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bankruptcy

The Top 10

The Ten Most Intriguing Business Decisions in the Post-Enron World.

10. Exelon throws in the towel on pebble bed; 9. Exelon, Entergy, Dominion ready to do the rounds on traditional nuclear; 8. AES wants out of Cilcorp marriage; 7. New-look Aquila goes hunting ...
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The Perils of Ignoring Mother Nature

Experts say utilities' inconsistent approach to weather risk is costing them dearly.

Since their creation, energy companies have been powerless to defend themselves against the weather’s financial impact on business. No longer. An overview of what weather risk management has achieved.
Byline: 

Jennifer Alvey

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Vertical Integration: Necessity or Distraction?

An analysis of the latest wave of unbundling, re-bundling, and convergence plays in the gas-power industries.

In any industry, companies must choose a portfolio of assets and businesses to own along a value chain. In doing so, they make an implicit trade-off between the benefits of focus and vertical integration.
Byline: 

Dan Gabaldon and Joe Quoyeser

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The Doomsday Scenario

Debt + secret triggers = another Enron.

Much the same way that bankers used to worry about a “run on the bank,” where there is an overwhelming demand for liquidity that causes a solvent bank to fail, so should energy companies be worried that their use of material adverse change (MAC) clauses might trigger an overwhelming demand for liquidity that causes a once solvent energy company to fail. Of course, the banks now have the Fed to protect the financial system from a liquidity crisis. No such luck for the energy industry.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Enron C&I Customers Paying Twice

Public Utilities Fortnightly and POWERdat®

Some large commercial and industrial customers who had signed energy contracts with the now-bankrupt Enron are forced to pay their utility bills a second time. "We're looking at these bills and saying, 'Hold on a minute,'" said one corporate energy manager.
Byline: 

Matthew Joyce

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FERC At 25

A leaner bureaucracy sharpens its market-monitoring tools.

FERC turns 25 this year. With Enron’s collapse and California’s unraveled electric restructuring scheme, the silver anniversary reminiscing may be slightly muted.
Byline: 

Mark Hand

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Wag the Dog

Pack journalists feed off PG&E letter.

Was Pacific Gas and Electric’s recent customer mailing of a dog-bite letter and meter-reading schedule a selfless attempt to protect its employees from vicious canines? Or was the notice to dog owners a catty move to get the California press off the scent of Pacific Gas and Electric’s bankruptcy proceedings?
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