Falling fuel prices and increased energy transfers among Midcontinent Independent System Operator regions kept average real-time power prices virtually flat in August compared with July, stakeholders learned in a conference call Tuesday.
The real-time average price in August was $32.12/MWh, compared with $32.15/MWh in July and $31.65/MWh in August 2013, according to material used in Tuesday’s informational forum, a conference call that included…
If you’re not convinced there are dangers posed by the lack of competition in the US small parcel market, please read the transcript from FedEx’s earnings call on March 19, 2014. Near the end of the call FedEx stated that the 2013 peak season debacle was caused more by its customers’ behavior than by the severe winter storms and lack of preparation by the national carriers. And despite the repeated pummeling UPS received in the media, it stated right after peak season that it would not be increasing its capacity for 2014. UPS actually bragged how it decided not to have its drivers work on Christmas. (UPS wisely changed its tune and in July declared 2014 “the year of investing for the customer.”)
FedEx and UPS are both world class companies offering first class service, yet only in an atmosphere lacking in competition could they make public statements like the ones above. I could not imagine a regional parcel carrier criticizing its own customers or crowing how they favored their…