The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has revised its policy on potential abuses by affiliated power marketers, lifting restrictions on marketing transactions involving affiliates that do not have captive customers. The changes stem from a case involving USGen Power Services, L.P., an affiliate of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) that sought to market power to and from affiliated and nonaffiliated entities, including exempt wholesale generators (EWGs) and power marketers, but not to PG&E (Docket No.

The board of directors of the American Gas Association (A.G.A.) has adopted a resolution asking Congress to repeal the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) and establishing PUHCA repeal as a high priority. A.G.A. says it will actively lobby Congress and the Clinton Administration for repeal. The association seeks to continue the tangible consumer benefits of deregulation and increased competition in the natural gas industry. The A.G.A.

The Senate subcommittee funding the Department of Energy (DOE) may use a carrot-and-stick approach this year to push DOE into finding a quicker solution to the long- and short-term nuclear waste crisis. The debate to get the waste stored safely underground promises an appropriations war that could rival the federal budget skirmish.

Current law authorizes only a permanent repository, not interim storage. Utilities, however, claim they're running out of room to cache their waste.

If you attended any energy conference in the past year, even one on natural gas, I am confident that at least one panel was devoted to the restructuring of the electric industry.

A 10-year wholesale power contract between Wisconsin Electric Power Co. (WEP) and the City of Geneva, IL, is raising eyebrows in Wisconsin. The result of competitive bidding, the contract sets rates some 20 percent below what the city paid WEP under a 1985 contract. WEP will pay $1 million to Geneva for an electric substation.

The New York State Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee is holding a series of hearings on the phase-out of the gross receipts tax (GRT). Utilities in New York State have been arguing that the GRT and unwanted purchased-power contracts have driven the price of electricity up to a noncompetitive level. Testimony pointed out that, regardless of the methods used to introduce competition, New York state utilities would not be able to fairly compete with out-of-state suppliers.

Gladys L.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has released a survey of 90 state regulators and their opinions on electric utility deregulation, conducted by RKS Research and Consulting. S&P intends to use the survey to assess the "nonquantifiable risks and opportunities" of competition.

The study found that state regulators and staff do not fully support stranded-cost recovery through cost allocation at the state level. Regulators would prefer to share stranded costs among large customers, small commercial and residential customers, and shareholders.

A new Standard & Poor's (S&P) report, Direct Access Threatens Utility Revenues, predicts that electric utility revenues would decline 6 to 16 percent ($10 to $26 billion) if retail direct access is implemented. S&P bases its findings on two scenarios: In the severe case, direct access occurs immediately for all customer classes and no surcharge mechanism recovers lost revenues. The more reasonable scenario assumes that only large commercial and industrial (C/I) users will exercise their right to choose direct access and that 50 percent of C/I lost revenues will be recovered in rates.

In response to a mandate by New York Gov. George E. Pataki, a Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) advisory team has developed a proposal to dismantle the Long Island Lighting Co. (LILCO), hoping to reduce electric rates by as much as 12 percent. In response, Moody's Investors Service has changed the direction of its review of LILCO's credit ratings from negative to uncertain.

LIPA intends to create a LIPA "wire company" that would buy LILCO's transmission and distribution assets, including some payment for the Shoreham plant.

jü( )l, n: A unit of energy measurement equal to a watt-second.

According to a Newton-Evans Research Co. survey of 60 information system managers from gas, electric, and water utilities in more than 12 countries:

s About 45 percent of utilities surveyed plan to replace current computer systems through 1997.

s IOUs tend to spend more for information technology than their publicly operated peers: close to 3 percent of revenues.