Energy Efficiency

Chapter 4

Carpe Diem – Why Retail Electricity Pricing must Change Now

Allan Schurr¹ and Steven Hauser², ¹IBM, ²New West Technologies

1 Introduction

A few months before the U.S. Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776), a little known Scottish philosopher published a book titled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This now famous book and its author, Adam Smith, described the concepts on which we have built our modern economy. Smith’s statement “consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production” became the root of what we now commonly refer to as “supply and demand” where the science and mysteries of balancing the two drive successful businesses.

For the past century, no industry ...