Competition
at the Meter: Lessons
From the U.K.Metering lies at the heart of electric competition, but may work best as a "natural" monopoly controlled by the distribution utility.Metering represents one of the more complex issues in retail electric competition (em one that suffers from major misperceptions.
NIPSCO wins top prize for customer information
system deemed state-of-the-art.
Runner-up Brooklyn Union melds Internet
technology with internal systems.To borrow a phrase, only three things matter in energy competition: technology, technology, and technology.
An exaggeration, perhaps, but not too far off for the three-dozen-plus electric and gas utilities that submitted applications for the 1996 Utility Leadership Award for Information Technology (em ULTRA for short.
Sponsored by PUBLIC
Skittish Stockholders? Polling Arizona
Utilities, like the President, may face a hard fight
for this state's trust.
Should investors continue to put their faith in utilities?
The Virginia State Corporation Commission has authorized Virginia Electric and Power Co. to suspend a pilot program for its Standby Generation Control System. (For prior ruling approving the program, see Re Virginia Electric Power Co., 162 PUR4th 363 (Va.S.C.C. 1995).)
The approved pilot authorized the utility to install control equipment on a mixture of customer- and utility-owned generators. Virginia Power would then operate the control system to provide extra generation during peak.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has decided to forgo a formal price-cap plan for Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. (BHE), an electric utility, finding that traditional regulation would better maintain the proper balance of shareholder and ratepayer interests. The PUC had approved a price-cap mechanism for Central Maine Power Co., another of the state's investor-owned electric utilities (see, Re Central Maine Power Co. 159 PUR4th 209 (Me.P.U.C.
The Ohio Supreme Court has cleared the way for state regulators to review a complaint by Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. that American Electric Power (AEP), a utility holding company, used one of its electric generating subsidiaries, Ohio Power Co., as a "straw man" to circumvent the state's utility service territory laws and serve one of its retail customers.
The Maine Pubic Utilities Commission (PUC) has allowed Central Maine Power Co. to boost rates by 1.26 percent under an alternative rate plan approved in late 1994. The increase is based in part on an indicated inflation rate of 2.55 percent for the last quarter of 1996.
The PUC found considerable disagreement on whether the rates proposed by the utility would capture the full benefits from restructuring a number of the utility's purchased-power contracts with qualifying cogeneration facilities (QFs).
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has ruled that the leasing of "dark" optical fibers in telecommunications cable facilities owned by Idaho Power Co.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) has directed Ameritech Michigan, a telecommunications local exchange carrier (LEC) to discontinue its advertising campaign for a special program billed as a protection against "slamming" (em i.e., switching a customer's long-distance service without their knowledge or consent.