Midwest ISO

A Gas Crisis, or Not?

The conclusions made by the NPC gas study raise more questions than they answer.

The National Petroleum Council’s study on future U.S. gas supplies raises more questions than it answers. Before the industry acts on the study’s recommendations, it should re-examine the study’s many shortcomings.

Solving The Crisis In Unscheduled Power

While NAESB and NERC struggle over the issue, North America steadily drifts toward unreliability.

How should power flowing between NERC-certified balancing authorities be priced? The author proposes a formula.

MISO: Building The Perfect Beast

Seams, holes, and historic precedent challenge the Midwest ISO's evolution.

As it addresses problems that contributed to last August’s blackout, the Midwest ISO struggles with staffing, “grandfathered” service agreements, and integration issues.

Consolidating Co-ops

Like it or not, changes are coming for electric cooperatives. Fewer and bigger might be the inevitable result.

Like it or not, changes are coming for electric cooperatives. Fewer and bigger might be the inevitable result.

When power planners at Basin Electric Power Cooperative began trying to decide how and where the company's next big power plant would be built, they did what a co-op does best -they reached out and formed a coalition.

The New CEO's

Michael G. Morris

Interviews

For Public Utilities Fortnightly's 75th Anniversary CEO issue, the magazine looked to the horizon and asked these new captains about the planned course for their companies, and for an entire industry.

The Talent Bubble

As Baby Boomers near retirement age, utilities face the challenge of preparing the next generation of leaders.

As Baby Boomers near retirement age, utilities face the challenge of preparing the next generation of leaders.

Human resources managers at many utilities are sounding alarm bells about an impending shortage of skilled personnel-even amid flat industry growth and high unemployment rates.

Commission Watch: Grid Battle Is Joined

FERC's AEP ruling begs the question: Can the feds bypass states that block transmission reform?

A recent ruling puts the question squarely on the table: Can FERC overturn orders issued by the state public utility commissions that otherwise would stand in the way of its vision of regional transmission organizations with a standard market design?

Generation Roundtable: Power Flux

Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.

Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.

When the acting administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marianne Horinko, signed the EPA's "routine replacement" rule on Aug. 27, 2003, she proclaimed that the new approach to Clean Air Act regulation would "provide … power plants with the regulatory certainty they need."

Frontlines

Regulators are starting to show signs of strain over the restructuring debate.

Up to now, many in the industry thought everybody but the regulators had tired of the constant back-and-forth over regional market issues such as standard market design. This is not to say that state regulators have been able to find any common resolution. In fact, in our annual Regulators Forum on page 22, PUC chiefs from five states continue to disagree on what role the federal government should have.