this crisis without a collapse in industrial production. We also have an opportunity to deal efficiently with the move to climate neutrality, aligned with Germany’s hydrogen strategy for imported low-carbon fuels. In both cases, we should have confidence in price signals as well as in the power of people and business to innovate and adapt.

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Philippines-Canada Indo-Pacific Partnership strengthens ASEAN cooperation, maritime security, and South China Sea diplomacy, balancing U.S.-China rivalry through a rules-based order, trade diversification, and middle-power engagement to foster regional stability and sustainable growth.

Key Points

A strategic pact to balance U.S.-China rivalry, back ASEAN, and advance maritime security and a rules-based order

✅ Prioritizes ASEAN-led cooperation and regional diplomacy

✅ Supports maritime security and South China Sea stability

✅ Diversifies trade, infrastructure, energy, and education ties

The Philippines finds itself caught in a geopolitical tug-of-war between the United States and China, two superpowers with competing interests in the Indo-Pacific region. To navigate this complex situation, the Philippines is seeking closer ties with Canada, a middle power with a strong focus on diplomacy and regional cooperation and a deepening U.S.-Canada energy and minerals partnership that reinforces shared strategic interests.

The Philippines, like many Southeast Asian nations, desires peace and stability for continued economic growth. However, the intensifying rivalry between the U.S. and China threatens to disrupt this. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where China claims vast swathes of waters contested by the Philippines, are a major point of contention. The Philippines has a long-standing alliance with the U.S., whose current administration is viewed as better for Canada's energy sector by some observers, but it also has growing economic ties with China. This delicate balancing act is becoming increasingly difficult.

This is where Canada enters the picture. The Philippines sees Canada as a potential bridge between the two superpowers. Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo emphasizes that the future of the Indo-Pacific shouldn't be dictated by "great power rivalry." Canada, with its emphasis on peaceful solutions and its strong relationships with both the U.S. and China, despite electricity exports at risk from periodic trade tensions, presents a welcome alternative.

There are several reasons why the Philippines views Canada as a natural partner. First, Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy prioritizes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional bloc that includes the Philippines, and reflects trade policy debates in Ottawa where Canadians support tariffs on energy and minerals. This focus on regional cooperation aligns with the Philippines' desire for a united ASEAN voice.

Second, Canada offers the Philippines opportunities for economic diversification. While China is a significant trading partner, the Philippines wants to lessen its dependence on any single power. Canada's expertise in areas like agriculture, infrastructure, education, and renewable energy aligns with the Philippines' clean energy commitment and development goals.

Third, Canada's experience in peacekeeping and maritime security can be valuable to the Philippines. The Philippines faces challenges in the South China Sea, and Canada's commitment to a rules-based international order resonates with the Philippines' desire for peaceful resolution of territorial disputes.

Canada, for its part, sees the Philippines as a strategically important partner in the Indo-Pacific. A stronger Philippines contributes to a more stable region, which aligns with Canada's own interests. Additionally, closer ties with the Philippines open doors for increased Canadian trade and investment in Southeast Asia, including in critical minerals supply chains and energy projects.

The Philippines' pursuit of a middle ground between the U.S. and China is not without its challenges. Balancing strong relationships with both powers requires careful diplomacy, even as tariff threats boost support for Canadian energy projects domestically. However, Canada's emergence as a potential partner offers the Philippines a much-needed counterweight and a path towards regional stability and economic prosperity.

By working together, Canada and the Philippines can promote peaceful solutions, strengthen regional cooperation, and ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains a place of opportunity for all nations, not just superpowers.

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U.S. Power Grid Supply Shortages strain reliability as heat waves, hurricanes, and drought drive peak demand; transformer scarcity, gas constraints, and renewable delays raise outage risks across ERCOT and MISO, prompting FERC warnings.

Key Points

They are equipment and fuel constraints that, amid extreme weather and peak demand, elevate outage risks.

✅ Transformer shortages delay storm recovery and repairs.

✅ Record gas burn, low hydro tighten generation capacity.

✅ ERCOT and MISO warn of rolling outages in heat waves.

U.S. power companies are facing supply crunches amid the U.S. energy crisis that may hamper their ability to keep the lights on as the nation heads into the heat of summer and the peak hurricane season.

Extreme weather events such as storms, wildfires and drought are becoming more common in the United States. Consumer power use is expected to hit all-time highs this summer, reflecting unprecedented electricity demand across the Eastern U.S., which could strain electric grids at a time when federal agencies are warning the weather could pose reliability issues.

Utilities are warning of supply constraints for equipment, which could hamper efforts to restore power during outages. They are also having a tougher time rebuilding natural gas stockpiles for next winter, after the Texas power system failure highlighted cold-weather vulnerabilities, as power generators burn record amounts of gas following the shutdown of dozens of coal plants in recent years and extreme drought cuts hydropower supplies in many Western states.

"Increasingly frequent cold snaps, heat waves, drought and major storms continue to challenge the ability of our nation’s electric infrastructure to deliver reliable affordable energy to consumers," Richard Glick, chairman of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), said earlier this month.

Federal agencies responsible for power reliability like FERC have warned that grids in the western half of the country could face reliability issues this summer as consumers crank up air conditioners to escape the heat, with nationwide blackout risks not limited to Texas. read more

Some utilities have already experienced problems due to the heat. Texas' grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), was forced to urge customers to conserve energy as the Texas power grid faced another crisis after several plants shut unexpectedly during an early heat wave in mid-May. read more

In mid-June, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co (AEP.O) imposed rolling outages during a heat wave after a storm damaged transmission lines and knocked out power to over 200,000 homes and businesses.

The U.S. Midwest faces the most severe risk because demand is rising while nuclear and coal power supplies have declined. read more

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which operates the grid from Minnesota to Louisiana, warned that parts of its coverage area are at increased risk of temporary outages to preserve the integrity of the grid.

Supply-chain issues have already delayed the construction of renewable energy projects across the country, and the aging U.S. grid is threatening progress on renewables and EVs. Those renewable delays coupled with tight power in the Midwest prompted Wisconsin's WEC Energy Group Inc (WEC.N) and Indiana's NiSource Inc (NI.N) to delay planned coal plant shutdowns in recent months.

BRACING FOR SUPPLY SHORTAGES
Utility operators are conserving their inventory of parts and equipment as they plan to prevent summer power outages during severe storms. Over the last several months, that means operators have been getting creative.

"We’re doing a lot more splicing, putting cables together, instead of laying new cable because we're trying to maintain our new cable for inventory when we need it," Nick Akins, chief executive of AEP, said at the CERAWeek energy conference in March.

Transformers, which often sit on top of electrical poles and convert high-voltage energy to the power used in homes, are in short supply.

New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (PSEG) (PEG.N) Chief Executive Ralph Izzo told Reuters the company has had to look at alternate supply options for low voltage transformers.

"You don’t want to deplete your inventory because you don't know when that storm is coming, but you know it's coming," Izzo said.

Some utilities are facing waiting times of more than a year for transformer parts, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the American Public Power Association told U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a May letter.

Summer is just starting, but U.S. weather so far this year has already been about 21% warmer than the 30-year norm, according to data provider Refinitiv.

"If we have successive days of 100-degree-heat, those pole top transformers, they start popping like Rice Krispies, and we would not have the supply stack to replace them," Izzo said.

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China Renewable Energy Law drives growth in wind power, solar thermal, and photovoltaic capacity, supporting grid integration and five-year plans, even as China leads CO2 emissions, with policy incentives, compliance inspections, and national resource assessments.

Key Points

A legal framework that speeds wind, solar thermal, and PV growth in China via mandates, incentives, and grid rules.

✅ 2018 renewables: 1.87T kWh, 26.7% of national power

✅ Over 100 State Council policies enabling deployment

✅ Law inspections and regional oversight across six provinces

China leads renewable energies, installing more wind power, solar thermal and photovoltaic than any other country, as seen in the China solar PV growth reported in 2016, but also leads CO2 emissions, and much remains to be done.

The effective application of Chinas renewable energy law has boosted the use of renewable energy in the country and facilitated the rapid development of the sector, as solar parity across Chinese cities indicates, a report said.

The report on compliance with renewable energy law was presented today at the current bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Assembly (APN).

Electricity generated by renewable energy amounted to about 1.87 trillion kilowatts per hour in 2018, representing 26.7 percent of Chinas total energy production in the year, aligning with trends where wind and solar doubling globally over five years, the report said.

Ding Zhongli, vice president of the NPC Standing Committee, presented the report to the legislators at the second plenary meeting of the session.

An inspection of the law enforcement was carried out from August to November, as U.S. renewables hit 28% record showed momentum elsewhere. A total of 21 members of the NPC Standing Committee and the NPC Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation Committee, as well as national legislators, traveled to six regions at the provincial level on inspection visits. Twelve legislative bodies at the provincial level inspected the law enforcement efforts in their jurisdictions.

The relevant State Council agencies have implemented more than 100 regulations and policies to foster a good policy environment for the development of renewable energy, as seen in markets where U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022. Local regulations have also been formulated based on local conditions, according to the report.

In accordance with the law, a thorough investigation of the national conditions of renewable energy resources was undertaken.

In 2008 and 2014 atlas of solar energy resources and wind energy evaluation of China were issued. The relevant agencies of the State Council have also implemented five-year plans for the development of renewable energy, which have provided guidance to the sector, while countries like Ireland's one-third green power target remain in focus within four years.

The main provisions of the law have been met, the law has been effectively applied and the purpose of the legislation has been met, and this momentum is echoed abroad, with U.S. renewables near one-fourth according to projections, Ding said.

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Manitoba Hydro Phone Scam targets small businesses with disconnection threats, prepaid card payments, caller ID spoofing, phishing texts, and door-to-door fraud; hang up, verify your account directly, and never share banking information.

Key Points

A scam where callers threaten disconnection and demand prepaid cards; verify account status directly with Manitoba Hydro.

✅ Hang up and call Manitoba Hydro at 1-888-624-9376 to verify.

✅ Never pay by prepaid cards, gift cards, or crypto.

✅ Hydro will not cut power on one-hour notice.

Manitoba Hydro is warning customers, particularly small business owners, to be wary of high-pressure scammers, as Ontario utilities warn of scams in other provinces, threatening to shut off their electricity.

The callers demand the customer to make immediate payment by a prepaid card. Often, the calls are made in the middle of the day at a busy time, frightening the customer with aggressive threats about disconnection, as hydro disconnections have made headlines elsewhere, says hydro spokesman Bruce Owen.

"They tell them 'we have a truck on the way to cut off your power. If you don't pay in the next hour you're out of luck,'" he said.

"And because these folks have inventory in freezers and they have customers … they're willing to fork over several hundred or even several thousand dollars on a prepaid card to somebody they don't know to keep the lights on."

Maybe the business owners can't recall, with everything happening, including discussions about Hydro One peak rates in Ontario, if they've made their payments on time. They start second-guessing and believing the person on the other line, Owen says.

And they worry about losing thousands of dollars in business if they lose power. So they're more than willing to run out to a store, buy a prepaid debit card and provide the number to the caller.

"Their goal is to manipulate you into sending money before you figure out it's a scam," said Chris McColm, hydro's security and investigations supervisor. "These people are crooks and you should hang up on them."

For any customers that are in arrears, hydro will work with them to resolve the issue, Owen said.

"We do not have to take that extreme measure of cutting off or disconnecting anybody. That's not the business we're in — we don't strong arm people that way," he said.

"Anybody who's threatening to cut off your power with an hour or half-an-hour notice, well it's it's no better than someone waiting around the corner, waiting the club you over the head in the dark of night. That's what they are."

Fraud reports soar

The power utility has recorded a nearly-300 per cent jump in the number of fraud-related complaints this year over 2017. There have been 862 phone, text and e-mail scams and that could still go much higher.

The current statistics from 2018 have only calculated up to Oct. 31. In 2017, there were 221.

That jump in numbers doesn't necessarily mean there are more scammers out there.

It could simply mean people are finally getting wise to fraudsters and reporting it more, Owen says.

"At the same token, we don't hear of everybody who's been taking advantage of because once they've found out that they've been hoodwinked they don't want to tell anybody because they're so embarrassed," he said.

"These scammers can be very convincing and anyone can be victimized," McColm said.

If you are able to think clearly when some high-pressure caller gets you on the line, Owen suggests asking a few simple questions to challenge their legitimacy:

• What street am I on?
• What does my business look like? 
• What's the weather outside right now?

Phone scammers can falsify their caller ID information to make it appear they're calling from a local number, but what you'll find is most of them aren't in Winnipeg or Manitoba and likely not even this country or continent, Owen says.

The key to being safe is simply to never give out banking information, Owen says. It's a message that has been stressed for years and 80-90 per cent of people understand it, but it's that other 10-20 per cent that are still being victimized.And it's not just phone calls. Many other fraud-related complaints to Manitoba Hydro this year concerned unsolicited text messages to customers saying they had been overbilled, or faced retroactive charges elsewhere, and were eligible for a refund.

This scam is also aimed at getting a customer's personal banking information, under the guise of having money put back into their account.

Also, many people, especially seniors living alone, continue to be targeted by aggressive door-to-door fraudsters, and cases like the electricity theft ring in Montreal underscore the risks, McColm says. However, he adds, hydro employees always display photo ID and will never demand to come into a home. 

If you're unsure whether a phone call, text or email is real or a scam, contact Manitoba Hydro at 1-888-624-9376.

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Berkshire Hathaway Energy Wind Power drives cheap electricity rates in Iowa via utility-scale wind turbines, integrated transmission, battery storage, and grid management, delivering renewable energy, stable pricing, and long-term rate freezes through 2028.

Key Points

A vertically integrated wind utility lowering Iowa rates via owned generation, transmission, and advanced grid control.

✅ Owned wind assets meet Iowa residential demand

✅ Integrated transmission lowers costs and losses

✅ Rate freeze through 2028 sustains cheap power

In his latest letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett used the 20th anniversary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy to tout its cheap electricity bills for customers.

When Berkshire purchased the majority share of BHE in 2000, the cost of electricity for its residential customers in Iowa was 8.8 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on average. Since then, these electricity rates have risen at a paltry <1% per year, with a freeze on rate hikes through 2028. As anyone who pays an electricity bill knows, that is an incredible deal.  

As Buffett himself notes with alacrity, “Last year, the rates [BHE’s competitor in Iowa] charged its residential customers were 61% higher than BHE’s. Recently, that utility received a rate increase that will widen the gap to 70%.”

The Winning Strategy

So, what’s Buffett’s secret to cheap electricity? Wind power.

“The extraordinary differential between our rates and theirs is largely the result of our huge accomplishments in converting wind into electricity,” Buffett explains. 

Wind turbines in Iowa that BHE owns and operates are expected to generate about 25.2 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity for its customers, as projects like Building Energy operations begin to contribute. By Buffett’s estimations, that will be enough to power all of its residential customers’ electricity needs in Iowa.  

The company has plans to increase its renewable energy generation in other regions as well. This year, BHE Canada is expected to start construction on a 117.6MW wind farm in Alberta, Canada with its partner, Renewable Energy Systems, that will provide electricity to 79,000 homes in Canada’s oil country.

Observers note that Alberta is a powerhouse for both green energy and fossil fuels, underscoring the region's unique transition.

But I would argue that the secret to BHE’s success perhaps goes deeper than transitioning to sources of renewable energy. There are plenty of other utility companies that have adopted wind and solar power as an energy source. In the U.S., where renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022, at least 50% of electricity customers have the option to buy renewable electricity from their power supplier, according to the Department of Energy. And some states, such as New York, have gone so far as to allow customers to pick from providers who generate their electricity.

What differentiates BHE from a lot of the competition in the utility space is that it owns the means to generate, store, transmit and supply renewable power to its customers across the U.S., U.K. and Canada, with lessons from the U.K. about wind power informing policy.

In its financial filings for 2019, the company reported that it owns 33,600MW of generation capacity and has 33,400 miles of transmission lines, as well as a 50% interest in Electric Transmission Texas (ETT) that has approximately 1,200 miles of transmission lines. This scale and integration enables BHE to be efficient in the distribution and sale of electricity, including selling renewable energy across regions.

BHE is certainly not alone in building renewable-energy fueled electricity dominions. Its largest competitor, NextEra, built 15GW of wind capacity and has started to expand its utility-scale solar installations. Duke Energy owns and operates 2,900 MW of renewable energy, including wind and solar. Exelon operates 40 wind turbine sites across the U.S. that generate 1,500 MW.

Integrated Utilities Power Ahead

It’s easy to see why utility companies see wind as a competitive source of electricity compared to fossil fuels. As I explained in my previous post, Trump’s Wrong About Wind, the cost of building and generating wind energy have fallen significantly over the past decade. Meanwhile, improvements in battery storage and power management through new technological advancements have made it more reliable (Warren Buffett bet on that one too).

But what is also striking is that integrated power and transmission enables these utility companies to make those decisions; both in terms of sourcing power from renewable energy, as well as the pricing of the final product. Until wind and solar power are widespread, these utility companies are going to have an edge of the more fragmented ends of the industry who can’t make these purchasing or pricing decisions independently. 

Warren Buffett very rarely misses a beat. He’s not the Oracle of Omaha for nothing. Berkshire Hathaway’s ownership of BHE has been immensely profitable for its shareholders. In the year ended December 31, 2019, BHE and its subsidiaries reported net income attributable to BHE shareholders of $2.95 billion.

There’s no question that renewable energy will transform the utility industry over the next decade. That change will be led by the likes of BHE, who have the power to invest, control and manage their own energy generation assets.

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