Michael Roberts

Rooftop solar is now competitive with utility-scale power in Hawaiʻi

By Michael Roberts We need to transition away from fossil fuels quickly, and with inexpensive renewables and batteries, we can do so in a cost effective manner, so long as we employ a sensible plan and the right policies. But what are the tradeoffs involved with how we do it? In most places, rooftop solar […]

Estimating water demand using price differences of wastewater services

Many homes in Hawai‘i use cesspools and other on-site disposal systems (OSDS) instead of the municipal sewer system. Because bills combine water and waste-water services, and homes with OSDS do not pay for sewer service, OSDS residences have lower monthly bills compared to those with sewer-connected systems. We use this price difference in conjunction with […]

How Will Climate Change Affect Water Demand? Evidence from Hawai‘i Microclimates

The effect that climate change will have on water resource sustainability is gaining international interest, particularly in regions where stocks are strained due to changing climate and increasing populations. Past studies focus mainly on how water availability will be affected by climate change, with little attention paid to how consumer behavior is likely to react. […]

UH News: UHERO fills critical need, especially during crisis

Herd Immunity or Containment through Test and Trace?

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a viral disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, has arrived and is spreading in Hawai’i.  In an attempt to “flatten the curve,” we have closed schools and many workplaces, while the entire state shelters at home. As a result, the economy is contracting fast.  While sufficiently flattening the curve is the […]

Four Alternative Models for Regulating an Investor Owned Utility of the Future

How do you coerce a monopoly to act as if it were operating in a ruthlessly competitive industry? This is the billion-dollar question of Public Utilities Commissions (PUCs). It’s a tricky thing to do with a mixed history of success. And it’s getting trickier, especially here in Hawaiʻi, where renewable energy and so-called “distributed resources” […]

Variable Pricing and the Cost of Renewable Power

By Michael Roberts How much will it cost to eliminate use of fossil fuels? There is reason for optimism. Technological progress has lowered the cost of wind and solar power to make them competitive with coal and natural gas on a levelized basis. Despite this progress, a recent study by Gowrisankaran, Reynolds and Samano, “Intermittency […]

Not All Regions Are Alike: Evaluating the Effect of Oil Price Shocks on Local and Aggregate Economies

Using a sample of 48 contiguous U.S. states for the period 1973-2013, we study how oil price shocks influence state-level economic growth. The analysis incorporates (1) a structural decomposition of the supply and demand factors that drive the real price of crude oil; (2) heterogeneity of states in terms of their production and consumption of […]

A Pocket Full of PIMs

By Michael Roberts In the arcane parlance of utility regulation, PIMs are “Performance Incentive Mechanisms.” This is where we’re headed because, slightly against my expectation, Governor Ige recently signed SB 2939, a bill unanimously passed by the legislature that requires that the Public Utilities Commission: “…establish performance incentives and penalty mechanisms that directly tie an […]