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Frontlines & Op-Ed

Frontlines: You're Fired!

Utilities have little to show for the millions they pay in campaign contributions.

If Donald Trump could call Congress on the carpet, he would send lawmakers packing with those two now infamous words, “You’re fired!” from his reality TV show “The Apprentice.” Now think of how many times Congress has failed to pass an energy bill without incident.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Letter to the Editor

Letters for April 2004.

Cato's Peter Van Doren and Jerry Taylor analyzed the electricity crisis in "Rethinking Restructuring" (February 2004) and concluded that the solution to a bad situation is vertical integration and mandatory real-time pricing. In my opinion they have got it half right.
Byline: 

Jim Johnston

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Frontlines: Sticker Shock

Electricity rates may be heading skyward sooner than we think.

Even in regulated states, balancing shareholder interest against ratepayer interest is still more art than science. A fact that utilities will always dread, as long as there are rate cases.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Letters to the Editor

Virginia SCC

The Virginia SCC clarifies factual inaccuracies in January 2004’s columns "Frontlines" and "Commission Watch: Grid Battle Is Joined."
Byline: 

William H. Chambliss

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Frontlines: Still More Blackouts?

Do-nothing regulators scare off investment, raising prospects for yet another large-scale power failure.

Let's hope the industry spends the money before Mother Nature throws her next pop quiz.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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The Reliability Czar

Is FERC the rightful heir?

The possibility that energy legislation drafted last year won't pass in 2004 has created a power vacuum. Who now is czar of electric utility reliability?
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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FERC Throws Down The Gauntlet

The legal battle of the century is ready to begin.

A FERC order late last year — that AEP must join the PJM grid to meet conditions of its 2000 merger with Central and Southwest Corp. — was tantamount to a declaration of war with state regulators. At the center of the issue is whether FERC has authority to pre-empt the states on development of regional transmission organizations.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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LNG: The Next Prize?

CERA's Daniel Yergin says global gas markets will define the new century, just as oil did for the last 100 years.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates Chairman Daniel Yergin captures in a few words oil's extraordinary past. Might those words one day describe the next 100 years of natural gas development? Talking with Yergin in early November, I found a man convinced that the forces that shaped a global oil market are at work in shaping a global market for natural gas. I'll be sharing some of his words with you.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Time After Time

Regulators are starting to show signs of strain over the restructuring debate.

Up to now, many in the industry thought everybody but the regulators had tired of the constant back-and-forth over regional market issues such as standard market design. This is not to say that state regulators have been able to find any common resolution.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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