People
People for November 1, 2003
New opportunities at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Analysis Group, Southwest Gas Corp., and others.
Letters to the Editor
Two letters, one correction
Jonathan Jacobs, Managing Consultant at PA Consulting Group, responds to a letter to the editor in the Oct. 1, 2003 issue from Lewis Evans and Kevin Counsell. And former FERC commissioner Matthew Holden Jr. disagrees with John Sillin's commentary in "The Blackout of 2003: Why We Fell Into the Heart of Darkness" in the Sept. 15, 2003 issue.
AEP's Gutsy Gambit
It would join an RTO but dictate the terms — a dangerous game that has the industry talking.
When I talked a few months ago with AEP President and CEO Linn Draper Jr., he discussed how his company would have joined the PJM RTO in March were it not for the backlash he was getting from certain state regulators.
The Finance Forum: Growth in a Back-to-Basics World
Thomas Fanning, executive vice president and CFO, Southern Co.
Interviews by
What next? That seems to be the question on every utility executive's mind. After two years of stomach-wrenching ratings downgrades, agonizing downward valuations, embarrassing accounting scandals, skyrocketing gas prices, and positively stubborn mild weather, or the "perfect storm," as many have called it, many believe the worst is now over.
But will the the recovery be worth the wait?
21st Century ROEs: What Is Reasonable?
How to benchmark return on equity (ROE) and depreciation expense in utility rate cases.
How to benchmark return on equity (ROE) and depreciation expense in utility rate cases.
The Dividend Bust?
A close look at the effect of the dividend tax cut reveals a disappointing investor reaction.
A close look at the effect of the dividend tax cut reveals a disappointing investor reaction.
While some predicted a very significant increase in price for utilities if dividend taxes were reduced, the actual price change data show a rather different picture.
Energy Technology: Winner Take All
A review of which technologies and companies stand to win and lose as a result of the 2003 blackout.
A review of which technologies and companies stand to win and lose as a result of the 2003 blackout.
Mishap, human error, and malice regularly crash the electric system. We have lurched from the Western economic power crisis of 1999-2000 to the Eastern reliability power crisis of 2003. Neither more studies nor more blackouts have changed what's been built-an excessive quantity of large generation plants dependent on relatively few major transmission lines. On its current course, the grid's inevitable destination is disaster.
Frontlines
Wall Street wants utilities to return to basics, but the CEOs worry it won't be enough.
Frontlines
Wall Street wants utilities to return to basics, but the CEOs worry it won't be enough.
One can certainly understand why so many utility chiefs steered their companies back to basics over the past two years. They read the newspapers. They knew what the financial community was saying. Investors and debt-rating agencies might have overreacted, I suppose. Some on Wall Street seem to think so. Not all utilities should have been downgraded or downsized, they argue. Not all business plans were suspect.
People
New Positions:
People
Perspective
New realities demand new direction from utilities.
Perspective
New realities demand new direction from utilities.