Given the increasing integration between electricity and natural gas, a comprehensive understanding of the business side of the natural gas and electricity industries is instrumental to success. This two-day seminar presents a fundamental overview of the similarities and differences of these two complex businesses in a clear and understandable manner. Gas and Electric Industry Basics is ideal for those new to the energy industry or veterans seeking a broad understanding of how today’s natural gas and electricity businesses operate.

What you will learn

• A big-picture perspective of how the gas and electricity businesses operate

• The various types of customers, how they use gas and electricity, their specific needs, and how services are designed to meet them
• How natural gas is discovered, produced, gathered, processed, stored, and transmitted and distributed to customers
• How electricity is generated, transmitted, and distributed to customers
• How gas and electric systems are operated and scheduled
• Which segments of the industry are regulated and how regulation functions in setting rates, determining services, driving infrastructure decisions, and impacting energy company profits
• Who the key industry participants are and how they use physical and financial strategies to make money and manage risk
• The key forces driving the future of the gas and electricity businesses

Who can benefit from this seminar?

• New hires at a utility, generation company, transmission owner, gas or electric marketing company, pipeline, gas producer, renewables firm, technology vendor, or any company providing services to the industries
• Employees with industry experience in one or two departments who are now moving into management
• Sales professionals and technical employees such as gas or electric system operators, engineers, and information technology professionals
• Employees involved in the regulatory process
• Professionals in the legal, finance, accounting, PR, and communications fields who are working for an industry participant or providing services to the energy industry
• Virtually any industry employee with limited experience on the business side of the gas and/or electric industries

Course Agenda

Introduction

• What natural gas and electricity are and how they work
• How the U.S. consumes natural gas and electricity
• Why natural gas and electricity are essential to our society
• How the two industries are related as competitors and key fuel supplier
• Gas and electric units

Gas Customers

• Types of gas customers
• Customer usage patterns
• How different customers use natural gas
• Customer needs and wants
• Services available to gas customers under bundled and unbundled market structures

The Physical Gas System and Delivery Chain

• Sources of North American gas supply
• North American basins and production/reserves
• The physical delivery systems including gathering, processing, pipelines, hubs, storage, and distribution systems
• Upstream, midstream, and downstream market participants
• How the system is operated
• Pipeline scheduling
• Balancing and flow orders used to maintain system integrity

Regulation

• Why the gas industry is regulated
• Who regulates each function
• Types of regulatory proceedings
• The regulatory process and how cost-of-service rates are set
• Incentive regulation
• When are market-based rates allowed
• How regulated gas companies make money

Gas Markets

• The North American gas market structure
• Participants in the delivery chain (upstream, midstream, downstream)
• How gas flows through the value chain
• How parties transact and trade gas
• How gas prices are determined
• Risk exposures and ways to manage them

Electric Customers

• Types of electric customers
• Customer usage patterns
• How different customers use electricity
• Daily and monthly load shapes
• Services available to electric customers

The Physical Electrical System and Delivery Chain

• The integrated planning process for electric systems
• U.S. generation capacity and output by fuel type
• Types of generation, their characteristics, and how each is used
• How generation is dispatched to meet the load curve
• Demand side management, distributed generation, and storage
• The transmission system (components and characteristics)
• The North American power grids
• The distribution system (components and characteristics)
• Characteristics of power systems
• How the system is scheduled and operated
• Types of ancillary services and what they are used for
• How reliability is maintained

Regulation

• How electric regulation differs from gas regulation
• Who regulates each function
• Differences in ratemaking and other regulatory aspects

Electric Markets

• 5 market structures currently used in North America
• What electric supply choice is and where it is available
• How parties transact in electric markets
• The services bought and sold in electric markets
• Basic pricing concepts
• ISO scheduling and locational marginal pricing (LMP)
• How an energy portfolio is managed
• Risk exposures and how they can be managed

The Future

• Evolution of the gas and electric markets, technology, and regulation
• A future energy marketplace (robust gas supply, an evolved electric grid, distributed resources, greenhouse gas regulation, engaged customers, new business models)
• A new workforce