Hydroelectric power generation by U.S. electric utilities increased 12 percent between 1995 and 1996, according to the latest publication by the DOE's Energy Information Administration. Hydro generation contrasted with output at gas-fired units. That dropped 15 percent to 263 billion kilowatt-hours (em the lowest level since 1993 (em partly due to a substantial increase in gas prices.

According to Electric Power Annual 1996 Volume 1, the average cost of gas delivered to electric utilities on a dollars-per-million-Btu basis was $2.64 in 1996, the highest since 1985.

Rep. Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) insists he intends to help enact federal customer choice legislation with a certain start date. The chair of the Subcommittee on Energy and Power made the pledge Sept. 24 at the panel's 20th hearing on electric restructuring. The hearing's focus was on state and federal roles in enacting competition.

Schaefer pointed out that the Edison Electric Institute seeks to avoid a federal mandate on retail access, yet members are going back to their states to throw a wrench into deliberations on, or implementation of, restructuring.

Commissioner William L. Massey said four issues would dominate the fall electric agenda of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Orders 888 and 889 implementation, mergers, independent system operators and reliability.

Speaking on Sept. 11 at the PowerMart Power '97 conference and expo in Houston, Massey said the FERC hoped to issue a major order this fall on elements of California restructuring to ease implementation of the ISO and power exchange by Jan. 1, 1998.

Connecticut's Department of Public Utility Control and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal alleged gross mismanagement of the 582-megawatt Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant in charges filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Northeast Utilities owns 49 percent of the facility.

The plant has been shut since December 1996 and is being dismantled. The filing claimed the utility lost control of contamination and created an undocumented nuclear waste dump.

CINERGY MERGER CONDITIONS. FERC allows two-year deferral of prior requirement (a condition of the 1993 Cinergy merger) for Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. and PSI Energy Co. to build a 345-kV transmission line by 2000 to link territories to guarantee central dispatch for generation. Cinergy says it can now duplicate the capacity with open access. FERC Chair James Hoecker concurs, citing "further evidence that the bulk power market is working." (Docket No. EC93- 6-004, Sept. 24, 1997)

Hydro Licensing.

HOW DO CUSTOMERS RESPOND TO REAL-TIME PRICING?

Even when the customer is a commercial or industrial organization, the answer can prove illusive.

Real-life responses to RTP depend on the entirety of the incentive and monitoring systems, group dynamics and individual personalities. Managers within an organization respond to RTP signals based on information and incentives that only they can know and comprehend. Only people employed by the organization are privy to these intangibles, which remain highly idiosyncratic within any organization.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s announcement that it wants to increase energy rates by almost $1.2 billion was met with outrage by consumer watchdog organization The Utility Reform Network.

Pacific Gas has notified the California Public Utilities Commission that it plans to file a 1999 general rate case to raise natural gas rates by $506 million to maintain gas pipeline safety and reliability. It also plans to increase electric base level rates by $703 million beginning Jan. 1, 1999 to improve service reliability.

According to Fitch Investors Service, the absence of long-term power purchase agreements, coupled with the increased price volatility associated with short-term energy sales, likely will result in noninvestment grade ratings for most merchant projects.

In its new report, Power Projects in a Less Regulated World, Fitch examines power plants and how to evaluate this riskier class of projects. Now, the company would rate a good merchant power project in the 'BB' category.

Starting January 1998, New Energy Ventures will provide electricity to the first coalition of water agencies to have joined together to purchase and sell the service.

The Association of California Water Agencies Utility Service Agency has agreed to purchase electricity from New Energy for one year. It will allow members to save a minimum of $5 million annually on electric costs, depending on how many members sign up.

California-based environmental and consumer groups have launched the nation's first voluntary certification and verification program for environmentally preferred electric products.

The Green-e Renewable Electricity Branding Program aims to help consumers choose environmentally friendly or "green" products. Californians soon will see promotional materials from marketers with the Green-e Program's certification on electric products that contain at least 50-percent renewable electric content.