Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Congressmen, industry experts, and environmentalists square off over efforts to streamline relicensing.

April 1, 2000

State PUCs

Retail Energy Choice. At press time, Virginia issued proposed interim rules governing pilot programs for electric retail competition in electricity and natural gas, with comments due Feb. 24. The interim rules were not expected to resolve all issues, but only to provide a starting point to gain experience.

Among other points, the interim rules would require utilities to make information available through electronic bulletin boards on availability of commodity supply, ancillary services, and transmission and distribution capacity. Case No.

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson appointed three new members to the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board for two-year terms. J. Brian Atwood is the executive vice president of Citizens Energy Corp. and director of Citizens International. Daphne Kwok is the executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans Inc. Burton Richter is the Paul Pigott Professor of Physical Sciences at Stanford University and director emeritus of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Why utilities haven't scored at e-commerce.

From what I hear, utilities would love to junk their call centers, whether or not they run them in-house. Call centers had their moment in the sun, but today the Internet makes them look feeble. Why hire a minimum-wage sales staff to take orders by phone when consumers will gladly input their own bids at the click of a mouse? You can't trim transaction costs any closer than that.

Before the industry can tap into the Web's full potential, it needs to remove some roadblocks - without regulating itself into a corner.

Everyone involved in energy recognizes that deregulation is driving major changes in how the industry operates. What some may not recognize is that the evolution of e-commerce is compelling even greater changes in the way energy is marketed and purchased in both wholesale and retail markets.

STATE PUCS

Distributed Generation. In December and January the Illinois commission took comments from utilities, marketers, manufacturers, and trade and advocacy groups on how to develop policy on distributed generation.

* Rulemaking Strategy. Enron has urged the state to proceed in a fashion similar to the California PUC's

two-track investigation. It asked for two separate rulemakings on (1) interconnection standards for DG installations of 50 megawatts or less, and (2) rate design and operational issues.

* Unit Size Limits.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners appointed James Bradford Ramsay its general counsel. Ramsay's career at NARUC began in 1990. He previously served as a rates attorney with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Chris Duhon, the former president of Houston-based Additech Inc., was named vice president and general manager of GRI's pipeline business unit.

Michael R. Peevey, founder and chairman of NewEnergy Inc., resigned in January. His company previously was called New Energy Ventures.

Commonwealth Edison Co. appointed Nicholas J.

The Midwest ISO struck a deal with utilities from low-cost states, but it may backfire.

Why should low-cost states get excited about handing over a chunk of their utility assets to an independent system operator (ISO) or other qualifying regional transmission organization (RTO)?

They might buy in if the ISO offers enough of an incentive.

Read the RTO Rule. You'll see that it paves the way for transcos.

On Dec. 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hit the streets (both Wall and Main) with Order 2000, its rule on regional transmission organizations (RTOs). Ever since, utilities, investors and their advisers have been poring through the 727 pages of the document. They want to know, "What does the FERC really want?"

The question is not simply academic. On March 1 in Cincinnati, the FERC will open the first of five collaborative workshops to explore the RTO Rule and help the industry respond.