Will tomorrow's transmission be privately funded, with the first-class seats reserved for investors?
The six o'clock news has locked its radar on California's power market meltdown, and rightly so. But that's no reason to overlook the nation's heartland, where a utility coming late to the game has set the pot boiling.
1 "An Open Letter to Members of the U.S. House and Senate Conference Committee About National Electric Power Transmission Policy from a Group of Concerned Engineers,", Oct. 1, 1992, pg. 15.
2 Dr. Eugene Coyle, Price Discrimination, Electric Redlining, and Price Fixing in Deregulated Electric Power, , January 2000, p. 7, 8.
3 J.M. Keynes, "The End of Laissez-faire" in , London, The Macmillan Press, 1972, p. 284 .
4 Ibid., pg. 35.
* All four of the operational independent system operators (ISOs) in the United States experience market-power problems when demand is high (typically during the summer). As a consequence, the four ISOs impose price or bid caps on the participating generators. A robust demand side that participated in bulk-power markets might obviate the need for such caps.
¥ CUSTOMBid is a product of Mellowmede Ltd., developed in consultation with the staff of London Economics International LLC. London Economics International LLC is an exclusive licensee of CUSTOMBid.
# "Cournot competition" refers to an oligopoly in which each firm believes that its rivals are committed to a certain level of production and that rivals will reduce their prices as needed to sell that amount.
Off Peak
February 15, 2001
Deregulation 101
California high school students put their education to work.
Jan. 11, 2001
Dear Secretary of Energy Richardson:
News Analysis
With undersea cable linking Canada to Manhattan, Project Neptune could remake the transmission biz.
With undersea cable linking Canada to Manhattan, Project Neptune could remake the transmission biz.
For the utility, wresting its assets from PUC control is the real point.
Gas & Electric Co.'s 17-month-old proposal to divest its hydro assets via auction likely is dead, a casualty of California's ongoing energy market turmoil. Despite this reality, the utility's auction proposal remained active at the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as of press time in mid-January, even as the governor and state legislature held emergency meetings amid rolling blackouts.