The Energy And Market Page, T+248 - September 25, 2017; Trump Rally Continues -- But Now It's Sector Rotation And Stock-Picking

The Market: for the first six months of the Trump rally, it looks like, in hindsight, one could hardly go wrong in stock picks. Now, the market is flat and stock picking (or sector rotation) seems to be the name of the game. Even with the market flat today, over 100 (currently 110) NYSE listings hit new 52-week highs, including: GM; Norfolk Southern; Oasis Midstream Partners; Phillips 66; Royal Dutch Shell; Statoil; Union Pacific.

• new lows: only 11 

No good deed goes unpunished: Target announces that it will raise pay to $15/hour for its employees -- and shares of TGT promptly fall -- now down to about $58.55. The "minimum wage" will be seen several years from now. 

Solar sanity. From LJworld.com, Kansans who install solar panels may soon pay higher electric bills.

Kansas electric customers who install solar panels or other kinds of self-generation devices may soon have to pay higher rates for electricity than other residential customers.

In a long-awaited and highly controversial ruling Thursday, the Kansas Corporation Commission said electric utilities may treat customers who generate their own power as a separate class and charge them higher rates in order to make sure they pay their fair share of the cost of maintaining the power grid. The ruling applies only to residential customers using what are called "distributed generation," or DG systems, such as solar panels.

Officials at Westar Energy, which serves Lawrence and most of the state of Kansas, applauded the decision, saying it will ensure fairness in the way rates are levied. They also said they plan to file a new rate case early next year in which they will take advantage of the ruling, putting people with rooftop solar panels and other DG systems in a separate class of residential customers.

Westar spokeswoman Gina Penzig said about 80 percent of the utility's costs are fixed costs related to maintaining power plants and the transmission grid. Only about 20 percent of its costs are determined by the amount of energy used.

A customer's bill, however, is almost the exact opposite, she said, because only 10 to 20 percent of that bill reflects fixed costs, while the other 80 to 90 percent is based on usage.

This, by the way, is no different than California and other states placing "road use" fees on EVs at time of annual registration. If the courts strike down what Kansas is doing, to be consistent, courts will also have to strike down "road use" fees that target one class of users.