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YEAR 2000. MILLENNIUM. DEREGULATION. Each word strikes fear into the heart of meter manufacturers and utilities alike. Like the turning of the century, deregulation is coming for the electric utility industry, and sooner than we think. How will it affect the metering industry?

The first real indication can be found in California. There, by order of the state public utilities commission, the customer's energy supplier (the energy service provider or the utility distribution company) will, for the time being, own the meter.

Speaking on June 11 in Washington, D.C., at a symposium sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Rep. dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) was heard to say that he would have his electric restructuring bill out of committee by the end of July. He said his bill would mandate electric competition by 2000--just the sort of deadline that Texas Public Utility Commission Chair Robert Gee likes to call a "Hong Kong" clause.

Will the millennium bring the dawn of customer choice? Here we are, halfway through 1997. Hong Kong is now Chinese, but in America we are still ratepayers.

The Internet doesn't suit companies

that are vulnerable to security or financial risk (em

like electric transmission providers.

THE RUSH IS ON TO SET OASIS IN MOTION.

CMS Generation Co., a unit of CMS Energy Corp., has begun operating the 35-Mw, waste-wood-fueled, independent Genesee Power Station near Flint, MI. CMS Generation will sell the electricity to Consumers Power Co. under a long-term contract. Half the plant is owned by CMS, half by Black & Veatch Development Corp. and Genesee Power Co.

Another unit of CMS Energy, CMS Gas and Electric Marketing, has signed an agreement with Marine Coal Sales Co. of Indianapolis, IN, to market electricity, coal, and natural gas in the east central United States.

California's retreat from its zero-emission targets eases the pressure on utilities, making time for a fresh look at public and private efforts.

Electric vehicles (EVs) hold interest for utility companies around the world.

In tales of old, it was just a matter of finding the bottle, rubbing it the right way, and VOILA! (em out came the genie to grant our wishes. But that myth hasn't worked to fully open up transmission (em at least not to date. Some say the devil is in the details, but these details are truly devilish.