Backtracking in Georgia

The customer is always right.

Given all the flack it’s caught of late, it may not be too far off before Georgia’s esteemed deregulation program is saddled with the label of “fiasco” and “debacle.” The timing is strikingly similar to California, where that state’s electric restructuring experiment crumbled in the summer of 2000, two years and change after the flawed plan switched on.
Read Entire Article

The Great Canadian Gas Race

Northern gas rush proves timely for power generators.

America’s insatiable demand for clean burning power generated in newly minted natural gas-fired power plants has caused a massive Canada-wide hunt for new gas resources, and a search for how to get it across the border.
Byline: 

Mark Hand

Read Entire Article

Utility Risk Programs: Success or Failure?

State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.

A well-known economist analyzes how well U.S. utilities performed in their risk management programs during 2001/2002.
Byline: 

John H. Herbert

Read Entire Article

20/20 Hindsight: The Gas Forecasting Dilemma

The recent experience of MichCon illustrates what happens when forecasters at gas distribution companies guess wrong.

The Michigan Consolidated Gas Company’s (MichCon) bad experience with gas forecasting illustrates an important public policy question: What is the optimal supply acquisition strategy for a regulated gas utility?
Byline: 

Stuart L. Harshbarger, Ph.D

Read Entire Article

Indecent Disclosure?

Most pan FERC NOPR, but gas association eyes FERC role.

Citing overlap with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the power industry has largely panned FERC’s proposals to require greater disclosure on financial instruments and derivatives.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

Read Entire Article

People (May 1, 2002)

Carol A. Isles is vice president and controller for CMS Energy Corp.'s natural gas pipeline unit, CMS Gas Transmission Co. The California ISO has named a new market surveillance committee. Dennis L. Haider, president of WBI Energy Services Inc., has been named executive vice president of business development and strategic planning for Utility Services Inc. and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. And others ...
Read Entire Article

RTOs: The Billion Dollar Advantage

ICF study shows the national benefits of RTOs are too large to be ignored.

Sixty billion dollars in benefits. Less than $6 billion in costs. In any business, those numbers mean just one thing: you've got a winner.
Byline: 

Lynne H. Church

Read Entire Article

Talking with Trans-Elect's Bernie Schroeder

His company, he admits, is all about cherry picking.

We wanted to learn the latest on who’s buying, selling and churning assets in the transmission world. Trans-Elect president and COO Bernie Schroeder did not disappoint.
Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

Read Entire Article

Utility Valuation: Shedding Light on the Black Box

Experts debate how energy companies should be valued in the wake of electric restructuring and Enron.

Credit downgrades, bankruptcy, and investor backlash against energy companies has exposed how inadequate the valuation of energy companies is. Experts debate just how to value the industry.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

Read Entire Article

The Fear Factor

Understanding power company volatility in the context of valuation theory.

A top CSFB investment banker analyzes how recent power sector volatility can be understood in the context of valuation theory.
Byline: 

Kevin Phillips

Read Entire Article