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Fortnightly Magazine - September 1 1995

Beleaguered Columbia Gas Settles, Waits

The Columbia Gas System, Inc. (CGS) has reached an agreement, in principle, resolving the class action lawsuits alleging securities law violations following CGS's June 1991 major charge against earnings and the suspension of its common stock dividend. Those lawsuits were filed against CGS, certain officers and directors, the company's independent public accountants, and the underwriters for the company's 1990 common stock offering. The CGS portion of the proposed $36.5-million settlement would be $16.5 million. The remainder would be shared among the other defendants.
Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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New Coalition Supports Fessler Proposal

A new coalition of 82 varied organizations (em including businesses, consumers, environmentalists, and utilities (em has announced support for the California Public Utility Commission's (CPUC's) majority proposal to restructure the electric industry.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Mailbag

Who's Tripping?

It requires a truly acrobatic stretch of the imagination to reach the same conclusions as Pennsylvania Commissioner John Hanger in his article, "Electric Reliability: How PJM Tripped on Gas-Fired Power Plants" (May l, 1995). The truth is that the natural gas system performed efficiently and reliably in January 1994, exactly as planned. The operators of the power plants in question purchased interruptible gas-transportation contracts to keep their fuel costs low.

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People

United Water has named Robert A. Gerber, Jr. v.p. of corporate law for United Water Management & Services, a subsidiary.

AstroPower, Inc., a semi-conductor company specializing in photovoltaic energy conversion and optoelectric technology, has appointed Dr. George W. Roland v.p. and g.m. of its solar power business.

Eldon A. Cotton, assistant g.m.-power for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, was named president of the American Public Power Association.

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Frontlines

For a good half a century, electric regulation has meant law, accounting, and economics. But no more. Now it's all about computers, telecommunications, and file-transfer protocols. Forget about CWIP, AFUDC, double leverage, and interest synchronization. They are all irrelevant.

Byline: 
Bruce W. Radford
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Photovoltaics: A Dispatchable Peak-Shaving Option

PV technology combined with storage offers a cost-effective alternative to capacity additions.By John Byrne,

Young-Doo Wang,

Ralph Nigro, and

Steven E. Letendre

Until recently, both regulators and electric utilities have considered photovoltaic (PV) technology (i.e., solar cells) an unattractive

energy-supply option because of its relatively high cost. Now, however, a number of utilities have shown interest in using PV for peak-shaving.

Byline: 
John Byrne, Young-Doo Wang, Ralph Nigro, and Steven E. Letendre
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The Efficient Merger: Synergies and Strategic Position

Time to rethink conventional

mergers? For

instance, why

combine two vertically integrated utilities when the market may call for disaggregation?

All deregulating industries share the same lesson: profits eventually decline, leading to consolidation. Electric utilities are no different.

Byline: 
Thomas J. Flaherty
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The Efficient Utility: Labor, Capital, and Profit

Are utilities working at top productive capacity? A novel look at 19 investor-owned electrics in the Sun Belt.

Major restructuring is expected to hit investor-owned utilities (IOUs) over the next decade. Competitive market forces, in place of rate-of-return regulation, will require many companies to evaluate their resource allocations. No longer will singular adjustments in resource use suffice when both capital and labor resources must be realigned.

Byline: 
D. Thomas Taylor and Russell G. Thompson
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