Kennedy and Associates has been retained to analyze many of the complex problems currently affecting the utility industry and its customers in the areas of electric and gas restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, cost analysis, comprehensive and focused management audits, utility affiliate transaction analysis, regulated/nonregulated cost allocation analysis, accounting and taxes, renewable and conventional resource planning, load forecasting, demand-side management, and financial analysis.
Expert Testimony and Regulatory Proceedings
Develop economic and financial analyses to support expert testimony in electric, gas and water utility regulatory proceedings. Our principals and consultants have testified in hundreds of proceedings at the state and federal level. We have also presented expert testimony in state and federal court proceedings in a variety of cases. Topics include analyses of issues and studies concerning revenue requirements, cost allocation, rate design and rate of return on equity. These cases included appearances before regulatory commissions in more than twenty-five states and the FERC.
Please see resumes of our consultants for a more detailed list of the areas of expert testimony.
Litigation Support
Assist counsel in development of litigation strategy, provide analyses of issues, prepare studies, prepare expert reports, affidavits, prefiled expert testimony, live expert testimony, and cross-examination.
Contract Negotiation
Assist clients in direct negotiations with utilities, and independent "due diligence" analysis of utility contract proposals.
Auditing (Management, Financial, Regulatory)
Perform audits of electric, natural gas and water utilities encompassing management and organizational structure, processes, affiliate transactions, regulatory compliance, and other financial, tax, and regulatory issues.
Economics of Supply-Side and Demand-Side Resource Acquisitions and Retirements
Critique and analyze the cost impacts and rate treatment of utility generation planning and construction decisions. Determine the financial impact of regulatory alternatives regarding such issues as CWIP in rate base, deferral accounting, post-in-service ratemaking and write-offs.
Avoided Cost
Perform avoided cost calculations and forecasts, prepare cogeneration feasibility studies, provide assistance in negotiation of avoided cost rates. Develop standby and back-up rates.
Utility Rate/Cost Projections
Prepare long-term forecasts of electric utility rates and costs. Forecasts explicitly consider utility construction programs, fuel mix and costs, load growth and cost allocation techniques. These forecasts can estimate the impact, for example, of alternative acid rain proposals on a specific utility basis.
Load Forecasting
Perform econometric, end-use and alternative time-series load forecasting studies. Projections explicitly consider customer usage, alternative fuel prices, economic and demographic conditions, appliance saturation, and own price elasticity.
Prudence Investigations
Perform prospective and retrospective investigations into significant managerial and planning decisions affecting utilities' costs and revenue requirements.
Renewable Energy/RPS
Develop renewable portfolio standards and perform analyses of new supply side and demand side alternatives. Assist clients in review of expansion of renewable energy resources in various states, climate change policy, integrated resource planning, energy efficiency, green pricing tariffs, smart grid deployment, and bulk power transmission planning issues associated with renewable resources.
Policy Initiatives
We have assisted Public Service Commissions and other clients in various rulemaking initiatives that have led to the creation of permanent Commission rules regarding demand-side management, renewable energy, and Integrated Resource Planning Requirements. We have also assisted clients in the filing responsive comments associated with FERC rules and EPA regulations.