From reporting to trading, utilities try to meet new expectations.

On the issue of global climate change, most utilities have devoted their attention to tracking developments in Washington, D.C., following the rising and falling fortunes of legislation that could result in federal greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting or regulatory requirements. For the most part, utilities have taken comfort in the resolutely anti-regulatory stance of the Bush administration on greenhouse gas emissions.

Commission Watch

Feds seek plug-and-play for distributed generation, but utilities want the power to stay local.

Pity the poor Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). With its market crusade out of favor, and transmission reform suddenly suspect after the Aug. 14 blackout, it could use a new agenda.

People

New Positions:

AEP named John D. Harper vice president of general services. Harper has been with AEP since 2000, most recently as vice president of corporate technology development.

Paul M. Barbas joined the senior management at Chesapeake Service Co., taking on the role of president. He also becomes vice president of Chesapeake Utilities Corp. Barbas previously was executive vice president of Allegheny Power.

Business & Money

Sizable gains return to the market.

 

With an average appreciation of 18.9 percent since we last ran SNL Financial's dividend data , SNL's safe dividend picks appeared to do well for any market. However, like the fine golden years of the late '90s for all things technology, recent months have returned sizable gains to investors of energy stocks-not what one would expect from slow growth, dividend-paying electric and gas utilities that make up the majority of the SNL Energy universe.

People

New Positions:

Mirant's board of directors elected Robert N. Dangremond as its chief restructuring officer, following the company's Chapter 11 filing in mid-July. Dangremond is a principal with AlixPartners LLC.

Beth W. Cooper was appointed corporate treasurer of Chesapeake Utilities Corp., headquartered in Dover, Del. Cooper moves from the role of assistant treasurer for the utility.

New Positions:

The Allegheny Energy Inc. board of directors named Florida Power & Light Co. President Paul Evanson its new chairman, replacing the retiring Alan J. Noia. Allegheny's interim president, Jay Pifer, assumed the duties of COO at Allegheny. Evanson had been with Florida Power and Light since 1992. He will be replaced temporarily by Lew Hay, chairman and CEO of FPL Group, until a permanent replacement is found.

The industry responds to FERC's new safety regulations.

Utility companies are scrambling to understand and comply with the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, which became law in December 2002. According to Daphne Magnuson, director of public relations at the American Gas Association (AGA), the act will require member companies to make significant changes during the next 10 years in how they operate.