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Frontlines & Op-Ed

Frontlines

Will a back-to-basics strategy meet investor expectations?

Frontlines

Will a back-to-basics strategy meet investor expectations?

It's an issue that is coming to the fore with greater force-the debate over how utilities should honor their obligation to stockholders. But this time there seems to be quite a difference of opinion over strategy-or so we found in our annual finance issue.

Byline: 
Richard Stavros
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Letters to the Editor

Regarding “Consolidating Co-ops,” June 2004

“Co-ops are beginning to look like ripe fruit” for IOU acquisition, Michael T. Burr wrote in “Consolidating Co-ops” in the June 2004 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. In many cases, just the opposite is true, writes one contributor.
Byline: 

Bill Conway, Matt Berry

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Irreconcilable Differences?

Imported natural gas contains more Btus and fewer impurities than the domestic variety, raising questions for LNG development.

While the gas industry is not yet ready to admit it, there may be a high price to pay to deal with the differences that come from an increase in imports of natural gas from overseas. But the alternative of not paying to avert a natural gas crisis would be irreconcilable.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Facing the Death Penalty

Did FERC's market power ruling go too far?

Market-based sales put at risk are the financial lifeblood of some utilities, especially those of the multi-billion-dollar, vertically integrated variety. Those that fail FERC's market-power test will be forced to sell their excess generation at cost-based rates — a "death penalty," according to some utility CEOs.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Letters To The Editor

ISO/RTO

I believe the primary measure of successful “deregulation” is a minimization of the delivered cost of power to end users, at an acceptable level of reliability. To help achieve that, I suggest the following actions should be taken nationwide on a timely and consistent basis.
Byline: 

Richard P. Felak

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Lost in Translation

Critics say FERC's filed rate doctrine is wrong for the times.

It’s quite remarkable how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been able to pound a square peg into a round hole. With not much more than a wink and a smile, FERC has taken a depression-era law meant for monopolies — the Federal Power Act — and has made it serve double duty as a foundation for competitive power markets. Yet FERC’s reinterpretation, for all its good intentions, may prove inadequate in the long run to define and support full-fledged energy markets.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Frontlines

The U.S. faces a near doubling of population this century. Will there be enough power for the people?

Frontlines

The U.S. faces a near doubling of population this century. Will there be enough power for the people?

On this the 75th anniversary of its publication, -a journal that has sought out the truth through its investigation and understanding, been a place for knowledge and scholarship, and been a medium for intellectual discourse within the energy industry-looks out to the future.

In 2004, the quintessential question remains what it was 75 years ago: How will the energy industry meet the demands of tomorrow?

Byline: 
Richard Stavros
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Letter to the Editor

Letters for May 2004.

The Chair of the NERC Load Forecasting Working Group disagrees with some conjectures in "NERC's Cloudy Crystal Ball" in the March 2004 issue.
Byline: 

John Harris

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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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