Tennessee Valley Authority

The electric industry hasn't seen so much upheaval since Thomas Edison threw the switch at the Pearl Street Station. Full retail access to competitive markets in generation and supply will challenge traditional ways of doing business. But no change will prove more dramatic for electric utilities than setting a competitive price (em that most fundamental of business decisions.

In anticipation of competition, utilities have been experimenting to discern what forms of the "product" (em electric power (em customers might want, and at what prices. One such experiment is real-time pricing.

Prometheus paid dearly when he stole fire from the gods and gave it to man, but his courage paid off. Fire now belongs to the people. So should electricity, says New York state Judge Joseph Harris, of Albany, who ruled last fall that state regulators could force open New York's electric industry, but warned against hidden favoritism:

"Prometheus," wrote Harris, "in breaking the monopoly of the gods and by giving electrical energy to mankind ... [should] not be demeaned by a mere transfer of that monopoly to the lords of industry.

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved its first negotiated contract for discounted electric rates under an economic development incentive plan adopted in 1994.

Georgia Power Co. filed the contract in May after Olin Corp. announced it would relocate 100 manufacturing jobs to Tennessee unless the company could negotiate power rates.

XENERGY, Inc., an energy services company, began supplying power to 13 companies in midsummer as part of Massachusetts Electric Co.'s restructuring plan. The companies belong to the Massachusetts High Technology Council. XENERGY will supply 40 Mw of power per year. Projected annual savings to the companies run about $2.2 million, or 14 percent, a drop of 2¢/Kwh. The wholesaler is NYSEG Bulk Power Sales Group; Mass. Electric will provide customer and distribution service. A residential pilot is scheduled to begin January 1.

Nancy Schultz was promoted to engineering and construction services director at Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. She joined Transco in 1982.

Columbia Energy Services has hired Greg Davis at its Pittsburgh office. He previously worked for the Natural Gas Clearinghouse and Exxon Corp.

James S. Thomson has joined Consolidated Natural Gas Co. as president of its new subsidiary, CNG International Corp. He last worked at Edison International's Mission Energy Co.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. has promoted Randy H.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to take its first-ever private company partner to convert the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. The two-unit plant, near Hollywood, AL, will likely be finished as a gas-fired facility. The decision not to complete the units as nuclear plants ended a 28-year policy of nuclear construction at TVA.

South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. began operating its $411-million, 385-Mw Orangeburg County plant January 15.

Pending the approval of state regulators, Puget Sound Power & Light Co. and Washington Energy Co.

The Reason Foundation, a public policy research organization, has issued a report, Federal Power: The Case For Privatizing Electricity, recommending privatization of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the five power marketing administrations (PMAs).

SCEcorp has a new corporate structure and name: Edison International. It also has a new subsidiary, Edison Source, which specializes in solutions for energy efficiency, the environment, and energy marketing. Edison International now has five subsidiaries; its flagship, Southern California Edison, is the nation's second-largest IOU.

What are the essential characteristics of the system of governance that will be required for a new, North American electric industry with interconnected and interdependent transmission networks and trading areas?

Electric transmission networks are natural monopolies, as are the many independent network

control systems that coordinate the use of generators and loads and preserve system reliability.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorized the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to load fuel and perform low-power testing of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. The low-power license will allow the 1,160-megawatt Unit 1 to operate at 5 percent of capacity. The license verifies that Watts Bar construction is complete, and that all safety and environmental requirements have been met. A license to operate at full power may be granted once the fuel loading and low-power testing is complete. Commercial operation is anticipated for spring 1996.