Five Massachusetts electric companies stand to gain more from industry restructuring than they would lose in stranded investment.

The U.S. Department of Energy will make $15 million in grants available to those willing to buy early versions of market-ready fuel cells. DOE will provide $1,000 per kilowatt, or up to a third of costs. Assistance will target buyers that want to purchase between 100 and 3,000 kilowatts. The first round of awards will be made by September 30. The application package is available on the Internet at http:/www.metc.doe.gov/business/ solicita.html. A diskette version (WordPerfect 5.2) may be requested by fax: (304) 285-4683, attn: R. Diane Manilla, M.S.

Nancy Schultz was promoted to engineering and construction services director at Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. She joined Transco in 1982.

Columbia Energy Services has hired Greg Davis at its Pittsburgh office. He previously worked for the Natural Gas Clearinghouse and Exxon Corp.

James S. Thomson has joined Consolidated Natural Gas Co. as president of its new subsidiary, CNG International Corp. He last worked at Edison International's Mission Energy Co.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. has promoted Randy H.

I confess. I haven't yet read the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Order 888.

The movement to introduce competition in the electricity industry comes at a time when many utilities are already ailing or underperforming. In fact, since 1990, half of U.S. investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have failed to consistently grow their dividends, or have cut or eliminated them altogether. According to a new study by Resource Data International, U.S. Electric Utility Industry Merger and Acquisitions, 1996, the current trend toward mergers and acquisitions is fueled by a desire to improve shareholder returns.

Dwindling economic competitiveness has plagued the nuclear power industry for

some years. In the industry's early years, some reactors were completed for less than $100 million. Experience gained overseas (often in projects with American partners) provides sobering evidence that nuclear reactors can still be built at low cost in short periods of time.

U.S. utilities find

a wealth of opportunity

down under.Australia.

It drew more than $7 billion in investment from U.S. electric utility subsidiaries at the end of 1995. Ongoing privatization will likely draw billions more.

Five electric distribution companies and a generating company have been sold in Australia's southeastern State of Victoria, and four more generating companies are expected to go on the block.

Probably the quickest way to get punched out in Toronto is to call Canada the 51st state. But let's face it,

the border is getting murky, like power markets.

Aren't we supposed to be importing power from Canada? Didn't the NIMBY syndrome kill off baseload generation construction, making our provincial neighbors the source of our power and raw materials? Then why are companies like Northeast Utilities suddenly seeking permission to export power to the provinces?

First it deregulated generation.

Then distribution (no more exclusive franchise).

Only now is New Zealand turning

to the wholesale market.

A decade ago New Zealand's economy was suffering from prolonged stagnation. The country relied too much on the public sector.

First came the Pool, with its faults and virtues.

Now comes a wave of troubling takeovers.

What happens when retail supply opens up?

Much of the pressure to reform the electricity supply industry in the United States assumes that the United Kingdom's electricity experiment offers a proven model.