The problems stem from a lack of incentives for long-term, fixed-price contracts.
The end of summer found energy regulators working overtime in California to appease an angry public that had seen electric bills double and triple in some parts of the state.
Frontlines
Federalism At Work
Excerpts from the field hearing conducted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on wholesale power markets in California.
San Diego, California, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2000, 9 a.m.
News Digest
NYPA's CEO clarifies details of the Power Authority's auction of nukes to Entergy.
Several comments are in order concerning the analysis by Dan Donoghue and David Haarmeyer of the pending sale of the New York Power Authority's Indian Point 3 and James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plants to Entergy Corp. (, June 15, 2000, p. 90).
Off Peak
November 1, 2000
Customers Move On
Oracle's energy director tells Congress how new-economy firms are taking reliability concerns into their own hands.
Neither this Agreement, nor any rights hereunder, may be assigned by operation of law or otherwise, in whole in part, by Client without the prior, written permission of [the software provider]. Any sale of more than fifty percent (50 percent) of the common voting stock of, or other right to control, Client shall be deemed an assignment. Any purported assignment without such permission shall be void.
e-Commerce is consolidating, but there's room for the little guys too.
Thomas Edison built the electric utility industry virtually from scratch out of his workshop, so can Internet mavericks do the same for e-commerce? Or has the moment passed for the garage startups, leaving it to the big utilitiesor better yet, the large conglomerates and multi-company joint venturesto attract capital and introduce the new ideas?
The data is in. Market power fails as an explanatory variable for episodes of high prices.
The past summer represented a key turning point in our understanding of deregulated wholesale power markets. Until then, it was possible to find major North American markets that lacked any experience with severe price spikes. Now that immunity is denied. Price spikes in California and other Western markets mean that the last regions bucking the trend have fallen in line.
