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The Georgia Public Service Commission has established standards for issuing certificates to marketers to compete under the state's Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act.

Under the standards, candidates must show their creditworthiness. To compete, a marketer must prove that its capital base or other financial resources can withstand the business and financial risk and absorb losses that might occur in providing firm gas service to retail customers.

S.B. 215, which was signed into law in April, established a regulatory framework to deregulate the gas industry.

Finding "a long and persistent record of misconduct and mismanagement," the Vermont Public Service Board has ordered Citizens Utility Co. immediately to reduce rates by 16.53 percent and pay fines totaling $60,000.

The board also reduced the company's return on equity from 10.5 to 5.25 percent, citing what it said were improper accounting practices, permitting failures and other bad management practices.

An Illinois appeals court has questioned the idea that Commonwealth Edison Co. faces a higher degree of risk than other utilities (and thus deserves a higher return on equity), but also has affirmed the "used and useful" status of the company's Byron 2 and Braidwood 1 & 2 nuclear units, as approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in a 1995 rate case order, which had helped justify a $303-million increase in annual rates.

THE FERC TAKES SUGGESTIONS ON THE FUTURE OF THE GAS INDUSTRY.

Earlier this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission opened a discussion of issues facing the natural gas industry. Its aim? To set "regulatory goals and priorities" for the era following from Order 636, issued in 1992. %n1%n

To gather input, the FERC scheduled a two-day public conference. It asked for comments on a myriad of topics, ranging from cost-of-service rates to hourly gas pricing and services.

New England Electric System has selected 12 companies from the U.S. and Europe to take part in an auction to supply electricity to Massachusetts and Rhode Island "standard offer" customers when retail competition begins.

Standard-offer service is set at seven years in Massachusetts and 12 years in Rhode Island. When competition begins, slated for Jan. 1, 1998 in both states, consumers can choose a new energy supplier through the standard offer.

Competition abounds at wholesale, but retail is another story.

Will geography, politics and regional economics stand in the way of real choice for electric consumers at the retail level? Consider this tale of two power players.

One competitor, the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, is proud of itself. In its annual report, IMPA says that open access and competition in the wholesale market allowed it to trim wholesale rates for power it delivered to member distribution companies in 1996. "The results were remarkable," the report reads.

The Georgia Public Service Commission has established standards for issuing certificates to marketers to compete under the state's Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act.

Under the standards, candidates must show their creditworthiness. To compete, a marketer must prove that its capital base or other financial resources can withstand the business and financial risk and absorb losses that might occur in providing firm gas service to retail customers.

S.B. 215, which was signed into law in April, established a regulatory framework to deregulate the gas industry.

Robert L. Digan II was hired by Semco Energy as its senior v.p. and CFO. Digan joins SEMCO from Supershuttle International.

United Cities Gas Co. has promoted Ann S. Baldwin from purchasing assistant manager to purchasing manager.

Scott B. Foster has left the International Energy Agency in Paris to join Cambridge Energy Research Associates. CERA also hired Gary Hunt, former COO at East Bay Municipal Utilities. He will serve as the company's North American electric power project director. Hunt will advise clients on responses to changes in the electric power business.

An administrative law judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has recommended approval of the proposed three-way merger of WPL Holdings, IES Industries, and Interstate Power Co. to form Interstate Energy Corp.

Earlier this year, the companies and the FERC staff reached an agreement on market power mitigation. One stipulation was that the utilities had to contract for purchase of transmission capacity to interconnect the three utility systems. A portion of that capacity would be made available to other utilities on a first-come basis.

Open-access tariffs hold the key to capturing the gains promised by electric restructuring.

In a restructured electric industry, unbundling the cost of the wires from power generation may well prove more important than dealing with stranded costs. In fact, stranded costs eventually will take care of themselves, whether by direct recovery, indirect recovery or no recovery. Without proper unbundling, however, a restructured industry could force competitors to pay inflated access fees to the distribution utility.

The matter has drawn a lot of attention.