Outsourcing Information Technology: One Step at a Time
The challenges facing the information technology (IT) industry into the next century are significant. Yet so are the opportunities.
Learning from Waterloo: Computer Information Systems Will Carry the Day
Nathan Rothschild knew before anyone else that Napoleon would lose the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. With this advance knowledge he dumped his British-backed government securities on the market, making it appear as if he had heard the opposite outcome. His competing merchant bankers, following Rothschild's move, also sold their securities. After Rothschild saw the market bottom out, he repurchased every piece of paper he could lay his hands on (em at fire sale prices.
Know Thy Customer
Companies in competitive industries routinely collect information about their customers through a variety of sources (em including surveys, national census, and government and private sources. Such customer information and its applications are jealously guarded secrets, rarely shared with others in the industry. Customer information is not limited to expenditure on a company's products or services, but usually includes a customer profile.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds EWG Safe Harbor Regs
Turning back a challenge by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld federal regulations relaxing scrutiny of investments in exempt wholesale generators (EWGs) by electric utility holding companies.
Colorado Opens LEC Market
The Colorado legislature has enacted a new law designed to increase competition in the state's local telecommunications market (H.B. 95-1335). The statute directs the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to remove all barriers to entry into the local telecommunications market "as soon as is practicable." State regulators are encouraged to use "interim marketplace mechanisms" where competition is not immediately possible, with the ultimate goal of replacing the existing regulatory framework with a fully competitive state telecommunications market.
Iowa Issues Gas Price-hedging Guidelines
Concluding its inquiry into the use of financial derivatives by the state's natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs), the Iowa Utilities Board (UB) has given utilities the burden of showing that financial transactions are not "overly speculative." At a minimum, the UB expects an LDC's financial position to be "clearly associated with a physical quantity of gas purchased at indexed prices." When discerning between hedging and speculating in a swap transaction, an LDC must show that the swap includes the same quantity, duration, and pricing reference point as the physical gas.
Maryland Opts for "Measured" Restructuring
The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has completed its investigation of market competition and regulatory policies for the electric industry. The PSC chose a "measured approach," ruling against retail wheeling at this time while permitting, but not requiring, utility proposals for performance-based ratemaking.
The PSC described electricity rates in the state as "globally competitive," noting that Maryland's utilities were not encumbered by a lot of expensive nuclear power plants or high-cost cogeneration contracts.
Electric Restructing and the California "MOU"Alex Henney
The California Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement between Southern California Edison Co. (SCE), the California Manufacturers' Association, the California Large Energy Consumers' Association, and the Independent Energy Producers. It tackles three major issues:s recovery of stranded assets
s market power
s market structure.
If the MOU is eventually endorsed, it might be a landmark in electric restructuring \(em and not only in California.
Financial News
Does the size of a company affect the rate of return it should earn? If smaller companies should earn a higher return than larger firms, then small utilities, because of their size, should be allowed to adjust the rates they charge to customers.By far the most notable and well-documented apparent anomaly in the stock market is the effect of company size on equity returns. The first study focusing on the impact that company size exerts on security returns was performed by Rolf W.
Columbia Gas Seeks Market Rates
As part of a request to increase annual revenues by approximately $147 million, Columbia Gas Transmission has asked the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve a set of market-based rates for short-term firm transportation, interruptible transportation, temporary capacity release, and storage services (Docket No. RP95-408).