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Cyber Security: A "Virtual" Reality

Two years after 9/11, the industry remains vulnerable.

Two years after 9/11, the industry remains vulnerable.

 

Two years ago the utility industry, like everyone else in America, was blindsided by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In the aftermath, the rush to secure the grid was on, and the caps on security spending came off-at least for a little while.

Two years later, where are we? Is the grid better protected from attack?

It is, but not by much, according to the experts Fortnightly consulted.

Byline: 
Jennifer Alvey
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Water Heaters to the Rescue: Demand Bidding in Electric Reserve Markets

With just a few changes in reliability rules, regulators could call on consumer loads to boost power reserves for outages and contingencies.

By accommodating loads with limited storage and deploying resources in a more sophisticated manner, grid operators could expand the range of reliability resources. Consider the electric water heater.
Byline: 

Eric Hirst and Brendan Kirby

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Bankruptcy Courts vs. FERC Smackdown!

The developing jurisdictional battle over authorizing rejection of wholesale power supply agreements is getting white-hot, pitting creditors against ratepayers.

Creditors and ratepayers are at odds in a high-stakes jurisdictional battle over wholesale power supply agreements. In an industry littered with bankrupt and troubled energy marketers, the issue is more than academic.
Byline: 

Howard L. Siegel

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Edison Shrugged

The crisis of confidence in today's power industry is, at its heart, a crisis of ideas.

A market-based system requires that regulators establish a level playing field but not interfere unduly with the game itself.
Byline: 

John B. Howe

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Economic Dispatch Redux

The venerated process may get a makeover.

While issues involving ratemaking treatment and stranded assets might prove challenging, the simple logic of expanding economic dispatch processes is difficult to fault. Now, if the industry and its regulators can accept the notion of interim measures on the road to market reform, expanded economic dispatch seems like a bankable policy trend for the near term.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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Commission Watch

The commission nails companies, but orders payments.

Nora Mead Brownell, FERC: This case more than any other makes it clear when you have as part of your business plan systemic market manipulation, you will not have market-based rate authority.
Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

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Watching the Watchers

Can RTO market monitors really be independent?


Can RTO market monitors really be independent?

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initiatives on regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and standard market design give new prominence to the market monitoring institution (MMI), a novel regulatory tool never before contemplated in legislation.1

Byline: 
Robert J. Michaels
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Commission Watch

PJM would dictate grid expansion, even if not needed for reliability, and then push the cost of the upgrades on those who use them the most.


PJM would dictate grid expansion, even if not needed for reliability, and then push the cost of the upgrades on those who use them the most.

Chairman Pat Wood and his Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) may well have given up on attempts to impose a standard market design (SMD) on the electric utility industry, but that doesn't mean the nation's grid system operators won't try the same thing.

Byline: 
Bruce W. Radford
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