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Fortnightly Magazine - July 1 1996

Pipelines: Beware of Riptides

Gas restructuring didn't end with Order 636, it just outran the regulators. Now the rules come from the downstream dealmakers.

Gas restructuring didn't end with Order 636, it just outran the regulators. Now the rules come from the downstream dealmakers.

Byline: 

David A. Foti, and Brian J. Cohen

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D'Amato Sends PUHCA Bill to Mark Up

"This is not an intent to strip away consumer protection," Sen. Alfonse M.

D'Amato (R-NY) told

a Senate panel about S. 1317, a bipartisan bill to repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA).

D'Amato, chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, received nods from federal and state regulators at the June 6 hearing, although each voiced reservations. Three utility chiefs spoke in favor of the legislation.

Consumer advocates took the opposite tack.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Off Peak

A few utility executives claim to sleep untroubled by the future of their companies. Most, however, admit to some tossing and turning engendered by concern over competition and the complacency of coworkers.

What, if anything, are they doing about it?

A survey of 117 PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY subscribers reveals that American utility executives are asking themselves all the tough questions about the future of their operations. It also reveals a widespread sense of urgency in the search for answers.

Byline: 
Geoffrey M. Edelman, and C. Richard Gwinn
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R&D for a Competitive Power Industry

R & D for

a Competitive Power Industry

The secret lies in gaining exclusive-use rights to protect your product or process from your competitors.

The electric utility industry is inherently a high-technology business. Those who ignore this fact for long will fall behind (em not only in using the technology, but also in contending against their higher-tech competitors.

Byline: 
R.L. Hirsch, S.O. Dean, and R.H. Bezdek
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FERC to Standardize Gas Practices

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a proposed rule to standardize the business practices of open-access

natural gas pipelines (Docket No. RM96-1-000). The rule would adopt the 140 standards recently filed by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB).

The proposal calls for a standard Internet connection between pipelines and customers, to eliminate the disparity in procedures and interfaces that have caused confusion to date.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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