Energy Training for the Bermuda Department of Energy
December 5 - 7, 2011
When assessing the costs necessary to provide safe, reliable electric service at reasonable rates, there are many cost recovery standards that regulators employ. Applying the standards of known and measurable, used and useful, and prudency can be complicated. Fortunately, the regulator may have many data sources available for these costs, such as audited financial statements and cost of service studies. Unfortunately, no single data source is useful for assessing every standard.
PURC Director of Energy Studies Ted Kury and PURC Senior Fellow Raj Barua worked with commissioners and staff of the Bermuda Department of Energy in Hamilton to address the different sources of information available to regulators when conducting price reviews, and how these sources can be used to assess the costs necessary to provide service. They discussed the role of minimum filing standards and the regulatory process, as well as the uses and limitations of different sources of information. They also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of policies that can be used to encourage the development of renewable energy resources in an island electric system.