Projects

Grové was appointed as an advisor to the National Electricity Regulator to assist with their preparations for implementing a multi-year pricing regime for Eskom (the national South African power utility). ...

Grové was appointed as an sector expert to the EB Steam team. He advised on a wide range of power sector economic and regulatory issues that arose during the arbitration and was also responsible for drafting expert reports that would be filed as part of the process. ...

Grové served as a member of the Board of the Regulator and also chaired the Regulatory Committee that was responsible for all matters related to the TNPA's tariffs and tariff setting methodology. His responsibilities included chairing public hearings and oversight of the tariff review processes in the Ports Regulator; of the development of a new tariff and pricing structure methodology; and of the finalisation of the annual tariff determination. ...

We constructed a comprehensive paramaterised multi-period financial model of the client's profitability metrics under arbitrary assumptions around volume and macro-economic scenarios. We generated multiple stochastic macro-economic scenarios incorporating the client's forecasts. We developed a visual spreadsheet tool to illustrate the likely range of consequences under the pricing options envisaged by the client. This process allowed the client to refine their offering and confirm that their business strategy gave them desirable levels of risk/reward from the unhedged exposures. ...

Meridian was appointed to prepare the Sunrise tariff application. However, given that Sunrise required a levelised cost tariff (an inflation indexed tariff) we first had to engage NERSA around the methodology that Sunrise wished to use for the application. After extensive engagements and exchanges of letters on the technicalities of our proposed approach (and demonstrating its NPV equivalence to the NERSA Rate of Return approach) we were able to reach a point where the tariff application could proceed on a levelised cost basis. ...

After a thorough analysis of the client's business strategy, we constructed both a levelised cost tariff model and a rate of return tariff model. Based on the client's business requirements we advised the implementation of a levelised cost tariff indexed to inflation. We created a complex levelised cost model to calculate the appropriate tariff to be charged considering the financial implications of various operational scenarios. We were instrumental in the NERSA application process, writing all submission documentation for the client's final review. The tariff application was successfully approved, unchallenged, by NERSA in March 2013. To our knowledge this was the ...

We provided analytical, and strategic support in a number of Gas Supply Agreement negotiations between our client (a piped-gas trader) and their customers. We assisted by calculating the possible profit impact of offering customised escalation adjustment mechanisms under uncertain future scenarios, and by quantifying the sensitivity of a customer's pricing to the pattern-of-use elements of the pricing mechanism under their control. We created innovative mechanisms to facilitate differential pricing for appropriate customers whilst complying with the non-discriminatory requirements of the regulatory environment. ...

We built a financial model of the savings that would be realised by the power utility under various possible operational modes, quantities of gas sold and instantaneous demand requirements. We integrated this model with the clients own financial model to ensure that multiple scenarios could be analysed both from the client's perspective and that of the utility. ...

In this high-level study, we analysed the nature of the City's existing network and generation infrastructure and considered the demand-side data that could be obtained from the City. We then evaluated the practical and economic potential for utilising the City's pump storage scheme, open cycle gas turbines, demand response and other innovative load curtailment strategies to avoid loadshedding. ...

We created a pricing mechanism using a number of objective, measurable features related to customers' consumption profiles which allowed significant variation in pricing. This mechanism created incentives for customers to improve their efficiency by rewarding customers who use gas in a more consistent manner with lower prices. Creation of the pricing mechanism required use of non-linear mathematical optimisation techniques under multiple constraints in order to satisfy the competing requirements. ...