Bragawatts: Nothing to Brag About
So-called 'round-trip trades' and what FERC should do about it.
Power trading companies that make the cut on the top-10 ranking list essentially have won the right to brag ... or have they?
Barbarians at the Gates
FERC... SEC... CFTC...Congress ... Ratings Agencies... Stockholders... Bondholders... Private Equity Investors?
No one has yet quantified or qualified the devastation to industry reputation, electric competition, or energy companies' future earnings power caused by the current round of energy trading scandals that is shaking the industry to its core.
Let's Be More Positive About Natural Gas!
There will be ample U.S. natural gas supplies to support a 30 Tcf market by 2010.
There will be ample natural gas supplies for a 30 Tcf market by 2010.
Managing the Telecom Value Curve
There are opportunities for utilities despite the telecom market correction of 2001 and 2002.
The risks for utilities entering telecommunications are real and ever present, especially with the recent 2001 and 2002 telecommunications market correction. But some utilities have found success in the telecom space by taking an incremental approach to manage risks and climb the telecom value curve.
Gas Turbinemania: The Merchant Power Plant Shake Out
Why it happened? Who lost in the bust? Who will survive to build another turbine?
Some merchant generation developers never saw the generation glut coming. Presenting the winners and losers of the latest cycle of boom, bubble, and collapse in the merchant generation industry.
The Top 10
The Ten Most Intriguing Business Decisions in the Post-Enron World.
10. Exelon throws in the towel on pebble bed; 9. Exelon, Entergy, Dominion ready to do the rounds on traditional nuclear; 8. AES wants out of Cilcorp marriage; 7. New-look Aquila goes hunting ...
Electricity Restructuring is No License for Central Planning
RTOs will perpetuate regional monopolies and political rate regulation.
Economists sometimes get confused - especially when the real world doesn't fit into their neat boxes.
Network industries like telephone and electricity are today's case in point. Economists have viewed these parts of the economy as requiring special attention from regulatory authorities. They're viewed as "natural" monopolies displaying "economies of scope" and characterized by risky "lock-in" or "path dependency" features. That supposedly makes them prone to abuse by their free-market owners, and therefore in need of impartial regulatory oversight.
People (June 1, 2002)
Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton has joined the board of directors of E2I. The National Hydropower Association presented Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) with its Legislator of the Year award . The New York Power Authority honored Shalom Zelingher, director, and Misak Krikorian, senior engineer, of the research and technology development unit of NYPA. And others ...
Point-Counterpoint
Letters to the Editor
David Moore: Chris King’s article, “How Competitive Metering Has Failed,” (Nov. 15, 2001) overstates both the weight the CBO report places on the demand side of the electricity market and the importance it assigns to advanced metering therein. King responds: While Mr. Moore and I seem to disagree on the semantics, it appears that we are in violent agreement on the big picture, as stated in the CBO report.
Bursting The Bubble
Merchants' trading volumes and revenue are still too inflated.
In the post-Enron world, many continue to question the legitimacy of the practice of inflating revenues through the trading business to bolster the company's financial picture.