Urban Myth: Bush to Help Houston

One of the primary objectives of the Bush administration's energy policy is to increase energy supplies, including the supply of electric generating capacity. Opponents of the Bush plan argue that his plan is nothing more than a scheme to fill the coffers of "Texas"-based companies who supported Bush's election.

People for July 15, 2001

Gordon van Welie recently was appointed president and CEO of ISO New England Inc. CMS Energy Corp. elected David G. Mengebier as senior vice president of governmental and public affairs. PSEG Global recently named George P. Schaefer as senior vice president of financing and treasurer. FERC announced the appointment of its newest commissioners. And others...

Izzbee, Izz it?

The Energy Industry Standards Board doesn't exist yet, but it's got regulators talking.

More than two years ago, I suggested in this column that regional independent system operators would likely supplant the regional reliability councils as the caretakers of electric system reliability. And that's still possible—if the ISOs move quickly to RTO status, and if the RTOs get cracking right away on adopting uniform business rules. But the FERC may get tired waiting for that to happen.

Transmission Planning: Weighing Effects on Congestion Costs

Planners should focus on more than just meeting NERC reliability standards.

Do historical costs of grid congestion form a suitable basis for deciding on transmission investments? Further, should planners rely on costs reflected both in short-term nodal or zonal congestion prices, as well as long-term firm transmission rights?

On the Origin of Markets: Electricity Evolution in the U.K.

A story of power, pools, and parallels with the U.S. experience.

Those in the United Kingdom don’t talk about privatization and electric restructuring in terms of getting it right the first time ... Instead, they use terms like evolution, waves of development, and system adjustments. Industry restructuring is an evolutionary process, not a switch-it-on, one-time event, as generally is assumed in the U.S.

X Marks the Spot: How U.K. Utilities Have Fared Under Performance-Based Ratemaking

Returns for U.K. RECs have proven resilient, despite price cuts, efficiency targets, and the windfall profit tax.

Performance-based ratemaking in the United Kingdom is now entering its third "generation," or regulatory period. Due to the sharpened incentives of PBR relative to cost-of-service regulation, the UK has seen a substantial improvement in electricity distribution productivity, annual gains of 3.5 percent. The price cap form of PBR, incorporating an X factor, is being adopted in an increasing number of regions, from the Netherlands to Canada.

L.A. Loves a Loophole

There's no getting around it—price caps aren't for everyone.

A letter to Michael J. Manning at Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P. from FERC General Counsel Kevin P. Madden.

Reading the T&D Leaves: How Interest Rates Influence Prices for Wires Services

The strong correlation holds lessons for power marketers, who naturally will build large short positions on delivery service.

The analysis shows how one could expect allowed return on equity to change as interest rates change and the resulting financial effect on endusers. The positive side of this thought process is that a continuing low interest rate environment should attenuate the effect of high commodity prices for retail users of electricity.

The Bush Plan and Beyond: Toward a More Rational U.S. Energy Policy

Any plan to reduce energy consumption should rest on economics — not ideology.

In addition to increasing total U.S. gas consumption to 34.7 Tcf in 2020, it would take another 11.3 Tcf/year to convert existing coal-fired U.S. steam-electric capacity to gas-fired combined-cycle units operating at the same load factor. Clearly, that is a tall order. Nevertheless, we must face the fact that there are few alternatives other than backing out coal-fired generation that would reduce global carbon emissions to a total of less than 870-990 million metric tons between 1991 and 2100. The logical endpoint will be electrification of most stationary energy uses with high-tech renewable or essentially inexhaustible energy sources, and the use of hydrogen from non-fossil-fuel sources as the dominant transportation fuel.

What Price an Easement? Setting Market Value in Fiber Optic Corridors

How a landmark case on landowner compensation could make or break the industry.

The world of fiber optic easements is a world in which probably only a small percentage of real property transactions conform to the purist legal definition of fair market value established by our courts. In such a world, we should view the ATB or going prices paid by fiber optic conduit wholesalers or retailers as reflective of “fair market value,” no matter how one-sided they may appear to be. Across-The-Board easement prices come closest to reflecting the minimum conditions necessary to replicate true competitive market for partial property rights in limited-market corridor properties.