Rate, Regulatory and Financial Services

The continuing evolution of retail power markets is causing electric distribution systems to seek innovative and aggressive means of maintaining financial stability and controlling costs while maintaining efficiency and service reliability. GDS offers considerable expertise in the areas of:

• Retail rates
• Revenue requirements
• Unbundled cost of service analysis
• Traditional retail rate design
• Marginal cost analysis
• Distributed generation
• Time of use and innovative rate design
• Competitive pricing strategies
• Load forecasting
• Financial forecasting
• Interconnection and net metering
• Line extensions
• Demand-Side Management analysis
• Policy development
• Merger, Acquisition, and Valuation studies

Federal and State regulatory changes and increased competition require flexible and aggressive ratemaking and regulatory strategies. GDS offers broad expertise in ratemaking theories and has helped clients attain favorable rulings by providing expert testimony addressing major regulatory issues, including:

• Industry restructuring
• Jurisdictional cost separation
• Cost of service and rate design
• OATT tariffs/rates
• Integrated Resource Planning
• Power plant and transmission line certification
• System dispatch and fuel procurement analysis
• Cost of capital analyses

The formation and evolution of workable regional transmission organizations and/or independent system operators is critical to truly fluid and competitive energy markets. Clients turn to GDS for guidance through the rapidly changing ground rules being shaped by Federal and State regulators, including:

• Open access transmission tariffs/rates (OATT)
• Open access transmission issues
• Retail choice strategies