People
New Positions:
AEP named John D. Harper vice president of general services. Harper has been with AEP since 2000, most recently as vice president of corporate technology development.
Paul M. Barbas joined the senior management at Chesapeake Service Co., taking on the role of president. He also becomes vice president of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. Barbas previously was executive vice president of Allegheny Power.
Perspective
Proper authority and market monitoring and mitigation could make the system work.
In the last few years we have watched appalled as the western U.S. electricity markets collapsed, taking with them the solvency and viability of several very large participants, including the California Power Exchange (PX).
Commission Watch
How far will FERC go to restore market confidence?
Despite keen industry interest in FERC's proposed "rules of the road," aka new codes of conduct, it appears the industry will have to wait. FERC recently granted extensions for filings, and the commission will not gather all reply comments until Sept. 18. Filings so far point to differences over the proposals, especially in time frames for reporting bad behavior, appropriate monetary penalties, and defining to whom the rules apply.
Business & Money
Is the industry on the verge of a new consolidation wave? Should it be?
Technology Corridor
How effective are federal energy efficiency regulations?
New buildings must meet federal energy efficiency guidelines, which have historically used site-energy measurements as the metric for building energy consumption. Using site-energy measurements, though, ends up favoring the use of electricity from the grid, rather than using electricity produced on site.
Outdated "wisdom" wastes the nation's electricity infrastructure. Distributed CH&P is the answer.
With just a few changes in reliability rules, regulators could call on consumer loads to boost power reserves for outages and contingencies.
The industry continues to debate the costs and technology of automated meter reading, even as some regulators insist on immediate implementation.
Sizable gains return to the market.
The developing jurisdictional battle over authorizing rejection of wholesale power supply agreements is getting white-hot, pitting creditors against ratepayers.