Customer Reviews

Understanding Today's Electricity Business

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I work for a utility billing and CIS provider and needed a reference book to enhance my knowledge of our focus industry. This book was great, it covers all relevent topics in good depth from generation to how utilities make money under different business and regulatory models. It is surprisingly easy to read given the dryness of the topic. I highly recommend it.

I am new in this area but still the book looks very shallow in its explanation of each topic covered. Some materials are not necessary such as how electricity works. I felt that these materials and the gigantic fonts are to fill the pages. The whole "book" if we can call it a book can be condensed to maybe less than 50 pages.

The good thing about the book is that it does explain some basic concepts of energy market to someone without any kind of background knowledge but don't expect to get anything more out of it. I can't seem to find these concepts elsewhere and maybe this could be the reason to buy the book.

I found that the book gives very good introduction to subject - I should have bought it a year ago, when I just started working for a utility. However, I expected it to be more dense and deep, especially when dealing with rate design issues. Anyway, I would recommend the book to anyone who begins to work in the industry, since it covers a very broad range of themes and therefore helps to level field for "electricity illiterate" person (well, I certainly was!).

I teach an annual graduate seminar on energy policy at our university. The class attracts emerging leaders from several local electric utilities and others who have worked in this business for years; it also attracts students who are completely new to the subject. I am constantly searching for the right book to assign at the beginning of the course to ensure that everyone in the class shares a basic understanding of the jargon, history, and emerging issues in this fascinating and important industry.

I have used this book as my lead off text the last two years and have been delighted with the results. The newcomers in my class tell me it gives them the foundation they need to understand and benefit from the presentations my guest speakers and I give on fairly complex topics later in the term. Most of the more seasoned professionals in my class hold on to it as a reference manual; they say it helps to remind them how the particular piece of the electricity industry they work in fits into the broader picture. The book is updated regularly to keep up with this rapidly changing industry. I definitely plan to use it again this year and can recommend it to other teachers and professors or anyone who is curious about this important subject.

Shively writes a good overview of the electric power industry, which is critical to our economy and environment. The book is dense, not for the general reader (who would much prefer "From Edison to Enron"), but it offers solid background for insiders wanting to understand the scope and changes associated with the power industry.

I'm teaching an introductory energy course at the local community college and we're using this book as one of the course texts. I found that it works very well in giving the students a good foundation in how an electric utility works.

I worked as an engineer for an electric utility for over 20 years and this is obviously not an engineering reference book but I don't believe it claims to be one. It conveys the concepts in an easy-to-understand format that is useful for anyone wanting to learn about this industry.

This has served as a good reference book for me when i start looking into a new area of a utility. It is very high-level and general, but that is what most people need to begin with before moving into the deeper books out there.

The Electricity industry is an extremely complex and detailed environment. This book has proven to be an extremely valuable tool to provide new employess with some background and insight into their new positions. I recommend it to anyone in the industry that is looking for a high-level overview or introduction to the bigger picture.

Was looking for a book that was current and that provided sufficient details to understand all aspects of power, from generation through transmission to distribution. The book also does a great job explaining how power is bought, sold, traded, and regulated. Energy markets and energy legislation change constantly so it was nice to get a current view into the industry. Fantastic book and highly recommended.

I'm an engineer by training (Mechanical, HVAC) and am currently in business school at MIT. I have to say that this is one of the most useful books I've seen on the electricity/power industry. It covers all of the basics and talks thoroughly about the impact of regulation and industry trends.

I'd highly recommend Understanding Today's Electricity Business, especially for students or professionals trying to break into the growing energy industry.