What Benefits does RCM Provide Regulated Utilities ?
A regulated utility RCM process optimizes, subject to regulatory constraints, individual customer revenue and cost of service with utility-initiated actions in each the following areas: • Demand response initiatives • Load management • Energy services • Metering • Rates • Economic development • Capacity expansion • Central plants • Distributed generation Applying RCM techniques within regulated utilities provides a variety of benefits to the utility (and, ,therefore, to its customers). Among these benefits are: • Reduced costs and increased revenues which translate into lower customer rates • Greater customer rate equity • More efficient and reliable electric supply systems • Better positioning for potential future deregulation • Reduced weather and wholesale price risks The value of an RCM system is a function of how close the current system is to its “optimized solution.” The question then is, how much can an existing utility accomplish with actions in the above areas to reduce costs
