Become a PUF Member Organization

Triggering Nuclear Development

What construction cost might prompt orders for new nuclear power plants in Texas?

Evaluating the risk associated with new capacity investments is essential in today’s uncertain energy market, but a new business model could jumpstart nuclear plant investment.
Byline: 

Geoffrey Rothwell

Read Entire Article

Preparing for a Nuclear Exchange

Three ways to value nuclear power plants for buyers and sellers.

Appraisers don’t make the market — they reflect it — using three approaches to help buyers and sellers of nuclear assets determine plant value.
Byline: 

Michael J. Remsha, P.E., ASA, CMI

Read Entire Article

FERC's GulfTerra Orders: Changes in the Pipeline

A new FERC decision veers away from congressional intent not to burden intrastate pipelines with interstate policies.

Two recent orders in a GulfTerra Texas Pipeline LP rate case make new precedent for Natural Gas Policy Act intrastate pipelines providing interstate transportation.
Byline: 

J. Michel Marcoux

Read Entire Article

North American CIS Market In Transformation

Deregulation is the stimulus for a larger CIS footprint.

To achieve operational efficacy after harvesting the low-hanging fruit of cost reduction in customer care and billing, CIS products will need to integrate the complex business processes that cross the borders of several enterprise applications.
Byline: 

Zarko Sumic

Read Entire Article

CIS: The New Profit Machine

How IT can allow utilities to invest in customers — and even improve returns — without breaking the bank.

The North American CIS market is undergoing a transformation. What should utilities expect from a CIS system? What should they spend? And, is CIS system replacement always the answer?
Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

Read Entire Article

Business & Money: Bringing Back The Greenbacks

A spate of proposed U.S. tax rule changes soon may open a window of opportunity for certain utilities.

The proposed Homeland Investment Act on Repatriation may soon open a window of opportunity for U.S. companies with unrepatriated foreign earnings. If passed, it potentially would allow U.S. utilities to bring money back into the country without harsh tax penalties, thereby freeing up capital to reinvest in assets here, pay down U.S. debt, or fund other liabilities.
Byline: 

Todd M. Landau, Tadd A. Fowler, and Craig King

Read Entire Article

Commission Watch: The Tyranny of FERC

The commission's power grab over bankruptcy courts condemns merchants to a corporate netherworld.

A new district court decision out of Texas tilts the field in favor of FERC's assertion of exclusive authority over who decides whether a debtor can terminate unprofitable power contracts. For merchant energy companies struggling with dwindling capital and mounting credit risks, this change could mean bankruptcy is no longer a viable option for reorganizing.
Byline: 

Kenneth Irvin and Robert Loeffler

Read Entire Article

Perspective: Let's Get This Party Started

Why Ontario needs a competitive market.

Ultimately, relying on market forces is the best stick the Ontario government can use to bust open the power sector piñata and ensure that the benefits of sustainably priced, reliable electricity supplies rain down on Ontario consumers.
Byline: 

A.J. Goulding

Read Entire Article

What Are the Prospects for Coal?

Unless gas prices stabilize, coal prices will continue rising.

Gas prices to power plants have surged in 2003 and rekin­dled interest in new coal-fired power plants. An increasing number of new coal-­fired projects have been announced in the last 12 months. Recently, however, coal prices have begun to creep up, especially in the eastern United States.
Byline: 

Tom Woods

Read Entire Article

Letter to the Editor

Letters for May 2004.

The Chair of the NERC Load Forecasting Working Group disagrees with some conjectures in "NERC's Cloudy Crystal Ball" in the March 2004 issue.
Byline: 

John Harris

Read Entire Article