Because the government rarely compensates operating companies for the full cost of this subsidy, operating companies accumulate large debts. Industrial customers are charged very high rates to partially offset the debt. The consequence of high industrial rates, together with poor power quality and reliability, is that many industries have installed their own generation. The result is a vicious downward spiral. As more firms move off the grid, the remaining firms must be charged even more to con-tinue to support the cross subsidy.
Higher prices cause yet more firms to install their own generation, and so it goes.
A variety of other structural problems further complicate the situation. Participants in the meeting were drawn from academia, industry, government and the regulatory sector. The goal of the new graduate training program is to combine a number of different disciplines in a way that allows students to address and solve real world problems. Integrated Studies of Health and Climate Few issues in global change are more politically compelling than the possibility that changes in climate could affect human health. To date, most assessments have failed to include the influence of many important factors, such as the adaptive response of the public health system.