DC

(December, 2001) The results of our annual survey of authorized rates of return on common equity for state-regulated energy utilities show a continued reliance on traditional cost-of-service ratemaking in many states. At the same time the results also show that rate case filings do not dominate the field of economic regulation the way they might have in times of higher rates of inflation and prior to the advent of price cap regulation and market restructuring programs.

 

Making sense of RTO Week, the mediation talks, and FERC's promised new rulemaking.

Dynegy's senior vice president Peter Esposito didn't think much about the celebrated mediation talks on forming a single, unified transmission grid for the Northeast U.S.

Demand Response: An Overview of Enabling Technologies

 

Declaring Emergencies in California: The Realities of ISO Operation

 

Gas Price Prudence: From Hedge-and-Hope to Best Practice

Utilities and regulators should follow the same ideas that govern risk management at the largest of commodity trading houses.

The July 5, 2001 issue of offered an update on what utilities and regulators are doing in the area of commodity price hedging for natural gas.

The headline read, "Dominion East Ohio Sales Customers Will Pay 29% Less in Gas Costs under PUCO-Led Encouragement of Hedging Plan...."

Natural Gas Hedging: A Primer for Utilities and Regulators

 

What commissions need to learn.
What LDCs should already know.

The facts are now in. If utilities had hedged their natural gas purchases during the 1990s, they could have earned windfalls for those they serve, given the wild price gyrations of the past decade (). Yet few if any households or businesses saw any windfall, because few utilities were engaged in futures and other derivatives markets.

After the Shakeout: Another Look at the Georgia Gas Market

 

Neptune and the Northeast