April 1, 2000

A Fax From Al Gore

Telecoms may offer IOUs a model for multiplying market caps by dividing their shareholdings.

April 1, 2000

= {Operating Profit - Cost of capital} x capital Capital
= (Return on capital - cost of capital) x capital.

Congressmen, industry experts, and environmentalists square off over efforts to streamline relicensing.

April 1, 2000

As energy suppliers gather more detail about customers, opportunities for segmenting and selling them will increase during the next five years.

As technology such as AMR and improved information-gathering systems enhance customer data, energy service providers will be well-positioned to segment load profiles into valuable blocks for sale. According to PHB Hagler Bailly's "Energy Industry Outlook 2000," this bottom-line-enhancing possibility will contribute to the changing customer-energy supplier relationship during the next five years.

State regulators say they won't bargain under "threat of blackouts," but their complaint only highlights how the power is shifting.

The Michigan Public Service Commission is concerned about power supplies this summer - so much so that for the third year in a row it has ordered electric utilities in the state to file plans assessing their generation and transmission capacity for the upcoming summer.

State PUCs

Retail Energy Choice. At press time, Virginia issued proposed interim rules governing pilot programs for electric retail competition in electricity and natural gas, with comments due Feb. 24. The interim rules were not expected to resolve all issues, but only to provide a starting point to gain experience.

Among other points, the interim rules would require utilities to make information available through electronic bulletin boards on availability of commodity supply, ancillary services, and transmission and distribution capacity. Case No.