There are some interesting battles surrounding solar energy in the States:
A system of generous net metering rules may have made sense at the outset of the solar revolution to get the party started. Now, however, it’s clear that it will have enormous disruptive impacts on APS and other utilities that bear the burden of keeping the grid operating.
“Somebody has to pay for maintenance and upkeep,” Guldner said, and solar users in the current rate structure aren’t doing so.
…
Republican and libertarian support for solar is informed by a “don’t tread on me” response to the utility monopoly system, making foes of those that might have been friends. It’s a wing of the pro-solar coalition that no one — and certainly not the anti-solar crowd — anticipated.
…
Inside, it was clear that APS and its supporters were out of luck. The idea for the $4.90 [grid maintenance] fee [for household solar users] came from the solar side — and very likely swung the vote.The charge won’t be enough to cover the utility’s grid costs until their next rate case in 2015, APS’s Guldner said, and will probably require the company to ask for much bigger fees down the road.
“In 2016, that rate increase could be a big one” and the utility will probably win the argument, Guldner said.
My guess? The grid will be ignored until the next disaster.
It was a mostly negative day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts down 14bp, FixedResets flat and DeemedRetractibles off 9bp. Volatility was muted. Volume was extremely low.
PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.69%, equivalent to 7.40% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long Corporates now yield about 4.8%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread is now about 260bp, a slight (and perhaps spurious) narrowing from the 265bp reported December 18.
HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
|||||||
Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.5473 % | 2,501.2 |
FixedFloater | 4.55 % | 3.85 % | 38,372 | 17.65 | 1 | 2.9093 % | 3,687.4 |
Floater | 2.99 % | 2.98 % | 62,250 | 19.75 | 3 | -0.5473 % | 2,700.6 |
OpRet | 4.65 % | 2.69 % | 86,771 | 0.42 | 3 | -0.0129 % | 2,657.8 |
SplitShare | 4.87 % | 4.77 % | 75,820 | 4.47 | 5 | -0.0160 % | 3,013.3 |
Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0129 % | 2,430.3 |
Perpetual-Premium | 5.65 % | 5.45 % | 133,260 | 4.34 | 13 | -0.0521 % | 2,306.5 |
Perpetual-Discount | 5.71 % | 5.69 % | 183,576 | 14.37 | 25 | -0.1441 % | 2,311.7 |
FixedReset | 5.00 % | 3.55 % | 232,947 | 3.59 | 84 | 0.0002 % | 2,466.1 |
Deemed-Retractible | 5.17 % | 4.35 % | 192,684 | 2.04 | 42 | -0.0885 % | 2,385.9 |
FloatingReset | 2.61 % | 2.38 % | 275,150 | 4.37 | 5 | 0.0728 % | 2,464.4 |
Performance Highlights | |||
Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
CU.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | -1.24 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 20.76 Evaluated at bid price : 20.76 Bid-YTW : 5.48 % |
FTS.PR.F | Perpetual-Discount | -1.12 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 22.10 Evaluated at bid price : 22.10 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
W.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 1.03 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 24.21 Evaluated at bid price : 24.47 Bid-YTW : 5.63 % |
W.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 24.15 Evaluated at bid price : 24.40 Bid-YTW : 5.75 % |
BAM.PR.G | FixedFloater | 2.91 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 21.56 Evaluated at bid price : 20.87 Bid-YTW : 3.85 % |
Volume Highlights | |||
Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
RY.PR.L | FixedReset | 54,100 | Not called for redemption. TD bought 15,500 from Desjardins at 25.31. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-02-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.33 Bid-YTW : 0.55 % |
TRP.PR.B | FixedReset | 25,600 | Desjardins crossed 20,000 at 20.30. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 20.34 Evaluated at bid price : 20.34 Bid-YTW : 3.95 % |
BNS.PR.X | FixedReset | 25,300 | TD crossed 25,000 at 25.57. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-04-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.55 Bid-YTW : 2.38 % |
GWO.PR.Q | Deemed-Retractible | 20,295 | Desjardins bought 17,400 from RBC at 22.85. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.84 Bid-YTW : 6.28 % |
ENB.PR.J | FixedReset | 18,550 | CIBC sold 11,800 to anonymous at 25.15. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2043-12-27 Maturity Price : 23.19 Evaluated at bid price : 25.12 Bid-YTW : 4.31 % |
RY.PR.C | Deemed-Retractible | 15,991 | RBC crossed 10,600 at 25.33. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2015-11-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.38 Bid-YTW : 4.02 % |
There were 5 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. |
Wide Spread Highlights | ||
Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
SLF.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 21.90 – 22.30 Spot Rate : 0.4000 Average : 0.2612 YTW SCENARIO |
CIU.PR.A | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 21.10 – 21.53 Spot Rate : 0.4300 Average : 0.3033 YTW SCENARIO |
TD.PR.G | FixedReset | Quote: 25.50 – 25.87 Spot Rate : 0.3700 Average : 0.2452 YTW SCENARIO |
IGM.PR.B | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.05 – 25.37 Spot Rate : 0.3200 Average : 0.2019 YTW SCENARIO |
FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | Quote: 21.05 – 21.42 Spot Rate : 0.3700 Average : 0.2619 YTW SCENARIO |
TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | Quote: 23.40 – 23.73 Spot Rate : 0.3300 Average : 0.2219 YTW SCENARIO |