Insights from our Editorial Team

On the same day as the president’s State of the Union Address, Congress tackled the contentious issue of whether to allow the exportation of U.S. natural gas in its liquefied form, or LNG. The Obama administration has blessed natural gas. But it is uncertain if Congress will erect impediments to limit its sales overseas.

Modern enterprises are the ones that are primarily determining customer experience, not the old brick and mortar stores. This change in customer perception is an opportunity to grow and develop, say some folks who participated in an Energy Central forum. 

While media coverage of recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission actions against banks for market manipulation and false statements portrays a new, get-tough look for the agency, one can just as easily conclude the opposite: The enforcements expose a commission scrambling to keep up with increasingly intricate manipulation strategies in overly complex markets, with the agency seemingly several steps behind.

For utilities, this has been a tough lesson: Confidentiality is a part of privacy, but it is not the end of privacy concerns. Privacy also encompasses the use, sharing and safeguarding of customer information, which includes information that can reveal consumer activities and lifestyles.