Karen Stachowski Joins FRI Advisory Board

April 12, 2022 FRI is pleased to welcome our newest Advisory Board member, Karen H. Stachowski, Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection & Advocate Unit of the Financial Division in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General. In this role, she focuses on proceedings before the Tennessee Public Utility Commission (TPUC), which is responsible for regulating Tennessee’s investor-owned utility companies.  The Consumer Advocate seeks to enforce laws applicable to public utilities, to remove barriers to competition in public utilities markets, and to seek a healthy balance between regulation, competition, and the public interest.  It participates in regulatory proceedings…

FRI Joins Engaging 4 MO Series

FRI’s Executive Director, Dr. Michael Sykuta, joined the Engaging 4 MO webinar series to tackle the question, “Who Sets My Utility Bill?”  The topic was sparked by a social media post complaining about the rates energy companies are allowed to charge “with no concern for the public.” The 30-minute video debunks this notion and dives a little deeper into just how many groups are involved in making sure that these rates serve the greater good (including keeping the lights on at the energy companies themselves).   Presented by the MU Division of Applied Social Sciences,…

Research Update: Household Appliance Stock, Income, and Electricity Demand Elasticity

January 31, 2022 Dr. Adrienne Ohler, Associate Research Professor with FRI, published a study titled “The Household Appliance Stock, Income, and Electricity Demand Elasticity” examining how electricity demand elasticity is impacted by household income and the appliance stock. The paper, published in the January 2022 issue of The Energy Journal,  is co-authored with Dr. David Loomis of Illinois State University and former ISU graduate student Yewanda Marquis. The abstract of the article reads: “This paper estimates household electricity demand using data from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). Previous…

NRDC Sponsors 2022 FRI Crystal Award

January 20, 2022 The FRI is excited to announce the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) as the sponsor for 2022 FRI Crystal Award for Distinguished Contribution. First awarded in 2013, the Crystal Award is presented each year to recognize an individual who has made recent and significant contributions to the design, implementation or analysis of public utility regulatory policy. The Crystal Award provides an opportunity to recognize excellence and achievement across regulated industries and further promote the FRI mission. Although NRDC’s sponsorship with FRI is new, NRDC has a long history with the Crystal Award. Ralph…

2021 Public Utility Symposium Moved to Virtual

August 26, 2021 We have made the difficult decision to hold the 2021 FRI Symposium entirely virtual this year. The thought of leaving the virtual meeting world was exciting, but the reality is that travel is still not as safe and reliable as we want it to be, and the responsible decision is to acknowledge that things are not improving as quickly as we had hoped. Several of our presenters had health concerns, many of our presenters were having trouble getting permission for business-related travel, and all of our presenters had difficulties with flight cancelations (as well as disconcerting…

FRI Welcomes Dr. Adrienne Ohler

June 17, 2021 FRI is excited to announce the addition of Dr. Adrienne Ohler to the FRI team, effective July 1, 2021. Dr. Ohler is an Associate Research Professor at the University of Missouri with appointments in the Division of Applied Social Sciences and the School of Medicine. She has published several papers related to renewable energy issues and to consumer demand for electricity in peer-reviewed journals such as The Energy Journal, The Electricity Journal, and Energy Policy. Working with FRI, Dr. Ohler will be developing research and grant opportunities related to the regulation of public utilities…

David K. Owens Selected for 2021 Crystal Award

April 27, 2021 FRI has selected David K. Owens as recipient of the 2021 Crystal Award for Distinguished Service. David K. Owens, 2021 Crystal Award honoree Owens is President and Energy Consultant at Da’VAS, LLC. He retired in 2017 as Executive Vice President of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). He is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in public policies surrounding utility operations, strategic planning, technology development, rate making and regulation. He is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on electric utility issues, industry restructuring and transformation. Owens has a long history of contributions to the utility industry. During…

Same FRI, New Home and New Opportunities

February 2, 2021 — During January 2021, the Financial Research Institute (FRI) moved to a new home on the University of Missouri campus along with new academic leadership as part of the Division of Applied Social Sciences (DASS). Since its founding in 1988, the FRI had been housed within the (now) Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business at the University “to promote education, research and service across various areas of finance.” Over the years, the FRI’s programs have evolved to focus primarily on economic, financial and regulatory issues related specifically to regulated utility industries. As part…

FRI Selects Kenneth Colburn as 2020 Crystal Award Recipient

The FRI Crystal Award was created to recognize an individual who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the design, implementation or analysis of public utility regulatory policy. The award is presented annually during the FRI Symposium.